21 Mar
2020
21 Mar
'20
9:11 p.m.
On 3/21/20 4:02 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
It seems weird to me, since I've worked at home
often over the years. My test bench at home is pretty much on par with my bench at work;
better in some areas, worse in others. But it ought to be similar, since I'm the one
who picked out all of the equipment in both cases!
I hope that after this over, more people will accept and understand working from home and
telepresence in general, after getting forced to have a taste of it. We use a lot of
energy and create a lot of pollution just moving people around needlessly.
Unfortunately a lot of that is done so that suits can "keep an eye on
us" and feel like they are in control and important. Many people base
their perceptions on their own value as people by how many other
peoples' lives they control, essentially lording peoples' livelihoods
over their heads.
This will likely persist as long as so many colleges continue to be
for-profit businesses, and continue to emphasize sports over education.
A lot of it is also just societal habit. I once had a small argument
with the (older) wife of a friend, when he was not present. She was
venting that he "hasn't even had a job in like six years!" He worked as
a contractor, almost always from home, and was highly paid. My response
to this unemployed wife was something like "The how is it that you, with
no job, live in a 3,000 square foot house and have three new cars?"
There was no response.
So, "a job" is generally taken to mean "Go to someone else's
building
at a specific time every day and do things that they tell you, that you
don't necessarily want to do". Fortunately those perceptions are
starting to change for the great unwashed, but they are getting a great
big kick in the butt this week, to be sure.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA