I call it home, she calls it her office
It’s around 10:30 Friday morning; I’m at the office. My roommate, who works from home, has just sent me a second Snapchat video of the cat pawing at a plastic bag.
“Busy day at the office?” I text back.
“The new hire isn’t pulling her weight! LOL LOL!” She responds immediately with another picture of Mittens — now lying belly up on the floor looking unimpressed.
So it’s going to be one of those days. She’s been working from home for the past six months and by now I know when she’s climbing the condo walls.
Beyond all the homemade cat videos in production, there are the high-energy, overly enthusiastic greetings I receive when I get home. Along with that is an increased willingness to listen to every detail of my streetcar commute. Yes, these are usually adventure stories filled with mayhem, despair and revenge, but they don’t often elicit rapt attention. More likely this is just symptomatic of a person who is starved for water cooler conversation.
There is also a growing disregard for dress codes and physical appearances that may not be known to the sufferer herself.
“Pyjama pants again today, eh? And is that a bandana on your head?” I pointed out gently after I got home yesterday.
“No one ever sees me,” was the response I got.
Often there is fresh laundry hung all over the place and everything looks spick and span, as if someone spent the day polishing the kitchen floor. If there’s banana bread baking, things are really bad.
Working from home is increasing in popularity — but it has its challenges. There are plenty of distractions and there’s no one there to apply any peer pressure to keep you in line. I’d also argue living with someone working from home, in a downtown condominium, is just as challenging.
Space is always tight. So with no one else around during the day, the worker cannot be contained to one room. The furniture originally purchased for leisure transforms into office equipment: the dining room table becomes a desk, the coffee table a filing system, the lounge chair doubles as a charging station. The apartment takes on a dual identity — workspace by day and home by night.
Trouble starts to brew when work hours don’t align.
After a full day working reasonable hours in the outside world, all I want to do is go home and put my feet up. It can be hard to walk through the door of the condo and feel like you’ve just stepped into another boardroom.
With the flexibility that comes with having a home office, my roommate’s schedule would start later in the day and go well into the evening. There were many evenings when I inadvertently wandered into a video conference call while heading to the couch with a bottle of wine in my “namaslay” sweatshirt.
At times I couldn’t tell if she was still working. She’d just be sitting on the couch with her laptop. Was she listening to me or did that vague, distracted look in her eye mean she was still at it?
After a few months, we compromised on pumpkin time. By six o’clock the common areas change back to their original state.
This helps when you’re sharing a condo, but the situation still requires empathy from all parties. There have been plenty of times when I’ve had to check myself. Since you can’t help but feel like someone is always, always home it can be easy to assume they are ready and willing to handle any daytime errand.
Surely, she can let the plumber in, follow up on a noise complaint with the property manager, and pick up the food delivery box, right? And what, no banana bread today? No. So can you share a condo with someone who works from home? Sure, but it’s best to discuss your needs and establish some boundaries. Either that or get your roommate interested in renting one of those co-working spaces offered in the city.
It will cost you in cat videos, but reward you in breathing space.
After a full day working, it can be hard to walk through the door of the condo and feel like you’ve just stepped into another boardroom