NOTE: I don’t know who all reads these articles I produce, and I doubt many people get through them without giving up halfway because whatever I am writing doesn’t appease their short attention spans. However, for those who do, I just want to extend an appreciation towards you. If you like what I write and want me to continue to write more, then the best way to support me is by following one of my various social media pages and seeing when another article comes up. I also recommend you send me some monetary support to show your support and to help me dedicate myself to my writing more intensively. Unfortunately, many of those in my circle who “support” me do not understand the value of showing financial support on any level. I do implore you to consider it because right now, I have all the time in the world to write and I will only be able to continue with you direct support. If you ever decide to do so, I appreciate you well in advance.
I have had a lot of different jobs. Between helping adjust watches at 13 to driving a Amazon van not less than a year ago to checking a spreadsheet for accuracy, I feel like any job that requires no previous experience I’ve have done either it or some version of it within my 30 years of existence. However, most of those jobs have been on site positions in one form or another, with one 1 job I have ever held being a work from home position. And out of all the jobs I’ve worked, it was by far my favorite job. Was I crazy about the work environment? No, not in the slightest. But it was probably the only job were I felt that I could meet expectations without busting my ass to accommodate some snobby motherfucker. Every single peer I had a pleasure of interacting with was pleasant. Even my supervisor, who ended up not continuing my contract, never said anything to me that indicated I was doing a bad job. And who knows, maybe I was doing a bad job (though my other coworkers could attest to my work abilities within the company). But working this job taught me several things about myself that no other job could ever teach me and I would like to share that experience with as many people as possible.
This wasn’t the only job where I didn’t have to talk to consumers on some level. I’ve worked as an assistant in a specialty pharmacy before getting promoted, and it was a very easy and pleasant job for sure. The only real downside is that it was temporary and I had to work in office, which requires a uniform to look presentable. One of the things I learned about working from home is how much I hate looking presentable for employers. It’s unnecessary. I’ve never had a customer complain about stumble on my face but I’ve had multiple managers care about it and it’s infuriating. I even got scolded on it in the cooperate environment where I wasn’t facing customers. Maybe I have been unfortunate and keep getting superiors who micro manage until the end of time, but not a single person gave a fuck about my face. I could not shave for weeks and they wouldn’t give a single shit. I personally shave on a weekly basis for my face and every 2-3 days on my bald head, but if I stopped tomorrow, I wouldn’t have a manager giving me a “hey, you are going to get fired if you don’t fix this issue” at all. The lack of pressure gives me more room to think for myself and even without expectation, I still found myself shaving and dressing up in a nice button-up for meeting, even if I was wearing pajama bottoms.
A lack of dress code is probably one of the best reasons to work at a work from home job. Of course wear a nice shirt for video interviews, but they couldn’t care less otherwise. It is such a money saver. Clothes, especially in this economy, are so expensive. Most of my clothes are shirts and jeans I’ve owned since high school. I’m almost 30. That was over 10 years ago. Working in retail for as long as I did, and also other work environments where dressing up was not optional but required really does a number on your bank account. So does driving to the office. And so does eating when you aren’t home. Which is another thing I learned from working from home is just how expensive working on site is on an individual. Sure, you could pack a lunch, but I also found myself eating less throughout the day working from home than in the office. Also, I didn’t drive anywhere for work, which made affording a social life that much easier. Imagine not paying for gas, not paying for lunch, working from home in your pajamas. Who wouldn’t want that life? Saving money and having less things to worry about? What am I, a respected human being?
Working in retail made me truly believe I wasn’t human in some situations. Working directly with consumers in the most mentally, emotionally and physically draining work anyone could do. Sure, working at Amazon as a delivery driver was physically exhausting and I definitely had my bad days, but it wasn’t as bad as ringing up 100 customers in under an hours and most of them bitching about a BOGO they misread. And you feel much more compelled to disregard your boundaries to help other people in various different circumstances, which even if you don’t attend to yourself well enough to understand your boundaries is still frustrating enough to put you in a bad mood. But working from home? Shit, put them on hold, go outside for a second and take a fresh breath of air and go back inside in moment. Feeling cranky and need some extra snacks? You don’t need to pay into a vending machine or bring some to prep, just go to your own food supply and take it from the source. So much more money and time saved working from how than working in an office or retail position.
Saving so much money on the work end made it so much easier to socialize and enjoy stuff from restaurants and bars without breaking my bank. Which leads to a lot more stories to tell, and a lot more friends along the way. Meeting people in a work environment, either as coworkers or as serving someone, always led me to crumbling friendships. Being able to meet and interact with people in a more social environment lets me get outside of my shell a bit more without a feeling of judgement or reprimand. Which led to better work performance without feeling stressed or pushed to meet a goal or deadline. It isn’t like I didn’t have those while working from home, but they became much more manageable and obtainable when I didn’t have so many things on my plate already. And being a better worker in metrics wasn’t something I expected out of a work from home job, but it’s something I learned happens when I work from home. I do so much better when I am told I need to do something and then I am given a decent paycheck and full trust to do it without much (if any) oversight. Even though my contract didn’t get extended (seniority reasons), I was outperforming everyone else in my circle and without even trying. In fact, I was trying to not work as hard as I usually do in a job because I don’t want to extend myself too thin that I forget to take care of my own needs (something I have a habit of doing).
Being able to excel in my job while being able to attend to my emotional and mental needs and getting paid well made me realize just how valuable I am as an individual in this working economy. One thing I can say about Publix, despite my years and my promotions is that I never truly felt appreciated for my hard work. Lower wages and small raises made my contribution to the company minuscule in comparison to other individuals. And I worked my add off. Between the OT I took on as a pharmacy tech during COVID to all the department’s I was never trained in having me do so much for them for so little made it hard for me to want to live. I still struggle with depression but working in retail and in-office jobs only perpetuated this because of a fundamental resource I took advantage of every week I worked from home; my bed. I took naps literally 3 days a week while working from home, and each nap was just as good as the last nap I took in bed. Working in office doesn’t give you a proper space for you to just crash if you are emotionally, physically or mentally drained. But working from home? I had N.A.P. meetings so much that my overall brain function has increased. I swear I have been retaining more knowledge working from home than any job I have ever worked before, which only benefited the company I worked for.
Overall, working from home taught me that I am at my best working in an environment were I am respected by every human I interacted with, doing what I need to do for myself while also meeting criteria the job has asked of me, and saving a lot of money in the process. I am currently unemployed at the moment, but I don’t think any job I will have will ever compare to that job (unless I was writing for a living, which requires people to invest in me and be interested enough in my content to pay me to continue writing). I am going to try and write at the minimum of once a week if not more for the duration of the year, so keep looking out for more blogs by me. Thank you for reading.
Damon Leif 
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