Work-Life balance

I worked from home today. Just a lot of teleconferences and webmeetings so there wasn't a lot of need for "facetime" in the office. That generally works well for most of the day - Bob sleeps just as he would if I weren't here. Come around 3 pm, he starts to get a bit antsy. Of course, when I'm not here til after 5, he's fine. But if I'm here, the timeline shortens. Today,the antsies were a bit annoying, since I still had two late afternoon conference calls. One of which I was leading, so going on mute to avoid broadcasting the barking and howling and whining was not an option. I let him out in the back yard, and he promptly climbed up the fire escape to the 2nd floor apartment, from where he is afraid to come down. (I'm a little afraid for him to try it too. It's steep!). Had to ask my colleagues to take a break while I rescued him. They graciously complied.

Yet, I was annoyed. I have a BIG IMPORTANT JOB! I have a freaking PhD! I should SO not have to climb up a steep scary fire escape to scoot my panicking tank of a dog safely down the freezing cold metal steps on my keister! In the middle of a MEETING!

And yet there is no WAY I would leave him up there shivering in both fear and cold.

And my collegues were absolutely fine with it. When I got back to the teleconference, they were sharing their own pet stories. And then we had a very productive discussion on the work front. (it helped that Bob was still a bit scared/grateful so not so disruptive!)

Lesson: People understand that you have a life outside work. And by admitting it, you acknowledge that THEY have a life outside work. And they appreciate it.

Oh, but that's right, this is all about Be Like Bob. And THAT lesson is ask for help even if it might be inconvenient.

Good lessons. Thanks Bob