That time a neighbor knocked and asked if I even had a real job

I live in a small apartment complex in Portland and about 2 months ago this older guy named Carl who lives downstairs caught me taking out trash at like 2 PM on a Thursday. He goes "you're always home, don't you have a real job?" and it kinda stung because I've been doing freelance editing from my dining table for 5 years now. I tried to explain that I work weird hours and set my own schedule but he just shook his head like I was making excuses. It stuck with me because it made me realize how much people outside our world don't get what we do. Has anyone else had a neighbor or family member say something that made you second guess your work setup for a second?

3 comments

3 Comments

alext5213d ago

Old Carl probably still thinks working from home means watching Judge Judy all day.

jackson.max13d ago

Old Carl probably still thinks you need a suit on to be working. The guy probably has a landline and a fax machine in his home office from 1995. Bet he thinks Zoom is something you do with your camera lens too. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks when they're still using dial up in their head. You think he'd survive a day without a commute?

paige_bell8113d ago

Honest question though, isn't a landline actually more reliable than cell service during power outages (my parents swear by theirs). And fax machines are still used in healthcare and legal fields believe it or not, so Carl might not be as outdated as we think. Maybe he just knows something about not being tied to a screen 24/7 that we're all slowly figuring out.