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Original poster

WFH......WTF

84 replies

madcatladyforever · 29/09/2020 22:53

Seriously though, how the hell do people with families work from home? I only did it for 2 days while I was recovering from some minor surgery - I work in the NHS so normally go in.
Every darned meeting I had the cat was either wailing outside the door or sitting on my lap saying cheese for the camera.
What do you do with your small kids/husband. How do you block out the noise, how is it even possible?

OP posts:

StCharlotte · 30/09/2020 08:12

I rang HSBC recently and was warned that because every one is wfh there may be "background family or pet noises". I told the lad I was was disappointed there had been no pet noises.

TheGriffle · 30/09/2020 08:18

With the 7yo and 3yo old at home it was impossible but we managed. They got ignored. A lot!
Now they are back at school/nursery I’m enjoying it a lot more, Dh is working from home too so I’m not lonely but I do miss my team. My cats are very quiet and barely ever make an appearance and I have 1 video call a week if that.

7yo dd is currently at home though Due to a positive case in her class and once again trying to help her with her work and get my own work done is very very tough. She’s bored, needs constant input and is spending way too much time on screens.

megletthesecond · 30/09/2020 08:20

I worked in my bedroom when the DC's were at home. The sound proofing is better. I sit on my bed and use an ancient little wheely computer desk.

LaMadrilena · 30/09/2020 08:31

I'm in charge of a team of 20 who are currently all working from home due to Covid restrictions in Spain. We've been like this since March. I fully understand that children will sometimes be heard or even make an appearance. It happens to our clients too. Everyone's in the same boat at the moment and we understand that we have to give a bit of leeway to parents - it can't be easy!

MsStillwell · 30/09/2020 08:37

I've done it for years, as do my colleagues. Our calls are constantly interrupted by their cats or their teens or their husbands (never wives ) and it drives me crazy. I politely smile about how aloof their cat is or helpless there son is or witty their husband is... or at least I hope I do.

wendz86 · 30/09/2020 08:45

It was so hard when kids were at home. The amount of times they would try and talk to me when i was on a client call.
They are at school thankfully now so much easier.

Cattermole · 30/09/2020 08:46

Another one with the starstruck cat.
It's very annoying when I'm doing the MS Teams thing and colleagues are saying "awww where is he, where's the Tank? Where's that big lovely Tankie, hm? he's sooooo cute...." as he sits behind my head.

Moo678 · 30/09/2020 08:48

I’m working from home today. I’m going to go in the spare room and shut the door. My husband is looking after the toddler because he doesn’t work on a Wednesday. I appreciate that people who were thrust into working from home whilst also losing childcare have had a hard time but under normal circumstances you shouldn’t be working from home and looking after your kids so provided there is another adult in the house to do childcare I don’t see why it’s difficult. Even if you don’t have a spare room you could go in the bedroom and shut the door 🤷‍♀️

Plussizejumpsuit · 30/09/2020 08:50

Normally any company has it written into your contract or work from home policy you can't be in charge of young children when working. So that's the massive difference.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 30/09/2020 08:52

Well typically working from home wouldn't factor in a pandemic but then 2020 hit and shit happens. People are having to balance both work and kids.

Sexnotgender · 30/09/2020 08:53

My cat has joined many a conference call 😂

Try doing it for 6 months with a toddler. I feel like I’ve aged 10 years.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 30/09/2020 08:54

I shut the door, barricade with a chair because the dogs keep worrying about me surviving without their company and did gate crash once when I was on a Zoom meeting.

Otherwise, noise cancelling headphones, keep the beasts, be it dogs or toddlers fed and tired, and ignore the bin men.

We seem to have some very noisy bin men.

Alfr · 30/09/2020 08:56

I always work from home, so it's pretty normal for me. I did experience a bit of a stunned silence during a Zoom call, followed by someone saying "Alfr - there's a horse behind you, and it's looking at us!"
My desk has a window behind it, and my horses were mowing the lawn. They know that I have horse treats on my desk, so being stared at through the window is nothing new for me - just a bit of a surprise for my clients!

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 30/09/2020 08:58

I haven’t had any major disasters, yet, but one of my customers had a major drama happening out of the blue, and the rest of us were left listening to that and it was really upsetting. We’re all human, it can happen to anyone. Sometimes I hear children, but as long we can hear and understand each other then that’s fine.

BadTattoosAndSmellLikeBooze · 30/09/2020 08:59

My kids are older but other people’s young kids regularly feature on camera at the moment. As do peoples cats and dogs including mine. I think most people quite like it, lots of chat about family and pets.

SirVixofVixHall · 30/09/2020 09:06

DH works from home, and finds it difficult a lot of the time. The noise, the distractions , the interruptions. Also if you are in an office you are more in the loop, working from home can make you quite isolated , career wise.
For Covid reasons it is something to be endured, but long term it has a lot of drawbacks.

SarahAndQuack · 30/09/2020 09:09

I wrote a book the year before covid, with DD at home most of the time. This year was meant to be my lovely reward, when she went into nursery full time! I agree WTF with children underfoot is totally different from WTF with children - there's no comparison. If you have to do it, though, split your work into the smallest, most interruption-proof chunks you can, and plan things to do with children where you can have part of your mind on work.

mycatlovesmenotyou · 30/09/2020 09:19

My cat likes to sprawl on top of the paperwork I am doing. or sit on my chair behind me so I am hunched over the keyboard. or on the keyboard. or on the top of my chair. or on my daughters schoolwork when she was also working from home.

When I had a zoom call she sat in front of the screen so all anyone could see was her .

FinallyHere · 30/09/2020 09:19

Headset (headphones/microphone)

Childcare.

TitsOutForHarambe · 30/09/2020 09:23

You do it by closing the door to your designated at home office, and sending the children to some sort of daycare or childminder.

If you aren't able to do these things, like many of us, then you just have to fumble about as best you can and hope to God that you manage to keep your job and keep your kids alive at the same time.

Serendipity79 · 30/09/2020 09:23

Our CEO at the start of lockdown did a series of Zoom calls with the entire business with his children in the room and told us - its happening to all of us. For customer/client facing meetings staff have been asked to find privacy, for internal meetings, there is a wide understanding that a lot of us have challenges around childcare and finding a quiet space to work from home in. Thankfully all of mine are now back in school.

In relation to schools re-opening, we were all told to blank out time in our diaries to do school runs if needed and we weren't to feel guilty about it because many of us work evenings to make up time.

Our homeworking policy has been revised so that any role that can be home based is now home based and we'll only go into the office next year when needed

ClaudiaWankleman · 30/09/2020 09:23

I think you just get on with it, and accept the distractions. Before COVID we all crammed into open plan offices which had just as much background noise, it was just different and accepted.

I would tell off anyone who thought they could criticise my background noise/ working environment/ juggling priorities. It's a privilege to have the perfect WFH environment.

whatswithtodaytoday · 30/09/2020 09:29

During lockdown we were both wfh with a toddler and it was awful. My partner's job is very 9-5 on calls etc, whereas mine can be done anytime, so I was getting up at 6am to work, managing son between us all day, then working until midnight once he was asleep.

No idea how we'll do it if there's another lockdown as he can climb everything now - I think we'll have to take parental leave shared between us.

My cats are old and sleep all day :D My partner is wfh at the dining room table with me and is a huge distraction, but I put earplugs in and tend to do thinking work in the evening. It's not ideal.

PlonkItDownNOW · 30/09/2020 09:30

I've worked from home for 4 years and my cat is always a regular feature on zoom calls. It was something else doing it while my nearly 5 year old was at home over lockdown though. Thank god he's at school now.

Pre-covid he was at nursery, I couldn't have worked from home and looked after him on a long term basis.

NoSleepInTheHeat · 30/09/2020 09:33

The children are at school/nursery now except if your other half is a SAHP - in which case I would imagine you'll be working in a dedicated room - so why would they disturb you?

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