I just responded to an email that talked about telecommuting, and I thought I’d share my response here….

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I suppose I’ve almost always had non-office jobs.

A brief history:

• Teaching in grad school and later (no real office time)
• Peace Corps in West Africa (mud hut and all)
• Running a bed and breakfast (the ultimate work-at-home experience)
• Telecommuting first for an association then as an association vendor
• Freelance writing (present)

Working at home absolutely has its benefits, like the fact that I’m barefoot and in jeans and a sweatshirt right now while my cat sits on my lap.

But I really do miss things about working in an office.

I miss the public coffee pot where you get the “good mornings.” I miss white boards and brainstorming and meetings around a conference table. I miss an inbox that you feel obliged to keep tidy so no one knows how behind you are and the recycling bin that someone else empties. I miss the public printer you stand around waiting for someone else’s 25 color copies to print. I miss seeing a child’s artwork pinned to a cloth-covered cubicle wall. I miss fresh donuts on the kitchen table in the morning and the stale remnants in the afternoon that people tear bites off of. I miss the office manager who orders the ink and the supply cabinet where office goodies abound. I miss the sometimes grumpy IT guy who fixes your computer with a glance back over his shoulder as he comments, “You know you can’t have all this crap on here, don’t you?” I even miss the coffee-stained cheap mug with the chip that your boss got at an ASAE convention in 2003.

I love working for myself with my cat as an office mate, but sometimes it’s not quite the same.