Daily routines may be viewed as mundane for some people, but for others they are an essential part of their very lives. I fear that I fall into the latter category.
For the past three weeks, the office of the Houlton Pioneer Times has been closed for renovations. At first I thought it might be cool to work from home. Afterall, I’d be able to gaze at our Christmas tree and all the beautiful decorations, all from the comfort of home, while still cranking out news stories, editing copy and posting to the website.
Many friends commented on social media on how much they loved working from home and how lucky I was to be doing the same. Other coworkers and friends in the media industry all told me they actually prefer being home, but I can’t for the life of me understand why.
Reality set in rather quickly and it wasn’t pleasant. Working from home stinks.
I am a creature of habit. I can admit that. I like to start my day at the office early and alone, when it’s nice and quiet. While enjoying a cup of coffee, I scan the news sites and read through emails as I prepare for my day.
My work attire gave way to jeans and sweatshirts, which sounds great at first. But just as having lobster every day would cheapen the experience, the joy of “dressing down” wore off rather quickly. I tried dressing up one of the days, but even that felt wrong and I quickly abandoned it.
On my first day home, I tried working at a makeshift area in our basement. I brought my big computer monitor and office chair from work home with me, so I sat down that first day to get to work. After about 30 minutes, I realized that my fingers were starting to shiver from the cold temperature in the basement.
We do not have much in the way of heat down there, so I snatched one of our portable, electric heaters thinking that would be the solution. Boy, was I wrong. While one side of my body was roasting from the direct heat, the other side was freezing. I think I lasted about two hours before giving up and retreating upstairs to the dining room table.
On the second day, I soon discovered that either the table is too high or my chair is too low. Or maybe it is that my eyesight has gone downhill quickly because I started developing a stiff neck trying to get just the right angle so I could see things clearly. I picked up a pair of reading glasses at the local dollar store, but it was all for naught.
The pain in my neck was starting to become an analogy for my thoughts on working from home.
By day three, I had already forgotten what day it was. I panicked thinking that I had completely missed the deadline on a number of stories, only to realize that the paper had already come out. That’s when I knew I was in trouble.
By day four, my early rising routine seemingly went out the window as the 6 a.m. alarm morphed into a 7 a.m. (or sometimes even later) wake-up call. My routine was shot.
I soon noticed any excuse to get up and away from the computer was the norm. Whether it was going to the mailbox to see if any packages arrived or looking in the fridge to see if something tasty had somehow appeared magically since the last time, I was making any excuse to get up and walk around the house.
Getting through that first week was rough, but I saw light at the end of the tunnel, or so I thought. We had a short week for Thanksgiving, and then I would be able to get back into the office and back to reality.
Unfortunately, as often happens with construction projects, the renovations to our office morphed from a two-week plan into a three-week plan. And even now as we near the end of three weeks, another extension of the work at home plan seems likely.
To those of you who enjoy it, I tip my cap to you. You are a rare breed. You are a steadfastly independent person who can accomplish great things. Me? Well, I guess I am still trying to figure that part out.
Hopefully there will be a return to normalcy just around the corner. Until then, I must carry on … pain in the neck and all.
Joseph Cyr is the assistant editor/senior reporter for the BDN weekly newspapers. He can be reached at 532-2281 or via email at jcyr@bangordailynews.com
