Covid-19 one year later: the benefits of working from home

 In case you've been living under a rock, the world has been hit by a global pandemic. Exactly one year ago (12/03/2020) I was assigned to work remotely from work so, to celebrate this weird one year anniversary, I decided to write about the pros and cons of the situation I'm currently in.

Before Covid

Before this whole Covid-19 mess, I would wake up at 5.30 am, leave at 6.10 am (completely sleepwalking) and run to catch the train and then the bus which, most often than not, was late. I would get to work somewhere between 7.20 am and 8 am and leave between 4.30 pm and 5.30 pm, depending on whether  I had worked extra time that day or not. I would get home somewhere between 8 and 9 pm (depending on how late the bus was again) and only have time to have a shower and dinner before I went back to bed again, around 9.30 pm. So, on weekdays, my life was literally home-work work-home. I had no time for hobbies or socialization and on the weekends, I was so damn exhausted that I'd just sit down somewhere and stare at the nothingness before realizing I had spent several hours without doing anything productive (or just anything at all).

Still transports related, the price of the transports card had been lowered about a year after the pandemic hit, but its cost was still hurting my wallet since, for me, the price didn't really change that much. On top of that, I was declared a "critical user" for my team which meant that I had to carry a laptop to work every day. Because I have back pain, I got a trolley bag for the laptop, but its wheels are super loud when you're walking on the street, making everyone stare as you (which is not great when you have social anxiety), it's still painful to carry it up and down the stairs I inevitably need to cross to get to my destination and it's another pain to try to squeeze inside the always crowded train and bus where you are so tight you can barely even breathe.

Lunch times were great. Waiting in line on the cafeteria (or restaurant, as they call it in the company) was stressful because sometimes we were waiting for our turn for pretty much the entirety of our lunch break and had to aspirate our food in a hurry, but the food was so darn delicious that it made up for it. There were days when I had an absolutely terrible morning of work but came back in the afternoon completely revigorated and elated from a dish of great quality food and flavor. In all honesty, the food is probably the only thing I miss.

Speaking about queues though, there's one that's even worse than the cafeteria queue - the bathroom queue. There's nothing worse than having to wait in line when you really have to go.

Mostly, the office was nice, and both the desks and chairs were really ergonomic, but I spent many months shifting around in order to avoid being hit straight in the face by a blinding sun, because we had some broken blinders that maintenance just didn't care to repair.

On the social side, I have mixed feelings about my coworkers. As nice as they all try to be, they're also the kind of people who make jokes that make me uncomfortable and leave me wondering if I'm back at high school again (because some jokes are borderline bullying in disguise). Their constant banter and ruckus also made it really hard for me to concentrate on my job sometimes, especially when my ADHD was at its worse. So, in all honesty, I don't really miss them that much... better be alone than in bad company and all that.

After Covid

Most people complain that Covid took away their freedom and that they miss socializing. For me, it's quite the opposite; even though I've been locked at home for 12 months now (I don't even go out for a walk or to go shopping for food since my family handles that) this is the freest I've felt in a long time. The time I've been saving from using the never-on-time public transports brought me more hours of sleep before I start working in the morning and extra time after I finish work to dedicate to my hobbies - reading books, watching TV shows, playing video games... and hanging out with my friends on Discord. In all honesty, this is the most socializing I've done in years, since I simply didn't have the time or the energy for it before. And, not only I get to save time, I also get to save the money I was spending on the transports cards. And no more having to carry the laptop around everywhere and always living in fear that it'll get damaged or stolen.

Lunch time is a bit more chaotic because now I never have a specific time to have lunch anymore - literally, it will be whenever gran has it ready - but I no longer must wait in line to go eat. Or to use the restroom. Or to punch in/out.

I also no longer have the sun hitting my face or argue with people because the AC is either too cold or too hot and no one seems to agree on a middle ground temperature. And I can just unplug my headset and work at the sound of music without having my ears hurt at the end of each day from wearing the headset all day long. Being at home also means that everything I own is within my reach; this gives me the opportunity to read a book, check my personal email, work on a TTRPG or go on my exercise machine during my breaks (which, by the way, I didn't really have when I was at the office because I was so stressed out about getting everything done on time that I would work even during my lunch time).

I've also had some cases when I got sick all of the sudden and was just SO GLAD to be working from home. If you felt sick at work but didn't look sick enough and had meetings or stuff like that, you could be asked to just "stay for as long as you can". Other times, you do get sent home with your laptop so you can at least work from home but the problem for me is the time I waste in public transports. If I waste 2-3 hours going to work and then 2-3 more coming back home because I'm not feeling well, that's half a day of work I wasted already... and yet all my daily tasks are expected to still be done by the next day, which means I'm likely to end up working extra time to compensate (not only for the time lost in transit but also because, let's be honest, you're simply not as fast when you're sick). If I'm already home, it's just easier because I have blankets, tea, medication and everything else I might need at hand, without having to be bothered or bother anyone else, and I can be left alone in my little corner of the world and do my job at my own pace, without my coworkers even knowing I was sick.

On top of finally having more spare time for friends and family, I also get to be home. This means that I no longer have to worry whether or not my family is answering the door when one of my packages gets delivered, which also helped decrease my anxiety levels.

Overall, the only downsides of working remotely is that IT support is trickier when you have an issue and my family doesn't always respect the fact that I'm working and interrupts me with silly things (then again, it's not as if my coworkers weren't doing the same before). Other than that, this pandemic has brought me more positives than negatives.