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Hello, Hola, Guten Tag, Bonjour, こんにちは !
Welcome everyone,
this is a podcast for those wanting to learn about U.S. culture through Standard American English, also known as General American. We talk about various different topics related to the U.S. and the U.S.'s relations with other countries.
My co-host and I would like to think of this as more of a journey because you never know where it’ll take us. Plus, since the journey’s more important than the end or the start, we hope that you’ll be willing to join us!
Let’s see where it takes us!
Hello and welcome.
My name is Christopher Chandler.
And my name is Kris Schauer.
And we are Generally American.
In our podcast, we discuss events,
culture, whatever else we want from a
generally American perspective.
From our differing viewpoints, our goal is
that we can offer others and ourselves
nuanced opinions on fascinating topics
related to the US.
We invite you to be part of the discussion
and we hope that you'll stick around to
see where the conversation takes us.
So let's dive in.
Hello.
And we're live.
We are, welcome back.
That took me off guard, it didn't do the
countdown this time.
No, it did, it did on my part.
Oh, I'm glad it did for you.
Yeah, so I guess it's officially fall or
winter, I'm not sure.
It's fall.
Yeah, it's fall, it's definitely fall.
In any rate, it's getting pretty dark at
around like 5 p.m.
now, so.
Which is kind of depressing.
Uh...
But it is what it is.
Weather-wise, it's been actually really,
really rainy.
Unfortunately.
Although I do enjoy the golden leaves, but
it's very rainy.
It's very windy.
Nothing interesting has really happened
weather-wise.
Although we did have a small storm.
and storms always very interesting for
German media.
From my American perspective, it's not
really a storm.
But a lot of Germans see it that way.
I always joke with my wife and my friends
that as soon as like a trash can gets
blown over by the wind, the Germans
consider it to be a storm.
But I digress.
How about you?
Well, it's uh, the it's been
not horrible with the lack of daylight.
I get off work at 3pm now, so when I go
out after that, like, I don't know, the
sun is at just like the right level where
it just blasts me in the face and it's too
low for like my sun visor in my car to
stop it.
So I always hate that of this time of
year.
But no, it's after the little cold snap we
have, it's just been like 40 to 50s and
windy.
It gets so windy here this time of year
and it's gonna stay windy for a few months
and it's awful.
Uh, it's worse than the snow.
Like, I can live with the snow and the
ice.
It brings its own challenges.
Mm.
Hate the wind.
I hate it so much.
I don't know if I'm really bothered by the
wind.
Although, if you have wind and snow, it
makes it feel a lot colder than it really
is.
I'm still kinda- Well, it just rubs you of
your heat.
Oh, that's why you need a windbreaker.
Like, I, uh-
We had our final week of kickball this
Wednesday, and it was like 45 degrees
outside, 45, 50.
So it's cold but not freezing, especially
if you're playing sports, it's fine.
But it was so windy, and I'm just wearing
my kickball t-shirt and my athletic pants.
And every time I'd go to the sideline or
I'm not kicking, I'd throw on my jacket,
and my arms were getting numb.
Like it was...
It would have been better if it was like
30 degrees colder and no wind.
Yeah, that's true.
I definitely get the feeling.
Although it doesn't get that cold here,
truth be told.
Um, but yeah, so that's the bi-weekly
weather report.
Uh, before I actually get onto the actual
topic for today, today's, I guess, kind of
a special day in a couple of different
countries.
Um.
so correct me if i'm wrong subangina a lot
of person face book but isn't today
veterans day all i almost forgot it is
here so that it's not got on me this year
so uh...
yesterday i was trying we were trying to
do some stuff at my new job uh...
them part of it involved the government
and we can get ahold of any everyone and
really that they're observing veterans day
today
today's veterans day in the last two yet
to our people who have served in the u.s.
military which always confuses me because
there's veterans day in this memorial day
and from i feel like it's the same thing
but it's actually not uh...
but more of the is in is may isn't uh...
yeah should be and i think memorial
specifically like those who passed on
uh...
yes
So it's Veteran Day, so I've been seeing a
lot of posts on Facebook, you know, people
thanking everyone for their service,
because I have a couple of family members
who served in the US military, so I've
been seeing a lot of that.
There's that, and today is Singles Day in
a couple countries, so especially in
China.
I don't know if you know that.
Have you heard of that?
No.
Yes.
Yeah, so if you take a look at the date,
if you take a look at the date, you have a
bunch of ones.
So it's the 11th of November, which is
today when we were recording.
And so you have a bunch of ones.
A lot of people feel like those look like
a lot of like stick figures.
So a lot of single people.
So in some countries, especially in Asia,
it's considered Singles Day.
So you get like a lot of deals people who
are single, which I thought was very
interesting.
And the last thing I wanted to mention was
it's also a holiday today in Germany.
So it's St.
Martin's Day.
And it's the beginning of the carnival
season for a lot of cities in Germany.
So you can go to the bakery this morning
and you can get themed pastries.
I wouldn't say it's a super important
holiday in Germany, but it's important for
people who enjoy festivities or carnival
stuff.
I'm not necessarily one of those people.
But yeah, I just thought it was
interesting that it's
that the 11th of November is a holiday or
like an important day in so many different
places.
Just like a small side note I wanted to
mention.
That's cool to know though, I had no idea.
Yeah, so I guess you could, we should have
that in the US.
We just have...
black friday but that'll be in a couple
weeks yeah well hey i'll be shopping for a
new tv for my new place so i get some use
out of it this year so what is our actual
topic are actual topic is kinda continuing
on the seeming of last week of talking
about what's current my life
We're going to be talking about working
from home specifically, the boom that
happened due to COVID over the last three
years.
Yeah, I think that's when it really
started.
I guess technically speaking, the pandemic
isn't over, although for me and for
everyone else I think we've all
collectively moved on.
But I feel like that was really the
turning point for like working from home.
Because before that, obviously I knew what
that was, but it was nothing I could
really imagine, because up until that
point I've always just gone somewhere to
work, and now all my work is remote.
Which has its ups and downsides, but we'll
get into that later in the episode.
It definitely does.
So I just finished my second week at my
new job, and they're based like...
two thousand plus miles away from me they
wanted me to move down there and uh...
i respectfully declined uh...
but i'm all set up promotes i have all my
work software here i dial in with a vp and
into their systems every day uh...
my have a phone that i can use with the
same microphone amusing right now uh...
it's
I will admit it's been slower than I'd
like.
I'm a person that likes to keep busy, but
that'll come.
It is nice.
The thing you always see people talking
about, and I'm finding true, is it's nice
just being able to do little things around
the house in your downtime, like putting a
load of laundry in or things like that.
Yeah, that's definitely true.
I don't want to say I'm guilty of that,
but I try not to sit in front of the
computer for too long.
I'm definitely a homebody, which is one of
my favorite words.
I'm someone who loves to stay at home.
And everyone knows it's not the healthiest
thing in the world to just sit in front of
a computer screen the whole day.
And so when you work from home, that's
pretty much what you're doing, more or
less.
and so once or twice an hour i'll get up
and walk around the house and eat
something or you know do a load of laundry
you know get the blood flowing yes
definitely the smart way to do it uh...
i am uh...
definitely learning that you know i you i
i'm on my computer a lot and i did working
from home makes me want to be on my
computer much less
I'm finding out.
Yeah, that's definitely true, which makes
me really sad.
Because I really enjoy doing a lot of
stuff on my computer.
I like, you know, writing, I like playing
games, I like coding, and then I have to
do my work on my computer.
So I spend way too much time glued to a
screen.
I'm hoping it'll help, because I think I
mentioned this, I'm moving near the end of
December somewhere in there.
Right now, my computer is in my bedroom.
So it's like, I wake up five minutes
before work, I walk ten feet, I sit down
at my computer, you know, and I work for
the day.
And then I...
you know.
It's just weird spending 85% of your time
in the same room.
Yeah, I had that problem too, because I
had my...
my whole setup and my bed in the same
room, but now I've kind of rearranged my
apartment for personal reasons.
And so it definitely helps that my bed
isn't in the same room.
So now it's in the other room and I'll go
to my office.
Granted, it's only 10 feet.
It's only 10 feet removed from my
computer.
But still, I feel like it helps.
And when I want to like shut down, you
know, for the day and just relax, I have
to physically go to a different room.
lot, as opposed to having everything just
in one place.
Exactly.
And that's kind of what I'm hoping to do.
At my new place, there's only one place in
the I have a massive like L shaped 90
degree angle desk, there's only one place
in my new place, it'll fit.
And it's gonna be like right by a window.
And should be all these things that make
me not, you know, miserable.
So looking forward to that.
Um, maybe you can help me out on this
because like remote work in general is for
me relatively new and the term itself.
So remote work has been around for...
a while more or less, but it's nothing
that's been super popular.
So in English, we say something like
remote work or like working from home.
Whereas in Germany we have, and I think in
like other countries in Europe too, in
non-English speaking countries, granted
it's just England or like the UK, but we
say like home office.
Which to me is always really weird because
when people try to speak English, or like
they'll practice English with me, instead
of referring to it as like working from
home or like remote work, they'll say
something like, I'm doing home office.
Have you ever heard anyone use that term
in English?
I mean, when I think home office, I think
of someone like in a more traditional work
from home, like a pre pandemic work from
home job that actually they have set up a
office at in their home.
like in a separate room, but not as like
a...
not like that.
No, no, that's not really the meaning.
So the meaning is really so like home
office is just like, I'm just going to
work from home.
And it is so kind of tripped me up for a
while because it's like, I don't know if
I've ever used that term in that sense in
English.
But yeah, it's something that you hear a
lot, especially in Germany.
It's very weird because you have a lot of
terms that you use in German that you
wouldn't use in English.
Uh, I don't want to call it like pseudo
English, but it's basically using English
words and just giving them their own
meaning within the context of like your
own language.
So that's like one of them.
Yeah.
And I think that's a pretty common
language phenomena.
mmm No, it definitely is but I always have
to think like hmm do like we really say
that and I don't know.
I always love hearing it because it's like
taking the words you use every day and
Doing something new with them.
It's I don't know.
I think it's kind of fun Yeah, it's
definitely very interesting But yeah, that
was just like a side note, but so I've
been working from home now for
the better part of like four or five
years.
And even my university was from home.
So like during the height of the pandemic,
if you will, all of our classes were
online.
And that was extremely convenient because
the university is almost 50 minutes away.
And now they don't care anymore.
So now I have to, like, if you want to go
to university, you have to physically go
there.
I don't think they offer anything online
anymore.
In all of Germany, there's only one...
Online university only one remote
university you can actually go to
Everything else is just physical.
Oh, wow, that's actually Shocking because
that's I mean online Colleges have always
been a huge thing here or even just most
colleges are hybrid.
I mean it's you They have like a lot of
schools and they have like a lot of
colleges in Germany, but a lot of them are
for-profit So like you can go to one
online
But it's for profit, but I'm talking about
like the state schools that are just super
cheap and don't really cost anything No,
it's not sure yeah, so have you noticed
like any like positives or like negatives
spending Like your work time at home.
Well the biggest positive like I said It's
nice to be able to do some chores here and
there which I definitely do
You know, you can eat at home, plan out
your meals.
You can have more control over that.
Obviously, I'm not spending money on gas,
because I would...
My old job, I live about 10 minutes away
from, so...
I would drive there for the morning, drive
back for lunch, drive there after lunch,
and drive back.
So that's like 40 minutes of driving a day
worth of fuel I'm not spending anymore.
Yeah, that's the biggest thing is I save a
lot of fuel too.
Technically, I could just take a train.
I could take the train, but then I'd be on
the road, quote unquote, for like two
hours.
So I'm not doing that.
Yeah, that's the biggest point.
And so before were you, you were like
physically working at the location,
weren't you?
Yeah.
And what's funny is right before my last
company went under.
like the day before I chatted with the new
HR lady to get on the work from home
hybrid rotation because they had like a
three day in office, two day hybrid thing.
And I'd done hybrid a couple of times.
In my old role it was perfect.
I was busy all the time, but I didn't
really need to be on the phones that much.
I did most things through email.
I loved it.
It was great working, because I was sick a
day.
So I was just like, I'm just going to work
from home today.
And...
I was like, oh, I just want to do this
regularly.
And then the day after, we got told the
company was going under.
That sucks.
So it was kind of funny because the lady
was like, well, I guess I won't need to
tell you about the work from home thing.
Yeah, for me, it was a lot of my work just
can be done remotely.
Like I can go to the office.
I can do it like physically.
but anything I can do physically, I can
just do remotely.
So there's no real benefit going to the
office.
Although I do go to the office every now
and then to see everyone, say hello, this
and that, like, hey, it's me, I'm still
here.
And that's what I miss.
Like, you know, you have little work
friend groups and you can socialize and...
You know, it's a whole human experience.
Like, and I know that's what a lot of
people who hate work from home always say.
I don't think they're usually arguing in
bad faith, but it's a real thing.
I mean, we're social creatures.
We need other people.
And you know, I have, at my new company,
I'm working with a team of three people
that I've worked with before.
So there is that familiarity, and we do,
you know, goof off in our work chat a
little bit.
So that helps, but.
I think it's one of the most underrated
things in terms of like working from home,
which is that you don't really have a
social connection.
I mean that was one of the reasons why I
wanted to actually do this podcast.
so because I started three years ago on my
own and then you came after, is like the
social connection.
Granted, I mean just speaking alone in
front of a microphone is very
one-dimensional, so there isn't really
much of a social component, but it was,
you know, like you really want to, I
really want to engage with people and now
that we're doing this together it's even
better.
And it was the same thing, or it still is
the same thing, like when I work from
home, which is
you're kind of on your own.
I mean, I can call them, we can like voice
chat, we can video chat, but it's really
not the same thing.
And because everyone's so scattered,
because everyone lives like in a different
city, it's not really viable for them to
just like come to the office every day.
So some people live like two hours away.
So you can't realistically, I mean, I
guess you could, but you can't go to like
drive two hours a day, go to work, and
then drive two
and uh...
Yeah, well, and that was always, I can't
remember what it was, but you'd always see
like these weird news clips and stuff,
especially pre-pandemic, like, worst
commutes in America.
Oh, this single mother of eight, uh, takes
six buses and two trains every day to get
to work.
She has to wake up at 3 a.m.
to get that done.
Like, stupid stuff like that.
Is that a real one?
Because I feel like I saw that.
There was a woman who had a crazy commute
like that.
And you know, there are people who are
like, yeah, I sit on the interstate two
hours a day to work, and two hours a day
back from work.
That's a 12 hour work day with your
commute.
That's insane.
It's a nightmare.
And that's a really good term I think a
lot of people listening should definitely
remember is commuting.
because in a lot of other countries, so a
lot of our listeners are from, are outside
of the US, so they're from different
countries where they have better, or I
would presume, better public
transportation.
So commuting isn't as big of a deal, I
would say, if you're not from the US.
But if you don't have, I feel like if you
don't have a car, then you don't have a
prayer.
and you're gonna have a really hard time
getting a decent job in the US if you
don't know how to drive or if you don't
have a car.
And...
In Germany, it's not that big of a deal.
Although, in my personal opinion, anything
longer than half an hour is a pretty long
trip.
I don't know how you feel about that, but
that's kind of like my...
the way I measure things.
If it's beyond half an hour, I think like,
oh, that's pretty far.
Yeah, like 20-30 minutes.
I mean, I make a 20-minute drive to the
other side of town, like once a week, for
some stuff I have to do over there.
You know, it's not horrible, but it's a
bit of a drive, and I try to...
I try to put on some...
make sure I have something to listen to
while I'm doing that.
What's interesting...
that's about to get worse, because once
the ice hits...
There's like a steep curving road that
gets to the top of the rock formation
called the rims here in town.
And that leads you up to the airport road
which just like fast tracks you to the
other side of town.
They close that a good portion of the year
and even if they don't, when there's ice
it's like a death sentence.
So I'll take the longer way and not risk
my life when it's bad.
Yeah, I mean I've had that happen to me
too where they don't salt the roads and
then
I've had like a couple accidents.
It's not fun.
It's not fun at all.
No, and then people here, I still can't
believe it.
I mean, tangent, but whenever, whenever it
freezes for the first time, you always get
someone in like a massive, way too big
four wheel drive vehicle, and they decide
to tailgate you the whole way.
Hmm.
And then they're usually the ones I find
flipped over in the ditch first, but.
Yeah, we don't really have those kind of
cars here.
A lot of the cars are rather on the small
side.
I mean, the cars in Europe are just tiny
compared to the cars in the US.
Although, there are a couple of American
trucks in my city, and I say that
specifically because they stick out like a
sore thumb.
Because when you compare them to like my
car, it's built like three times as big.
And so it's pretty obvious.
Um, a lot of them are pickup trucks that
they imported from the U S and.
They take up most of the road and they're
really loud and they're really obnoxious
and they just don't really fit into like
the, the fabric of the city, if you will,
but that's, that's my tangent.
Yeah.
Unless, unless you're moving and hauling
something, you don't need that.
Nobody needs that unless you're doing
that.
Yeah.
I think Americans are really obsessed with
big cars.
I think that's like one of the biggest
understatements of the year.
I'll never forget, I think it was like
2008, 2007, I believe like the Obama
administration had implemented like this
buyback system where you could like trade
in your old car for a car that was more
like, that was greener basically, that was
better for the environment.
and you get like a credit of I don't know
how much.
And a lot of people were doing that and
they traded in their cars and just got
like Hummers and stuff.
Which are like some of the most
inefficient cars you can possibly buy.
I mean you don't buy them.
Good job America.
Yeah.
I mean you don't buy them because they're
efficient.
I guess you buy them because they're, I
guess big and maybe pretty.
I have no idea.
I'm not a car person if you can't tell.
uh...
so back from the back to the work from
home before we uh...
tangent forever uh...
do you have to deal with any temptations
working from home like man i could
disappear from an hour and they probably
would know i'm gonna go take a nap like
something like that uh...
i mean my work is pretty lacks so i'm
I guess we're more or less project
oriented as long as the project gets done
on time and in a timely manner.
I'm not necessarily certain that the
bosses are sitting around checking
everyone's clocks.
Although you never know.
I mean, I don't know what they do all day.
But no, that's something I definitely try
not to abuse.
So if I take a break, then it is for like
an hour.
and not just leave my stuff on for like
three or four hours.
I wouldn't do that.
But I do know, at least at my work I have
heard from previous employees that they
possibly abused that.
And I guess that's why they're no longer
there.
But I guess it's kind of gossip.
I'm not one to gossip.
What about you?
there's not been a ton going on so there
definitely been days where I sit in this
chair and I'm like okay I'm sitting here
ready to go what are we doing and I just
sit and scroll on my phone for like four
hours I'm like nothing's happening and
yeah there'd be a small thing here or
there and uh because I try and make sure
I'm always like available you know even if
I'm I could hear the phone ring
from the other room, I can, you know, even
if I'm sitting on my bed on the other side
of this room, I can hear the Microsoft
Teams ping notification.
I try to always make sure that like, if
I'm on the clock, that I'm available and,
you know, working on things to a certain
extent.
I don't think that's any different than
actually being physically at a location.
I think the only difference is that your
superiors can't necessarily see what
you're doing because you're at home.
But I mean, there are plenty of people
who've perfected the art of looking busy
while actually doing nothing.
And I've definitely known a lot of people
like that.
I think as, you know, there are obviously
times where it's a bit slow.
And if there's nothing to do, then there's
nothing to do.
And I guess people try to look busy by
cleaning things or sorting things.
But if there's nothing to do, there's
nothing to do.
And I think you have to kind of balance
that with maybe there'll be times where
you're just slammed with work.
And in the end, I believe it'll even out
as long as you're, as long as you're
taking care of your work and you're
actually doing it on time.
I don't think there's any harm in taking
it easy when it's slow.
Unless you can manufacture work, which
honestly I don't like doing.
Well, I mean, it depends on the role
you're in.
I think we all know the, the two of us
know the classic time to lean, time to
clean.
And there are jobs like that.
Like if you ever worked in a kitchen,
there's always something you could clean.
I have.
Yeah.
Like, there's always something disgusting
somewhere.
You can pull out this thing.
Oh, nobody's been back here in like two
months, and it's just coated in grease and
soot and ash from all the machines.
Let's clean that out.
Like there's always something.
That was like one of the first things that
my mom told me when I got my very first
job.
And like I went, when I got my very first
job and there was really nothing to do, I
got in trouble from the manager, like why
are you just standing around?
Why aren't you doing anything?
I was like, well there's nothing to do.
and I'm almost like, well, if there's
nothing to do, then you have to find
something, then clean a table or I don't
know, like clean the restrooms or
something or go to the parking lot and
find something there.
As long as you appear to be busy, as long
as you have the appearance of being busy,
then I think it's more important than
actually being busy.
Yeah, in a lot of roles, that's
unfortunate.
Towards the end of my time at my last
company, I didn't really care that much
about keeping up appearances.
because if there was work to do, I was
gonna do it.
And I was gonna do it well.
And sometimes there would be three, four
hours of work that need to be done in one
hour.
And if that happens, I'll do it.
It'll be stressful and I'll get through
it.
And I'll be satisfied by the end of it,
but I'm not gonna, like you said, I'm not
gonna manufacture work necessarily.
Now it's different depending on your role.
So there are some...
Like if your job is to make cool calls
outbound all day and you're not doing
that, then that's different.
Well, I mean, yes, obviously, but I think
for a lot of people there is this
temptation to just sit around and do
nothing the whole time.
What I really hate, and thankfully I've
never actually been in this situation, but
I have heard it from a lot of people where
they really do use this monitoring
software, where they'll constantly monitor
your activity, they'll take screenshots of
your computer, they'll record your phone
calls.
I mean some bosses are pretty extreme to
where they'll like physically record you
while you're at your desk.
They'll have like a camera on the computer
monitor.
And if you have like a microphone, they'll
record your voice.
And we don't have any of that.
So a lot of our work is really based on
trust, more or less.
And I think at the end of the day, that's
all you really have is if people are going
to work, then they're going to work.
And if they're not going to work, they're
not going to work.
And by monitoring them the whole time, I
think that just.
It's kind of like the ad blockers.
That just makes them want to find a way to
get around it.
You know, they have these, what do they
call them?
Like these mouse jigglers, I think, that
you can buy on Amazon.
Yeah.
Where like the people would monitor your
mouse movement to see like if they're
actually doing something.
And so some people were, I want to say
like less smart, and they installed
software on the computers, which is a big
no-no.
You should never do that.
Because the IT department can detect that,
you know, if you've installed software
into your computer.
But what they can't detect are these like
physical, you know, mouse jigglers, these
mouse movers that you can put at your desk
and it'll just move your mouse back and
forth.
And you know, control like that just makes
you want to try and defeat the system.
in my yeah definitely so and my old job
they got rid of this after about a year I
was there they had I think it was called
I can't remember the name of it, but it
was basically and they had this on all the
in-office computers too Or it basically
takes a screenshot of your computer every
30 minutes Just to like make sure it's
changing and they made me install that
like I had a sick day early on they made
me install That at home to work from home
and all this other stuff I did not like
their work from home setup just because it
was so invasive mmm, and
My new role, I mean...
I dial into their system with a VPN, but
other than that...
I don't have any monitoring things.
I've actually talked to people before
about those mouse jigglers and things like
that.
But...
Yeah, I just hate the...
I'm a very like, leave me alone and I'll
do my job kind of person, you know?
Like I'm not going to sit in a corner all
silent, like if I need help or something,
I'll go get it.
But I don't like being bothered or told
how to do things I know how to do, you
know what I mean?
Yeah, that's, I definitely feel like, feel
that way too.
And plus when you're in office the whole
time, you're
more or less kind of forced to socialize,
which is nice.
I mean, I do enjoy socializing, but it
takes away from the real reason why you're
at work, which is to work.
And you know, there's a time to chat,
there's a time to work.
And when you're at home, at, I go, when
you're working from home, you're really on
your own and I feel like you're more
productive.
At least I know I am.
Because if I'm around people I want to
talk the whole time, as opposed to
working.
Well, it kind of depends.
In my last job, it was a sales job.
Before I moved roles, being in office was
a big advantage, because you can overhear
things in an office that give you an edge.
Like, oh, I overheard this person's, you
know, building this load.
I know about it now.
I'm going to have a head start when they
build it, and maybe I'll make myself some
commission money.
Oh, hey, I don't know how to do this.
Just walk up to someone like, hey, I
haven't been able to figure this out.
Can you show me how you do this?
And you just watch over their shoulder
real quick.
uh...
that's an advantage my current job they
like to fly all the remote people down to
jacksonville one to two times a year i'm
told to you know just be in office and
just keep everyone on the same page uh...
when i do that i'm planning on at some
point like a show me how you do this like
i kinda know how to do this but you've
done this in this system for years like
what is like the veteran way to do this
what's the fast smart way to do this
Yeah, definitely.
I definitely like actually seeing someone
physically do something, even if it's on
like a computer, even if it's like them
showing me how to do something on a
computer.
I appreciate that more than like doing it
through like TeamViewer or Microsoft
Remote Desktop or anything like that.
I feel like the, I don't know, that it
just it's just a lot easier for me to
absorb the information.
And it's nice to not have like this delay
with the internet or like having a screen
between you and the other person
but I mean sometimes it's not really
possible, especially because like I said,
a lot of people that work for the company
I work at, they're kind of like all over
the place.
So we can't always be at the same location
at one time, but being flown down by the
company is, I mean, it does sound pretty
nice.
I can imagine that that's pretty good for
like international companies like team
building.
So that's pretty important when you're, if
you want to build the team, like team
spirit or team bonding.
Yeah.
I think, so I think like 90% or of their
workforce that aren't drivers are in
Jacksonville, Florida, where they're based
out of.
And I know they have some in Georgia.
I think us in Montana are by far going to
be the farthest out and one of us is in
Detroit, but I'm looking forward to it.
I won't lie.
Uh, having a company pay for me to go
somewhere is on my bucket list.
So.
And I'm gonna take it seriously, it's not
an opportunity for a vacation.
I'm sure something fun will happen, but
that's...
I understand that, and I'm keeping that
mentality, but it's, uh...
It is pretty cool to me.
I mean yeah, having the company pay for
your travel is something very interesting.
I haven't actually ever had that, but on
the other hand, I've never actually gone
anywhere for a company, so I mean who
knows, that might be something I'll do in
the future.
But for me, I really do enjoy working from
home.
It gives me a great amount of flexibility,
and it's really nice to know that people
aren't like breathing down my neck.
which is something I've had while working
physically at a location.
You can get at work from home too.
I definitely saw it at my last job.
Like, Hey, I can't get ahold of so-and-so.
Aren't they working from home today?
Are they even working?
Why can't I get them on the phone?
Why aren't they responding to my emails?
Why aren't, you know, depending on the
job, you still gotta be like on, or people
are going to be on you right away.
Yeah, that's definitely true.
I always make it a point to
reply as quickly as possible to my emails
and my messages and all of that.
But I get kind of conflicting information
because if you look online, you'll find a
lot of these auto-complete searches by
Google.
I think one of them was like, how do I
know if my remote employees are actually
working?
And one report will say if your employees
take too long to answer or reply to like
phone calls or emails, then they're not
actually working from home, they're doing
something else.
And then another report will say if they
reply too quickly, then that might be
suspicious because it could be like an
auto reply.
And so you can't really win with some
people, you know, if they want to find
some way to make your life difficult, then
they're going to.
Yeah, I mean, if some employers just hate
work from home and do it because that's
just the stand, you know, it's a standard
option these days, but they still hate it
and they want any reason they can to take
it away from you.
Yeah, I think when Elon Musk took over
Twitter,
now x which i think is such a stupid name
no i'm not calling it that i refused to
too but he said a lot in news reports um
he i think he got rid of uh work from home
and he said that it's a slap in the face
to everyone who can't work from home like
mechanics which to me is such a stupid
comparison um i think if you can work from
home you should work from home well i
don't know if you should but i mean you
should have the option at least but
obviously i mean there are things that you
can't actually do from home like a
mechanic or like a i don't know working at
a supermarket
But anything office related, I mean, sure,
I think it should have the option.
Well, and in this, hopefully work from
home is going to be a big benefit to
society in more ways.
So I don't know if you've heard this, but
obviously there's lots of empty office
space around the country now because
people, so many companies just went to
full-time remote, remote work from home.
or they downsized.
So there would be contracts to build these
massive office buildings.
You know, they take years to build.
Yeah, I heard that.
So I think the government is trying to get
them converted to housing, apartments and
stuff, which with the way the housing
market is right now, I mean, I'm sure it
won't be perfect, but it's something.
Like, put more options in the market.
I think I heard
something about that or I read something
to the effect that it would affect the, I
don't know, the activity of like the inner
cities.
Because if you have like a lot of office
space and you have a lot of people working
there, if you have a lot of people working
there, that means they live in the area,
they'll go to other businesses, you know,
it's good for the economy.
I don't know how true that is because I'm
not an economist or anything, but I can
definitely see people being worried about,
you know, like the inner cities dying out.
but I think people should be more
interested in not building like huge
office spaces, but like more affordable
living, which I think is a global problem.
You can't really find good affordable
living really anywhere.
You sure can't and the office space is
cheap.
So it didn't end up working out, but my a
friend of mine basically had his own
office space paid for by another company.
about a year, year and a half ago, uh,
cause he, he was basically trying to get a
startup off the ground for them.
And this office suite, it was on the third
floor of like an office complex, a top
floor.
It, uh, had probably enough space for, you
know, five to eight people to work
comfortably.
Maybe more of you stretched it and there
was like a little kitchenette built in and
all these things.
And
it was $500 a month.
Yeah, a lot of these prices are pretty
astronomically high.
It's the same here though.
I think because a lot of these like office
space, a lot of it is subsidized by the
government or like the local governments,
whereas housing isn't, unfortunately.
Yeah.
Wait, do you think that 500 was high?
Cause I think that's like super low.
I mean for office space, I mean what I'm
saying is the space itself, like ignoring
office space, ignoring living space, just
paying for that much space for $500 a
month, like at that point, like just put a
cot in there and live there.
I guess, yeah, I guess if you look at it
like that, then it's somewhat comparable
to the office space here.
Although, I don't know if you're actually
allowed to live in an office.
I think that would actually- Oh, I'm sure
you're not, but that's what I'm saying.
Like it's still space, like convert it.
Yeah, I mean that's technically I guess
you could convert it.
I have kind of flirted with the idea of
doing something like that But um, they're
pretty strict about the rules here when
you rent stuff So if you kind of break
your contract then they'll you know, throw
you out But Yeah, I think in general
office space is a lot cheaper than actual
living space um because the idea is that
In my opinion the idea is that if you have
office space and you're going to generate
revenue
Whereas if you're living somewhere you
don't necessarily generate revenue, so I
think it's just a net win for like the
whole city
But I mean, they're trying to build more
stuff here.
So hopefully that'll lower the prices, but
I'm not holding my breath that anything
will change anytime soon.
Yeah, well, hopefully someone gets
motivated to fix it, but that's another
talk for another day.
Yeah.
Now, so we're slowly coming to a close.
I definitely think that remote work is
here to stay.
I know that in the future,
I'm not planning on changing my job
anytime soon, but if I do it'll definitely
have to have You know a work from home
component to it Even if only hybrid, but
if I have to actually go somewhere 40 50
hours a week
I don't know.
But a lot of companies are kind of scaling
back this policy.
Like one of the biggest culprits is
Google.
At the beginning of the pandemic they were
all like work from home and you know be
flexible and now they're threatening to
fire people.
They're telling people to come back and
work in the office.
It's good for company culture and all that
fun jazz.
But only time will tell if it's here to
stay.
But I think it is.
Yeah, and oh, just one little thing I want
to add, something I'm looking forward to.
Once I'm like settled in my new place, one
thing I'm planning on doing is having,
cooking all my meals.
Oh.
And you know, there are things like, like
if you bake a turkey, for example, like
that takes like six hours.
I'm not saying I'm gonna bake a turkey
every day, but you know, I could have
something going like that, where I could,
you know, eyeball it all day and you know.
That's kind of another one of the benefits
that I'm planning on making great use of.
I don't know why I didn't think of that.
I don't know why I didn't mention that.
Yeah, like that's one of the benefits of
working from home is that you can cook.
Obviously I'm not cooking like, you know,
five meals a day while I'm working.
But I'm not really consigned to just
having to like, I don't know, eat fast
food or anything.
I can actually cook in my own kitchen.
Although at my work, we have a kitchen so
I could cook there too, but you know what
I mean.
What?
That's crazy.
Yeah, yeah.
I've never heard of that.
We have a kitchen.
We have a full blown kitchen so we can
actually cook there.
But that entails me actually having to buy
the ingredients, take them with me, go to
work.
You know, there are more steps involved.
And I mean, it sounds inconvenient, but
just the fact that you can.
That's crazy.
I mean, I've done it once.
I mean, it's nice, but I don't feel like
bringing a boatload of ingredients to
cook.
If they had ingredients, that would even
be even better.
But I don't know of any company that's
going to provide you with free ingredients
to cook your own meal, unless it's Google.
Anywho.
That's all from my side.
I don't know if you have anything you want
to add before we get out of here.
I think we covered it.
Alright, thanks so much everyone.
Thanks so much for listening.
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