The true test of a marriage is not in how you stand by each other in sickness, health, richer, poorer, blah blah blah. No, the true test of a marriage is in how you work from home together - on the same day.
Many employers think they are doing their employees a huge favour by allowing them to work from home. And it is indeed a great boon. But what if your spouse's employer decided to bestow the same largesse? That's when things start getting sticky. You see, most households are not built to support two work-from-home people.
Take our case. On days that we both decide to work from home, there is raw turmoil in the house. We bicker over who gets to work out of the bedroon that boasts unparalleled luxuries like a door that can be closed to drown out the noise of the television and kids singing at the tops of their voices. The loser has to establish herself in the dining room, bang in the epicentre of the noisy everyday life that happens in our home. We quarrel over who gets to charge his/her laptop where, we bicker over who needs to drop the kids to school and over whose turn it is to entertain the sundry relatives who drop in "because we heard you were at home today".
Then there are other issues too. I can't work in my pyjamas. He will lounge around in t-shirt and shorts all day in a day-old salt-and-pepper (more salt than pepper I might add) beard. I take quick short breaks for my meals and then return to my desk. He drinks his tea, eats his breakfast, gobbles his lunch all while staring into the screen. He refuses to use any kind of headsets or mute his laptop forcing me to work with those irritatingly loud pings, crackles, and pops that can be heard from the next room. And if the wi-fi on his laptop freezes, he decides to unceremoniously reboot it - while I am in mid-mail, mid-chat, mid-something.
So, to those starry-eyed young ones who want to know whether it's for keeps, try this sure-fire test: work from home together for a few weeks. If you can survive that, you can survive anything. And add this line to your vows - In richness and in health, for richer, for poorer, through work from home arrangements and vacations..."
Many employers think they are doing their employees a huge favour by allowing them to work from home. And it is indeed a great boon. But what if your spouse's employer decided to bestow the same largesse? That's when things start getting sticky. You see, most households are not built to support two work-from-home people.
Take our case. On days that we both decide to work from home, there is raw turmoil in the house. We bicker over who gets to work out of the bedroon that boasts unparalleled luxuries like a door that can be closed to drown out the noise of the television and kids singing at the tops of their voices. The loser has to establish herself in the dining room, bang in the epicentre of the noisy everyday life that happens in our home. We quarrel over who gets to charge his/her laptop where, we bicker over who needs to drop the kids to school and over whose turn it is to entertain the sundry relatives who drop in "because we heard you were at home today".
Then there are other issues too. I can't work in my pyjamas. He will lounge around in t-shirt and shorts all day in a day-old salt-and-pepper (more salt than pepper I might add) beard. I take quick short breaks for my meals and then return to my desk. He drinks his tea, eats his breakfast, gobbles his lunch all while staring into the screen. He refuses to use any kind of headsets or mute his laptop forcing me to work with those irritatingly loud pings, crackles, and pops that can be heard from the next room. And if the wi-fi on his laptop freezes, he decides to unceremoniously reboot it - while I am in mid-mail, mid-chat, mid-something.
So, to those starry-eyed young ones who want to know whether it's for keeps, try this sure-fire test: work from home together for a few weeks. If you can survive that, you can survive anything. And add this line to your vows - In richness and in health, for richer, for poorer, through work from home arrangements and vacations..."
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