Marissa Mayer

Marissa Mayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


I’m sure a lot of Yahoo employees are upset about their chief Marissa Mayer taking away their work from home privileges.
Some would say they should be happy to have a job and just get in to the dang office like everyone else.
It will be interesting to see if this policy sticks long-term.
I remember discussing the work from home option with some of my co-workers. There were a lot in the “for” camp and also some on the against side.
I thought it might be cool to do it a day or two a week at the most, if for no other reason than providing a little variety to our work lives.
Work is oftentimes about how stimulated and engaged we can be while doing it.
Some would say the office environment is best for productivity purposes.
Others say working from home gives them the freedom and ability to be themselves more and thus become more productive overall, by doing so.
I still did not know whether working from home would be something I would like full-time, all the time. I don’t like doing much of anything all the time. If you work a full-time job, having some variety environment-wise while on the job, would probably make you more productive overall, if you think along these lines, as you would possibly remain interested longer.
Keeping oneself interested can be challenging, and speaking of becoming disinterested…
One day when we were rehashing the pros and cons of all this, someone mentioned, “I don’t want to work at home. If I work at home I won’t get snow days.”
Bingo.
Snow days.
Description unavailable

Description unavailable (Photo credit: pennstatenews)


Thus, the seed was planted.
I like blogging from home and do so all the time. Frankly, blogging is like a job only I love doing it. We don’t have to love our jobs, not many of us do, and if we can put things more on the “like” side of the ledger by working or blogging from home, than not, then by all means let us be able to do so.
But no snow days?
That would not be snow nice. In fact it would be more like the word that rhymes with truck except it has an “s” in place of the “tr” in front of it.
So, since I blog from home exclusively (except when I’m on the road), I have to blog through snowstorms if I begin a post and then it starts snowing.
I can’t call in.
I can’t say, “I can’t get my car out of the driveway.”
Well, I can say that, but it wouldn’t make sense (for many reasons).
I’m my own boss, so I’d be calling and telling myself this. It’s a total quandary, not to mention, just not something normal people do.
Plus, it doesn’t matter a bat’s pass that I can’t get the car out of the driveway—just keep typing, fool.
People that work from home that do things other than blogging, are typically using a computer.
I’ve seen Facebook postings during blizzards from people working at home that go something like this:
“I’m so thankful I can work from home and don’t have to be driving in this.”
I thought about all the times I risked life and limb driving in lousy conditions just to get in to the office so I could work.
I guess I feel if you are able to work from home, you should watch what you say on Facebook, especially when what you’re saying has the potential to make a co-worker that is commuting in the very inclement weather you’re referencing, pretty resentful.
I’m thinking Marissa might have seen, or gotten wind of, a Facebook status update along these lines.
As Facebook prompts, “What’s on your mind, Marissa?”
“Well, effectively immediately, all dumb Facebook status updates must now be done in the office.”
And there you have it.
Man, that snow’s comin’ down…and it’s sticking, too!