The title of this post was to be “So, Music?” but it started with a lie about what i was thinking about in traffic this morning and then wandered on a tangent so I’ve changed the title and I’ll come back to the other another time…
So while I was sitting in traffic this morning, I was thinking how bloody dumb is it to sit in a car for an hour and a half to travel about 6 and a half miles?
I mean, here I am doing my utmost to get a bit fitter and more importantly to loose some (a lot, if I’m being honest) weight and I’m sitting on my fat ass in a car that’s travelling at an average speed that’s slower than me walking!
Then tonight I get home from work late, on a friday evening, change and rush out to the gym to go do a 90 minute workout??? (That I didn’t have the energy to finish) when did the world get so messed up?
Now I know what your thinking, well why don’t you just ditch the car and walk then or cycle? well I work in sales, I’m a customer facing member of the company who has to present a professional image and lets just say smelling like I just walked/cycled to the office would not be acceptable.
So instead of walking/cycling to the office and arriving fresh and awake to begin my days work, I arrive to the office having had to get up before the sun and slowly build stress for an hour and a half before my day begins, I get to arrive to work, like most who work in Dublin, stressed and in a bad mood, this is our burden to carry until next May/June when the primary school kids stop driving to class for there summer holidays.
The sad Irony is there is no real need for me to be in the office 9 to 5.30 every day. What?
Think about it I work for the largest Internet hosting company in Ireland. All the tools of my job are available to me from anywhere, with one exception and that I could actually get around with a little help from one of our support staff.
To explain, the tools of my job consist of the desk phone (easily forwarded to my company mobile)the company web site (it better be available on my broadband connection) my CRM application which is also web based, and my outlook e-mail (thats the bit that I need help with) oh and of course the company IM.
So why can’t I either work from home unless I’m actually due to be meeting a client or at the very least start my day from home so I don’t have to sit in the rush hour traffic? well I’m kinda hoping it’s cause I ain’t asked 
(see ya monday Boss 
)
Now here’s a thought, I can’t be unique in this, have a look at your own job if you work in an office, chances are you use a PC of some sort to access files and your e-mail and maybe some special software that relates specifically to your job or company and a phone and maybe an IM app of some sort.
Newsflash we live in the 21st century, if it’s on a computer it can be accessed from anywhere over a secure web connection. I’m not going to get into how cause that would be to much like work but it can be done.
Now think about how many people you know in the same situation in Dublin. Why aren’t more companies doing this?
Is it lack of Broadband? well possibly outside of Dublin but most people commuting to work here have access to Broadband.
Is it the cost of the computer systems, possibly, but they can be offset by the increase in productivity.
Is it because the boss is a power mad megalomaniac? more than likely not
So why are we sitting in traffic day in day out when we could be working from home, there by reducing the number of cars on the streets and improving everybodies quality of life, while lowering greenhouse gas emmissions?
I’m starting to think it’s cause we the workers haven’t asked, and I don’t mean asked once I mean asked regularly, if I were to change job in the future I think this will have to be part of the package. I’d recomend anyone who’s tired of rush hour and the stress it brings to talk to your boss about this, maybe they’ll listen maybe they won’t but I think if we don’t ask and keep asking we’ll never have the option.
