Commuting

[UsernameN0Tavailable]

Very minor annoyance, but I have a friend who keeps banging on about how amazing it is that her DH doesn't have to commute now. She keeps commenting on social media about the hidden benefits of the pandemic for 'commuters' like her DH. His place of work is about 5 miles away on a dual carriageway and takes 15-20 minutes door to door.

I always thought to be considered a commute it had to be a significant distance? My workplace is 45 miles away and takes me around 1h30 each way, I would call that a commute.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but it is really annoying me!

YABU - commuting is travelling any distance between your place of work and home
YANBU - it is only considered a commute if you travel significant distance, I'd say over an hour each way

It's not what I would call a commute.

But it's obviously helping them. They might have been able to ditch a second car now or something similar.

I only worked ten minutes down the road. But I'm still glad I don't have to physically go into work anymore.

She probably thinks it makes him sound more important

Meh ... she think it sounds more interesting to commute than travel. I would find it amusing to confirm her sentence and replace the word commute for travel.
Annoying person, “oh I’m so glad to miss the commute”
You, “oh yes, it must be nice for you to avoid the travel into work. Or oh have you moved? I thought you only lived up the road .

It means to make the same journey to and from home regularly, YABU. He’s saved 30-40 mins a day, I’d be happy to save that!

I'm not sure how to vote as I don't think the distance matters but the duration does. I'm only 15km from work but it can take up to an hour (and occasionally longer) to get there as the traffic is horrendous unless I leave the house by 6.30. For me, the problem is a river with a limited number of bridges.

That said, 15-20 minutes is not a commute to my mind.

I agree with the definition of a commute "commuting is travelling any distance between your place of work and home", but to define yourself as a commuter you really need to be doing it for a more significant portion of your day. So YANBU to be annoyed in my eyes!

I think commute is any travel to work

She is very into making them both seem more important than they are. He was self employed once (he does service desk work, but needed to set himself up as a sole trader so he could take on a contract role instead of being employed) and she posted on Facebook saying how proud she was that he was the director of his own IT services business.

TBH I think previous things like that are adding to my annoyance of her bigging up his journey.

I can't see why this is annoying you. Whatever the terminology she is pleased her DH is saving some time in his day. I think looking for small positives is the only way some people are getting through this shitshow. Maybe you could try the same?

You really don't like your 'friend' do you?

A commute is a journey to work. When my commute was 1.5 hours each way I called it a commute. Now it’s only 10 mins and still a commute!

YANBU. Perhaps she is someone who feels the need to post repeatedly on social media and has literally nothing else to say. 15 minutes is clearly not a commute, so I imagine everyone else who reads her posts and knows where he works also thinks she is a bit of a wally.

@Santaisreel

I can't see why this is annoying you. Whatever the terminology she is pleased her DH is saving some time in his day. I think looking for small positives is the only way some people are getting through this shitshow. Maybe you could try the same?

I've already acknowledged that it's a petty annoyance, and I'm currently saving 3 hours minimum on my day so I'm really counting my blessings.

@winterbabythistime

You really don't like your 'friend' do you?

Honestly? She's a family friend that I have to spend a lot of time with for the sake of a relative. I love her, but she annoys the hell out of me regularly. She isn't someone I would choose as a friend but we get along well most of the time.

I think it is a commute, but I don’t think she should be ‘ bragging’ about the benefits of the pandemic on social media. That is the bit I find unreasonable!

I would say anything under 30 mins is not a commute.

Well technically travelling to work at all is a commute. But I get what you mean. Having had various long commute ls because of jobs in my sector being scarce this would irritate me too! Leaving at 7.30 and getting back at 6m30 or 7 for a 9 to 5 is hard work so her moaning it was hard when he added 30 mins to the day feels a bit much!

@winterbabythistime

You really don't like your 'friend' do you?

This^

I do wonder about some MNers friendships.

There are long commutes, there are short commutes. If you are buying car insurance and need travel to your permanent place of work you need to have commuting included, it doesn’t specify how far away it is. www.confused.com/car-insurance/guides/car-insurance-classes-of-use

A commute is leaving my house at 6am, getting to Marble Arch at 8.45, leaving at 6pm and getting home at nearly 9pm. My now ‘commute’ is leaving at 7.30am, opening the office at 10 to 8. I finish at 4pm and am in my kitchen making tea at 4.25pm.

My commute is a 20m walk, but I save far more than that by not having to do it.

5m each end of gathering my stuff.
30m of gearing myself up to leave the house.
30m of lunch break can be used productively in the home.
5m of putting away/prepping things I took with me.

Best part of two hours regained by wfh, even with a very short commute.

And that's before you get to the "putting a load of washing on whilst the kettle boils" type time savings. (and yes, I'm more productive - in fact, since I have long covid, I think that I need the extra time and lower faff of the home to remain productive).

@thecatsthecats

My commute is a 20m walk, but I save far more than that by not having to do it.

5m each end of gathering my stuff.
30m of gearing myself up to leave the house.
30m of lunch break can be used productively in the home.
5m of putting away/prepping things I took with me.

Best part of two hours regained by wfh, even with a very short commute.

And that's before you get to the "putting a load of washing on whilst the kettle boils" type time savings. (and yes, I'm more productive - in fact, since I have long covid, I think that I need the extra time and lower faff of the home to remain productive).

This is specifically about the word commute used to describe a 15 minute journey, not the additional benefits of WFH.

I think it is more the way it was worded on social media as a 'getting so much time back not having to commute' without mentioning that it is 15 minutes each way, so that people imagine him usually getting a train into the city or something.

I think it is more the way it was worded on social media as a 'getting so much time back not having to commute' without mentioning that it is 15 minutes each way, So that's half an hour each day and 2.5 hours a week. Equivalent to having an extra day off every month.

@MereDintofPandiculation

I think it is more the way it was worded on social media as a 'getting so much time back not having to commute' without mentioning that it is 15 minutes each way, So that's half an hour each day and 2.5 hours a week. Equivalent to having an extra day off every month.

Whereas an actual commute of at least an hour would be 2 hours a day, 10 hours a week, 40 hours a month

OP you are just determined to be better than her because you have an 'actual commute'

I refer to my earlier post, look for the positives as your friend is obviously doing. This year has been shit enough without this judgemental bollocks.