Day Three
Yes, I am going to keep titling blog posts with the day count. If we get to Day 30-something, I swear to all of the gods I will ... do nothing. If that's how long it takes, I'll accept it. BUT I WILL BE VERY ANGRY.
I made it all the way to Day Three before I caved into all of the things that Mila wants. The kid is having the worst time with all of this because she's somehow a freak of an extrovert. While I would looooooove a few days of not having contact with anyone, that's her kryptonite. She. Is. A. Mess. She just wants to go to school and why can't she go to school? The bad germs have to be gone by now. She'll wash her hands. See? All better!
Oh, Mila.
Given that I'm already defeated, I let her trash every room in the house and didn't even raise an eyebrow. There's toys on the floor? That's cool. There's broccoli stuck to the ceiling? Seems reasonable. As long as we're staying away from internet articles about how to build a bomb, I think we'll be okay.
All of that giving up means I stopped trying to keep Mila busy elsewhere while I was in meetings. I am incredibly fortunate to work for a company that makes things that are crucial to basic infrastructure, so I'm good professionally. The company is owned by a giant conglomerate that has plenty of cash flow, so we'll be able to weather the storm. Unfortunately (fortunately?), we happen to be getting our asses handed to us right now because business is ... woof. There are so many things going on. Business is good, basically, which means I have no shortage of things that need to get done.
So I'm in a lot of meetings. It's essentially my job to be in meetings and make decisions. On a normal day, I'm in 6-7 hours worth of meetings. Right now I could be in 14 hours of meetings per day and I still wouldn't get to all of the business critical stuff, but whatever. I very literally spend my days jumping from one meeting to another.
(Side note: Microsoft Teams for the mother-effin win. I can't believe I ever slummed it with GoToMeeting or WebEx. Teams is sooooo much better.)
So, Mila is being super needy. I spend my days in meetings. She decided she was staying wherever I was all day today. I happened to be in her bedroom because our dogs are jerks and won't let me work from my home office. They bark nonstop the second I go up there, but Mila's room is at the far corner of the house and always quiet. Mila followed me to her room first thing this morning and that was that.
Several things happened.
First, I had a leader team meeting where I had to present some project updates. It just so happens that as I was reviewing a super critical project, Mila decided it was time for her to get dressed for the day. Basically, she was running back and forth in the background behind my computer the entire time I was talking. Streaking. Streaking my boss and aaaaallllll of the people who have the word "president" in their title. They didn't see her, BUT I COULD.
Try to keep a straight face while reviewing a project when there's a naked kid RIGHT THERE running back and forth. Go ahead. Try. If you succeed, we will know you're a better person than I am.
After that whole episode, I tried to convince Mila to go find another part of the house to exist in. Any part of the house. Her response, "Mom, this is MY room. I can be here if I want to be."
That's great considering she hasn't slept in her own room for like three years. I didn't know she knew it was her room.
Another meeting had extra special guests - every single stuffed animal Mila owns. She decided they all needed to sit in my chair with me, so she kept piling them on. It's a good thing she's short because there's only so much you can adjust your webcam so that your co-workers don't see your fuzzy little stuffed unicorn.
At the end of all of my meetings, Mila decided it was time to voice all of her opinions. For what it's worth, I have explained to her that it's my job to be in meetings. It's how I get money to buy her toys. Mommy sits through a project update and Mila gets a new doll. It is that simple. Thus, at the end of it all, Mila turned to me and said, "You get money for doing THAT?"
I'm not sure if she was impressed or horrified.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Reader Comments (4)
I figured you'd be delighted to keep up the numbered titles because it gets you out of having to keep coming up with a new title every day. Post titles are the bane of my existence.
I would not have kept a straight face as my child is streaking behind me. I'm trapped with a dog who feels the need to sit on my lap. I finally gave up on a real chair to our recliner. he can be near me but I can still schedule the items that need scheduling. I have had to apologize to co-workers while so dog has growled at outside noises. I can grab the mute quickly enough. this is turning into a shit show.
I've worked from home for 20 years, and I do think you're going to have to find a way to put a lid on the disruptions, one way or another. I think most people are willing to accept a little background noise given the circumstances, but too much is really distracting for the others in the meeting I'm certainly not going to tell you what you should do, but if you don't do something you'll end up with hypertension or worse before it's over.
And yes, it's quite likely to go for 20 to 30 days, if not more.
They have blurred backgrounds and such for Teams now: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3533448/microsoft-unveils-microsoft-teams-feature-to-filter-out-annoying-background-noise.html