DH works from home on and off - is it illegal for him to empty the dishwasher?

[carocaro]

Just wondering if it was some law I missed.

DH works from home sometimes and apparently is he not allowed under any circumstances to empty a dishwasher - take the bin back in - pick up the pile of clothes on the stairs - suggest or even make something for tea - just now and again?

I have been out all morning with DS2 aged 2 so he can have some peace to work. And it just pisses me off that he can't spend 5 mins emptying the diswasher and filling it again. So I get to do it yet again with a 2 year old fiddling with the dishwasher,
picking up glasses etc etc.

He is spectacular at watching Man Utd and having a long shit every day. Well done.

I hear ya carocaro. My DH works from home 2 days a week (freelance) and spends plenty of time faffing about. To be fair, he is quite flexible and will sometimes do a few householdy tasks during his lunch break or while waiting for the kettle to boil.

My bugbear is with carrying things up/downstairs. We permanently have a pile of stuff at the bottom and a pile at the top, waiting to be transported up or down. I have been doing this for years but OH still doesn't seem to have any idea what it's all about. He just walks past it, every single time. Perhaps I ought to mention it

I will empty all your dishwashers if £1 per load is the going rate!

Stop helping with his work then. He should be able to do his job without you helping him doing it.

I sometimes work from home and I'll put a load in the washer, hang clothes out, wash the breakfast things etc, I still get my work done, you need a short break every now and then, it's only the same thing as having a chat in the office or making a round of drinks.

I think it's differnt if you work from home all the time though.

Dh has just seen this other my shoulder and is outraged at the suggestion.
He manages to empty the dishwasher whilst working from home but says it is only because he is terrified of me.

I'm intrigued by the inference that all of your work-from-home DHs spend time in the kitchen "...waiting for the kettle to boil". Does this mean they make their OWN cups of tea? Because mine just sits at his desk making progressively louder gagging noises until I bring him one. And he feels hard done by if it doesn't come with a bacon buttie.

You don't know you're born, some of you!

I think YAB a tiny bit U.He is supposed to be working and I think its a bit unfair to ask him to break off and do stuff in the house.

I work from home some days and find that without all the office based faffing about gossiping, going to starbucks, endless fag breaks (I don't have them but sometimes go along for a coffee), ridiculous meetings you get pulled into with no warning etc I can do a normal days work in one uninterupted morning slot and then have, basically all afternoon to do washing, ironing, cooking, watering plants, reordering cupboards etc while listening to stupid conf calls in the afternoon.

I am, however, a woman and hence capable of multitasking. DP is not and can only do one thing at a time. Even he though stops for the odd cup of tea and does the dishwasher while he is standing there. Still less time and effort than the trip to Starbucks at work. He is being lazy, give him a bollocking.

YANBU.

When I work from home it's so isolated and quiet I get stacks done, but need to take a break more often than in the office because of the intensity - no chatting, people asking if you want a cup of tea blah blah.

So I take 5 mins here and there and emptying the dishwasher is exactly the sort of thing that I do!

Agree that it would be taking the piss to go out and mow the lawn or something but really putting on the odd wash or whatever is surely normal...

Oh God we had this so much when DH worked from home. The number of rows we had about emptying the dishwasher/flushing the toilet(such a chore isn't it!!!)/making the bed which he would always whine " But you don't understand, I'm working"

I know he did work hard, but surely he could put his breakfast/lunch/tea stuff away

Well .... it is an official workplace so maybe Health & Safety law will apply to him lifting heavy objects such as pots, pans and plates, people handling knives often need special chain mail gloves, using electrical apppliances always represents a risk. Have you got employers liability insurance?

Its a nightmare really - so perhaps best tell him not to bother.

OR

You could just kick his lazy backside!

Agree with Quint. When I work from home, I'm at work. I wait until my working day is over and then do housework. Would expect dp to do the same if he worked from home.

What about lunchbreaks.

Go to kitchen. Make sandwich. Empty dishwasher. Eat sandwich in front of news/pc. Put plate in dishwasher.

Or does everyone else jump in the car and go to pret?

Very interesting thread - I WFH regularly and DH currently once a week. I don't do housework during working time but for us both WFH actually means that you can do the school drop off and sometimes pickup and still work in a focused way considerably above Core hours - WFH tends for us to be a longer day. I will therefore make coffee, perhaps empty the dishwasher or bring in the washing and so will DH but only between calls etc where it does not distract. For the OP I was wondering if your DH works longer or normal hours when WFH - if it is a normal day and then he is disciplined enough to break off then he could assist at that time - given that he is not wasting time on a commute - if he works longer then he could perhaps assist in breaktimes.

exactly - everyone's allowed a lunch break and that is when you do chores like going to the post office etc - so the equivalent wfh is: go downstairs, make cup of tea and sandwich, dishwasher and washing machine while waiting for kettle to boil, eat lunch, half an hour or so left, do something useful, back up to work.

I think his dump time could be curtailed somewhat to allow time for housework - at least get him to clean the toilet and change the loo roll while he is in there

I wfm one day a week and regularly seek short household chores to distract me from help me consider what I want to say in whatever paper I happen to be writing.

Unfortunately, I have neither a dishwasher nor a DH. I'm planning on training my DS but he is currently rather unreliable and easily distracted.

I might do as surreylady does, put a load of washing on, or empty the dishwasher, or move washing from machine to tumble drier, easy chores that dont take long, during my lunch break. But anything more substantial, and I find it hard getting my "work head" back on.

I might add, in the evenings, work do tend to seep in, and I might spend my time combining work and mumsnetting.

My dh works from home while I work 4 days a week elsewhere. He says he finds stopping work to go and make the beds, put a washing on, empty the dishwasher, do a bit of hoovering or something like that "a change of pace". I love my dh

Ah well MN while working is another question entirely.

OP's DH is probably playing Wow

my dh works from home he does the washing and cleaning and picks uo dd when he has a break. he is talking shite!!