For those who WAH, what do you do when...

[sahd2one]

What do you do when the dog barks and you are on the phone with a client?

 

[LuvOrlando]

Most of my friends who WAH have a mute button on the handset, and quick reflexes.

 

[Minnie824]

I work at home as do most people I work with. Very often we'll hear dogs barking or birds chirping or sometimes a baby crying or a doorbell, (one time I heard a toilet flush...that was a bit much). I think everyone has just come to expect it (minus the toilet) and no one really thinks much of it anymore. If it gets really bad, whoever needs to just mutes and excuses themselves for a moment to handle the noise situation.

 

[ckay87]

Just apologize, what can you do? If you are trying to hide the fact that you are working at home, that's a different story. Lock up the dog.

 

[sahd2one]

I told my client that my office was ADA compliant and it was another employee's service dog.

 

[kpm76]

I told my client that my office was ADA compliant and it was another employee's service dog.

Does your client not know your work from home? I stay home with our DD who is 17 months old but I also do contract work. If I am on the phone, I either go to another room or I usually wait to make calls during her nap time....guess that doesn't work for a dog though.....

 

[C.Ann]

Just apologize, what can you do? If you are trying to hide the fact that you are working at home, that's a different story. Lock up the dog.

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Agreed.. And what an odd question??

 

[sahd2one]

I do not advertise that I work in a home office. I don't deny it if someone asks, but I don't advertise it either.

 

[Chicago526]

My whole division works from home, but we try to keep that fact low key to our members. We're worried that they'll want us at their beck and call 24/7!!! I'm lucky, my dog is very quiet, in 18 months at home she hasn't barked once while I've been on the phone! I'm not sure what I'd say if she ever did, probably just not say anything unless they ask, and if they did ask, just tell them we all work from home now and my dog just saw a squirel in the yard!

 

[JessicaR]

I have two large dogs that can bark very loudly and I also work from home. Between the dogs and the kids there have been times (very few) where I have had to apologize for the noise. I have the best intentions when I begin the call but we all know how quickly that can head south! If I cant quickly control the dogs or the kids I apologize and offer a return call in a few moments.

I have to say though that every time my dogs have barked the person on the other end always ask, "what kind of dog was that?" Not a single one has said, "oh, you work from home!"

 

[kpm76]

I do not advertise that I work in a home office. I don't deny it if someone asks, but I don't advertise it either.

It's one of the challenges with working from home. You have to deal with the occasional doorbell, or cell phone/land line ringing while you are on the other one, kids crying etc. My clients all know I have a baby and this is why I do the work I do because of the flexibility, so while I try my hardest to make sure the house is quiet when I make and receive work related calls, there are times I need to move to another room if DD is loud etc.

 

[crcormier]

What do you do when the dog barks and you are on the phone with a client?

What kind of work is it?

 

[sahd2one]

It's one of the challenges with working from home. You have to deal with the occasional doorbell, or cell phone/land line ringing while you are on the other one, kids crying etc. My clients all know I have a baby and this is why I do the work I do because of the flexibility, so while I try my hardest to make sure the house is quiet when I make and receive work related calls, there are times I need to move to another room if DD is loud etc.

I have a headset with mute, but just had a situation today where I was on the phone with the client and the dog went bezerk. I don't have a baby at home anymore so I didn't have to deal with that. I disconnected my doorbell and turned off my home phone.

Door was closed to the office and there was this uncomfortable business. I just quickly used the ADA line and it seemed to work. We present an aura of total professionalism and are careful not to let clients know we work from our home or even where are home is located. For insurance reasons, I never meet clients face to face in my own home.

It is funny as my "job" is a mis-nomer as I am outside of the home far more than I was before my DD started school!

 

[OK!]

I don't get to work from home (yet!), but am on conference calls all the time with the rest of the division, most of whom WAH. Nobody bats an eye at a barking dog; usually someone will crack a joke about it.

 

[janey99]

My dogs don't bark, but once one was snoring so loudly my colleagues heard her! One noted we must be boring her, and another asked if we could sic her on a particularly difficult client.

It's well known I work from home, so it was not an issue.

Kids, though, are another issue. I'm surprised by the posters who say they go to another room or make calls during nap time. I have a 5 month old and a 10 year old, and my company demands I have a full time nanny to maintain my work at home status. Additionally, I have a dedicated office which is nowhere near where my nanny minds my baby, and DS10 knows he is not to enter the office during work hours under penalty of Nintendo DS confiscation! Hence, no kid noise on the conference calls.

Do other companies permit their WAH employees to multitask their own childcare at the same time they are on the company clock? I'm kind of surprised by that.

Jane

 

[kydisneyfans]

She gets a quick escort out the back door. The problem here is the neighborhood kids ringing the bell over and over and over and over......

 

[kpm76]

My dogs don't bark, but once one was snoring so loudly my colleagues heard her! One noted we must be boring her, and another asked if we could sic her on a particularly difficult client.

It's well known I work from home, so it was not an issue.

Kids, though, are another issue. I'm surprised by the posters who say they go to another room or make calls during nap time. I have a 5 month old and a 10 year old, and my company demands I have a full time nanny to maintain my work at home status. Additionally, I have a dedicated office which is nowhere near where my nanny minds my baby, and DS10 knows he is not to enter the office during work hours under penalty of Nintendo DS confiscation! Hence, no kid noise on the conference calls.

Do other companies permit their WAH employees to multitask their own childcare at the same time they are on the company clock? I'm kind of surprised by that.

Jane

I'm the poster who said I go to another room or make calls during nap time. I have my own business, and my clients know that my set is such because I want to be home with my daughter. If I had to hire a nanny, it would be pointless for me, I would have kept my old WOTH job. My work is also part-time and can be done at off hours (i.e. nights and weekends). On the rare occasions that I have calls to make or receive, I try to time them accordingly.