In Jeffrey Zaslow’s Wall Street Journal article, “Yes, I’m Home. No, I Can’t Pick Up Your Child,“ he writes that those of us who are working from home are finally saying no when someone asks for a favor. The response from readers was mixed. Some people could relate to the article and were happy that someone finally acknowledged the problem. Others thought that anyone with a home-based business is home anyway, and should be able to help others no matter what.
Here’s the deal: just because we’re working from home doesn’t mean that we’re available to wait for repair calls, UPS deliveries, or to pick up a friend’s kids from school when that friend can’t leave work. Of course when it’s an emergency, there’s no question whether you should help out. But there’s a point where others can take advantage of you.
One woman in Zaslow’s article who was asked constantly for help from friends and neighbors, turned errand requests into a job. She works part-time for a new online company called taskrabbit, that matches “senders” (people who need someone to do an errand for them) with “runners” (people who will handle the errand). Now she’s paid for her time.
The bottom line is that someone who works from home is no different from her corporate counterpart except for having a more flexible schedule, dressing casually (if at all) and being available to handle last-minute emergencies. She also has the freedom to say no to requests for favors when she’s doing what the person asking for the favor is doing, which is working.
