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Social Contact and Working at Home - Simmone

Posted: Jan 21, 2010

I'm strongly considering working at home. Do any of you who work at home have tips on balancing out the long hours working alone with having social contact, especially those of you who live alone or live with one other person? I'm already an introvert to an extent but I'm nervous of the fact that if I work at home, I may become a hermit.

Social contact. - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
Fellow potential hermit here. I solved a lot of that by going back to work part time at a hotel where I have worked in the past. It gives me enough contact with other humans to remain a social creature, but not so much contact that I feel the need to get a gun. ;)

It makes me appreciate my time alone at home even more, I have to say.

Working at home and social contact - MT who knows

[ In Reply To ..]
Well, I think that a person has to be a introvert in order to want and continue to do MT at home. Working at home as an MT is NOT the same as working at home in another profession that say you would go out to meet and greet clients or only work at home on occasion or even working part-time (16 hours) as an MT. I worked at home as an MT full-time, because it was required, and I HATED IT. I am an extravert and would choose to be around people and have a job where I worked with people -- MT at home is terrible. Not only was the work network that I was working on terrible by continually disconnecting me, but the office staff thought that it was not really happening and that I should just flex time and work whenever, which I thought was total bullsh_t. I think that if you are an introvert anyway and can deal with the constant bogus bullsh_t of the fooling around with network connections in order to flex your schedule, then you should be okay. If you are an introvert and work anyway around people chances are that you are already really working alone. Right?

On and off social butterfly, when I want to be - L

[ In Reply To ..]
I donâ��t care 1 bit about working at home by myself, not in the least. Hubby is home every other day but I have 3 kittycats who think I am at their beck and call 24/7, which I usually am. I start my day at 12 and in the mornings I have time to do what I want, that being animal rescuing when I want, some days off I enjoy taking myself to the movies. Hubs is not allowed since he falls asleep and tries to snore. He is my best friend and we go out to dinners some and mostly just hang out around here. Now am planning a high school reunion next year and plan on being the belle of the ball at that time, getting all dolled up and such. I have a blast at those and then back to home again. I have interactions with others but do not need to see people every single day.

You made me laugh with your comments about your cats. - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
As I type this, I have two cats on the chair next to me, one cat on the pull out of the desk where my mouse sits, and another cat trying her hardest to get at my bowl of dry cereal that I'm munching on. I'll take them over people anyday.

Sometimes wonder why I had children when I could - L

[ In Reply To ..]
have just had the kitties instead. They are so much easier. Hubs says I forget about myself when getting up. I make my coffee after I get my kitty's food together and do not eat until later in the morning. I have one boy over 20 something pounds and I have to go to the store (where I can see others, if need be) and get treats for those 3 kitties every week and then they sit and meow at me for their treats. When hubby is home, very quiet around here. They are my loves and hubby knows it. I have to be a home person for them. I have my smallest girl, Gina LaBella (she is an Italian kitty, yeh right) lying right in front of me now. She is sleeping, I just finished my work for the day. My other 2 are around here somewhere. My kitties can tell time- can yours? Every night around 10 is when I am thinking about bed and getting their final treats out and that is when they are busy swishing around me.

Mine for sure tell time. We put the food bowl away at night - MissIndigo

[ In Reply To ..]
so the two guys come sit in the dark by my bed each morning and attach themselves to my ankles as soon as they swing to the floor. Annabelle, who sleeps on our bed, follows us downstairs sedately. I never have to worry about stepping on them because I wouldn't dream of taking a step without looking.

And yes, it's raining out, so Oliver is dozing on my desk as I type, Annabelle is sleeping in the swivel rocker a couple feet away, and Jack is in his usual winter position on top of the floor vent.

I have what I think is an austic kitty - L

[ In Reply To ..]
But he is the only 1 of the 3 that is outside my bedroom door each morning. I will feed them all and then he will come back my desk in awhile just for a short pat, a very short pat and then he wants to be down and about. He starts the meowing around 6 something each morning. If I didn't love him so much I would have kitty sandwich for lunch- Just kidding!

lol. I've threatened to turn mine into kitty stew on more than one occasion - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
For any number of various infractions. I have 8 of the little varmints, though, so I get a lot of infractions. I don't wonder any more why I'm single, either..........

;)

I would have more than the 3 I have but - L

[ In Reply To ..]
for some reason hubby thinks I will turn into that little ole lady cat hoarder you hear about on the news.

My family worries about that, too, I think. - Happy MT Robin

[ In Reply To ..]
I do know how to say no, I just don't feel the need to do it very often. I know I have too many cats. One of my oldest ones (19) just passed away about a month ago, so I had nine for a while. Way too many freaking cats, even for me. The only thing that really started saving my sanity is I was able to enclose a portion of my back yard into what I call the "cat room." They can go out and lay in the sun and play in the dirt, but not roam around and get in fights with the other cats in the neighborhood. Best of all, I was able to block out about a 4 x 6 space and fill it with sand, so there is an outdoor litter box. I still have to scoop it out (with a perforated shovel from a landscape supply store), but I don't have to do it as often and if/when it gets stinky, hey, it's outside!!!

Not really working alone - Simmone

[ In Reply To ..]
Actually, no. It seems like people tend to bother me more. Alone does not always mean lonely. As a medical transcriptionist, we are alone to a degree, of course. But I wonder how in world some of them get any transcription done when I seems like they are always socializing.

Social Contact and Working at Home - Yzetta

[ In Reply To ..]
Simmone, do NOT neglect social contact. Have meaningful, enjoyable social contact with people at least a couple of times a week. Make yourself do it if you start feeling like, "I don't want to bother..."

I considered myself not only an introvert, but a down-right loner. I thought I "hated people" and loved the idea of working at home (it also allowed me to keep an eye on my elderly mom). I worked at home FT as an MT and it screwed me up so much I actually lost my job over it. (Long story.) If you are going to work at home FT, get a job where you don't type one specialty all the time, either. The office I worked for was a great bunch of people and treated me as right as rain, but I got bored out of my ever-lovin' mind typing the same things over and over. That + isolation (I only went to the store and to church) sent me into a funk so bad I couldn't function, and let me re-iterate: I am an introvert and actually like being by myself for considerable stretches of time. However, no one can stand tedium and lack of social contact over weeks and months - they'll crack.

Only you know how much of an introvert you are, and I hope I don't sound alarmist...but I don't want anyone to go through what I am going through. I lost a good paying job with benefits. Now I am now working at a major retailer for half of what I made as an MT - with no benefits - and am struggling to get back into the field all because I did not take care of my emotional life.

Yzetta, I sent you an e-mail. Have a nice one. NM - MissIndigo

[ In Reply To ..]
x

That makes a lot of sense - Simmone

[ In Reply To ..]
I appreciate your comment and I'm really sorry to hear what happened to you. I thought I would ease into working at home by starting part time and then eventually go full time. And then arrange some social activities around. Someone commented about volunteering which is a really good idea. I also would like to take a few classes for personal interest. I just don't want to lose my mind.

Hi, Simmone. I have an easy answer! - MissIndigo

[ In Reply To ..]
What works really great for me is volunteering at a local arboretum, which provides ready-made groups of people who also like to stand around potting up seedlings, all the while talking ad nauseum (not!) about gardening. The Tuesday group is a small intellectual one that gets a lot done, the Friday group a big gabby one that goes out to lunch afterward, and all are themselves wonderfully interesting people who never find me boring. :)

What makes socializing through volunteering such great insurance against isolation for MTs, is it gathers people of like interests/values together at scheduled times, these groups are usually very *easy to join,* it opens otherwise-closed doors to very intriguing and sometimes very important activities (great for enlarging home-sized worlds), and, not least, it's usually a very inexpensive way to have fun.

It's a very dependably available solution, too. There are always lots and lots of opportunities to choose from.

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