[kbenson]

I have a small office in a large closet upstairs that I use at night for work, my SO has a converted room downstairs as her office for her home business, so there's not a lot of cross traffic. Unfortunately, that means she IM's me quite a bit, which since it's even lower cost than walking 20-30 feet if she's already at a computer, I'm not entirely sure isn't worse. :/

[amag]

Yes, the curse of IM.

I frequently work from home and coworkers pretty frequently IMs me. Maybe I overthink this but I don't dare to shut off my IM (or mail either for that reason) in order to have uninterruptible concentration on a task because if I'm not responding to IMs quickly enough my coworkers may get the wrong idea about me working from home. The company supports it and most of the time I'm much more focused working at home, but when I'm in the office I frequently hear comments about other coworkers working from home like "Oh, (s)he's working from home, well, it is a beautiful sunny day today * snicker *".

[p4wnc6]

The number of people here who have both a private home office and a significant other depresses me.

[kbenson]

Why else would you want a private home office? If you don't have a significant other, there's no need for a separate private space.

In my case, I work from home two days a week, and I have children. I separate space is essential to get work done. It's a matter of having a private space that allows me to be home if needed, and save time for with my family, or not being productive enough to make it economical for the business to allow.

[p4wnc6]

I was trying to express that I am envious of people who are able to have a significant other and a comfortable home with space. Having even just one of the two sounds like a dream world to me.

[kbenson]

Fair enough, I interpreted it differently. Good luck on the search, in both respects. :)

[notliketherest]

Start saving your money.

[p4wnc6]

I've been unemployed for a long time, despite working hard on a job search.