Just about every job I have ever had came with good and bad, just like most do. The best part about my job now is that I can meet so many people on a daily basis without meeting them. I get to find out when they are expecting, when their kids are born, when someone is getting hitched. The same thing that everyone else does within a normal 9-5 job out in the tick tock world. The only difference I have is that my job is virtual. I use a computer to do my work; my tools are my monitors, my keyboards & my mind. This is my matrixed environment.
Every day I am bouncing between web browsers, two different machines, email, support tickets, ordering systems, live chat, the phone and our staffer lounge. One minute I can be researching something for a project and then next minute I am listening to my favorite song to help pass the time by. The phone rings, the front door bell goes off, a tea kettle at lunch. Same type of work, just a different working environment.
I truly mean no offense when I say that I love how all of my co-workers are online in the virtual world but it’s honestly quite better this way. In a normal office you have the insane commute which you bitch about at least once a week, the break-room that no one seems to clean and all the boring distractions that an office brings. Now in my work world my commute is however long it takes me to get out of bed, grab a drink in the morning with breakfast and head into my office. The distractions I deal with are (most days) great; a cute kid, cat, fish or puppy. The disturbing noisy co-workers are nowhere near me and I can work in peace & quiet.
What is honestly not to love about that? Let’s try to get past those perks to start with, yes I can choose to work in my PJ’s if I really want to, and do most days I am not doing that but I have and I will not like about it (esp. when sick). It happens okay, just deal with it. I run on two computers now as it seems I like the idea of having most of my email separate on its own machine and synergy works great for this, unless it flakes out and a quick restart of the program kicks it back into shape. I am thinking about cutting back to only one machine, but really, what is the fun in that?
People tend to think I am this OCD geek who can not do anything without planning for it, too a point they are right. I have a double whiteboard calendar above one monitor (which is more like a gathering place for things to hang now) and two other whiteboards that have replaced the dreaded sticky notes. I get to keep cool toys on my desk like a random Penguin from years ago when we built a server for a friend of ours, a bear that came out of Germany from my travel agent days, a random frog and yes even a Gryphon Hatchling that the cat occasionally likes to knock off the desk. At the end of the week though my work life is anything but different; my desk is still wrecked from the week of insanity, my calendar shows a ton of things on the to do list & on Friday come clock out time you can bet my leg shakes down to the last few seconds just like it did before the school bell would ring. Welcome to My matrixed environment, enjoy the stay.
