Remote workers....what do you actually do?

[mmmm...pow!]

With the pandemic driving remote workers into ski towns (and every other desirable place to live), it leaves those of us who actually need to show up to work wondering just what it is that you all do. I have visions of people that lack the basic knowledge of things like how to use a screwdriver or shovel a driveway making six figures by sitting on the couch and watching porn, commenting on tgr, and updating their instagram all day. If you just decided to not show up for a day or ten would anyone notice? Does your company actually need every one of those workers that's at home right now? What does your company even do? Is everyone just working for a "startup" making new apps that no one actually needs but people get them anyway just because they exist? Getting paid off posting your sprinter in cool places on instagram? Seriously, what the hell do you people do?

[Skidog]

i work for a Managed Service Provider. We help companies handle any/all aspects of Computing infrastructure. Cloud, Disaster recovery, Backups, Windows, linux, etc. I really just am the head the customer gets to bite off if shit goes south. If you're in tech, work from home gigs have been around for a minute. Could I fuck off for a day? Maybe, but my works flexible anyway. Could be up all night with a problem/upgrade, or could be pretty bored for days at a time because nothing breaks at a client...

[bagtagley]

Anybody that does most of their work from a computer can probably do it remotely. I'm sure there are exceptions, but that's generally the case. Old ideals and old farts are what keep those people in an office. The pandemic has made it clear that those old ideals are mostly wrong.

If I'm needed, I need to be there, but the idea that I need to be on a computer "working" for X number of hours, I think, is dumb. My supervisors agree. Sometimes I'm working late, sometimes my plate is empty and I get to fuck off (recently been using that time to renovate a house). I'm paid for my expertise, experience, and outcomes, not because my body is in a specific place at a specific time.

[acostiga]

i work for a large financial services company doing FX operations stuff, middle office operations work that hasn't/can't be automated or done by AI. before the pandemic we were told that our jobs couldn't be remote because of security reasons, including recorded phone lines for trade confirmations, but those solutions/work-arounds were implemented pretty quickly. we have all kinds of intra-day deadlines/etc and can't really even take a long lunch break most days, but have some staffing flexibility on days like today when lots of currencies aren't trading.

[nickwm21]

With the pandemic driving remote workers into ski towns (and every other desirable place to live), it leaves those of us who actually need to show up to work wondering just what it is that you all do. I have visions of people that lack the basic knowledge of things like how to use a screwdriver or shovel a driveway making six figures by sitting on the couch and watching porn, commenting on tgr, and updating their instagram all day. If you just decided to not show up for a day or ten would anyone notice? Does your company actually need every one of those workers that's at home right now? What does your company even do? Is everyone just working for a "startup" making new apps that no one actually needs but people get them anyway just because they exist? Getting paid off posting your sprinter in cool places on instagram? Seriously, what the hell do you people do?

I always wonder the same....

I know plenty of people that WFH and put in 40-60 hour weeks doing their job.

But I know people that always seem to be out biking, skiing, etc. taking conference calls from the lodge between laps. So you are getting paid to not work? You work for a company so irresponsible to let that happen or not know that it is happening? How is that sustainable? Aren’t you worried what other terrible decisions that company is making? How else is the company you work for wasting money?

My job is in the field so I am away from home at work all week. Working. Producing for my company so they can have revenue and I can pay my mortgage. So maybe I’m a little biased....


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[XXX-er]

We had our country level HW support done remotely as long as 25yrs ago, the support person could be literally anywhere in Canada that had an internet connection for them to plug in the LT to take calls on the cue, it didnt matter where they were as long as they took calls from the guy in the field.
,
their manager could pull up a screen and in 30 sec tell how long they were on line/ how many calls answered/ time on a call/ when they signed on all their stats just like if they were in the next cubical outside except working from home saves the mother corp $$$ on realestate

I know an Apple guy in a nice house living out on the lake, an ISM gal a block from the bike trails, they have lives up here they couldn't afford in the big city, my kid in calgary works for a company in Texas

OTOH was talkign to a accountant ski bud and he hates remote work wantsto/ has to come in but then its only 10 min drive, he might think different if it was a 1 hr comute

[RShea]

They are all experts on the TV remote obviously, now it requires skill for universal remotes- so that they can control more devices all at the same time and not have 2 devices in their hands. That is where the remote part of the job came from. The biggest issue is when it can't be found and they have to get up and walk across the room to change the channel.

[huckbucket]

I always wonder the same....

But I know people that always seem to be out biking, skiing, etc. taking conference calls from the lodge between laps. So you are getting paid to not work? You work for a company so irresponsible to let that happen or not know that it is happening? How is that sustainable? Aren’t you worried what other terrible decisions that company is making? How else is the company you work for wasting money?

Dude. How is it any of your business how companies use their money/resources?

[Skidog]

I always wonder the same....

I know plenty of people that WFH and put in 40-60 hour weeks doing their job.

But I know people that always seem to be out biking, skiing, etc. taking conference calls from the lodge between laps. So you are getting paid to not work? You work for a company so irresponsible to let that happen or not know that it is happening? How is that sustainable? Aren’t you worried what other terrible decisions that company is making? How else is the company you work for wasting money?

My job is in the field so I am away from home at work all week. Working. Producing for my company so they can have revenue and I can pay my mortgage. So maybe I’m a little biased....


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I mean or they value their actual employees?

[AK47bp]

With the pandemic driving remote workers into ski towns (and every other desirable place to live), it leaves those of us who actually need to show up to work wondering just what it is that you all do. I have visions of people that lack the basic knowledge of things like how to use a screwdriver or shovel a driveway making six figures by sitting on the couch and watching porn, commenting on tgr, and updating their instagram all day. If you just decided to not show up for a day or ten would anyone notice? Does your company actually need every one of those workers that's at home right now? What does your company even do? Is everyone just working for a "startup" making new apps that no one actually needs but people get them anyway just because they exist? Getting paid off posting your sprinter in cool places on instagram? Seriously, what the hell do you people do?

I work from home, don’t do shit.


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[warthog]

I am a manufacturers rep in the electrical industry. I have been WFH since 1999.
I do cover a territory that I am supposed to go out and call on customers. I sell only through distribution, so I have to go see them and make sure they are trained (ha), and that they know I am still alive. They also tend to get me involved in trickier sales, or when they need an "expert" (the guy that owns the samples). Other than that, I have really been doing this job from behind a computer/ phone more and more the last 6-10 years. I get building plans at very early stages and interpret them for contractor bids. Once one of my contractors wins the bid, I sit down with him or teleconference any ideas we have to "fix" or VE the job. I submit my product data, review with engineers, and update the plans as I see needed. I do this all from a computer and follow up with the phone, absolutely no need to go out face to face. Hell, I am pretty sure MOST of my engineers will never set foot in an office for much longer than 1 day, ever again.

So, I could technically do this job from anywhere, but I would need to show my face in the territory a bit. When Covid hit, some of the managers asked me what I thought. I responded that I thought it was my Super Bowl. Time to prove to them what I had been saying for years. I came in 97% of budget, which was about $400,000 more $$ than previous year, all in a pandemic. They are listening a bit more now. Other territories came in 65-70%.

[warthog]

They are all experts on the TV remote obviously, now it requires skill for universal remotes- so that they can control more devices all at the same time and not have 2 devices in their hands. That is where the remote part of the job came from. The biggest issue is when it can't be found and they have to get up and walk across the room to change the channel.

In that case, can anyone help me with the Firestick? I have Hulu+ Live, and when I scroll to the menu in Hulu Live, the voice over of what I was watching stops. On my Roku enabled TV's, I can still here the show I am watching while I scroll other stuff.

Is that a setting, or just a bad Firestick design?

[AK47bp]

Love how everyone is trying to justify their jobs to themselves and to the passive aggressive OP.

We get it, you are all more important than each-other.


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[Ted Striker]

I still don't understand what any of you do.

[Bunion 2020]

That makes 2 of us but for some reason I keep showing up every 2 weeks to my projects, wander around for 20 minutes mumbling to myself, get back in my truck and fill out a PDF and update a site map. I send out invoices and keep receiving payments.

Beats the fuck outta me.

[Dantheman]

That makes 2 of us but for some reason I keep showing up every 2 weeks to my projects, wander around for 20 minutes mumbling to myself, get back in my truck and fill out a PDF and update a site map. I send out invoices and keep receiving payments.

Beats the fuck outta me.

Congrats, you're a "box ticker":



Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues for the existence and societal harm of meaningless jobs. He contends that over half of societal work is pointless, which becomes psychologically destructive when paired with a work ethic that associates work with self-worth. Graeber describes five types of meaningless jobs, in which workers pretend their role is not as pointless or harmful as they know it to be: flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters. He argues that the association of labor with virtuous suffering is recent in human history, and proposes universal basic income as a potential solution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

[Peruvian]

All the free time newly minted WFH'ers have just confirms how much time was wasted in meetings, water cooler talk, etc.

I've been a telecommuter so long, I still call it telecommuting and could easily work 25 hours a week of I didn't have to be a slave to my phone and email for immediate response to customers.

[hatchgreenchile]

Congrats, you're a "box ticker":

One of my favorite books in recent years...he got quite repetitive at some points, but it was very insightful.

Need to post up those BS categories!

Flunkies - who serve to make their superiors feel important, e.g., receptionists, administrative assistants, door attendants
Goons -who oppose other goons hired by other companies, e.g., lobbyists, corporate lawyers, telemarketers, public relations specialists
Duct Tapers - who temporarily fix problems that could be fixed permanently, e.g., programmers repairing shoddy code, airline desk staff who calm passengers whose bags do not arrive
Box Tickers - who create the appearance that something useful is being done when it is not, e.g., survey administrators, in-house magazine journalists, corporate compliance officers
Taskmasters - who manage—or create extra work for—those who do not need it, e.g., middle management, leadership professional

[BmillsSkier]

[dtown]

I still don't understand what any of you do.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hNuu9CpdjIo


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[Percy Rideout]

This thread did not disappoint.

I bid work for a large concrete construction company. I really could be remote, but as stated above, old farts and old ideals bring me to the office m-f.

[XXX-er]

I still don't understand what any of you do.

I used to tell people I did nothing, so then someone said I heard about you, you are the guy who does nothing,

so then i told them I was a skier so then they ask do you teach skiing do you work at the hill do you patrol ????

no i just ski and they didnt understand that either

but its better than being known for nothing

[Bunion 2020]

Seinfeld parlayed that (Nothing) into big bank.

[CarlMega]

You can always tell when someone hasn't risen to a position where there is trust in their judgment. When you are the man, you don't have to explain your day. At some point, you are paying for my judgment, ability & methods, this is backed by a lifetime of demonstrable results.. you are not paying me for what you think I should be doing.

[Mustonen]

What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

FIFY