I'm missing out on the best part of the stay-at-home order.

[MarkLT1]

So what is the best part of this whole stay-at-home/work-from-home timeline we find ourselves in? A pants optional workplace. Everyone is going on about how they are loving PJ pants, shorts, kilts, whatever your most comfortable from-the-waist-down attire is. You get on a zoom meeting? Business up top, comfort down below. And I wouldn't even need to worry about the top half, as I am rarely on a call.

My wife, on the other hand, is almost living on Zoom calls these days. Right now, she is on one, with her power-work-clothes top, and some very comfy sweat pants on the bottom. However, my desk and in particular my lower half are in the frame of her video calls. So guess who has to wear "Business casual" pants, and *gasp* socks, every day? Me.. that's who. And just in case I have to stand up to go get something, I have to wear real clothes on top as well.

 

[JimMIA]

Life is just cruel sometimes...lol.

 

[Kitty 34]

So what is the best part of this whole stay-at-home/work-from-home timeline we find ourselves in? A pants optional workplace. Everyone is going on about how they are loving PJ pants, shorts, kilts, whatever your most comfortable from-the-waist-down attire is. You get on a zoom meeting? Business up top, comfort down below. And I wouldn't even need to worry about the top half, as I am rarely on a call.

My wife, on the other hand, is almost living on Zoom calls these days. Right now, she is on one, with her power-work-clothes top, and some very comfy sweat pants on the bottom. However, my desk and in particular my lower half are in the frame of her video calls. So guess who has to wear "Business casual" pants, and *gasp* socks, every day? Me.. that's who. And just in case I have to stand up to go get something, I have to wear real clothes on top as well.

We're retirees so the stay at home work thing is really non existent but your post reminds me of the three Senior Pics I still have up on the wall of our three sons. They are wearing very nice suit jackets, nice pressed shirt, with an impressive tie probably from JCP but I will tell you a secret.......they are sitting in their gym shorts from the waist down!!

 

[bakerworld]

Frankly, WFH is kinda of a PITA - which might be age related in my case but I am keeping to my standard schedule - just not actually leaving the house but I'm still doing the same grooming.

 

[MarkLT1]

Frankly, WFH is kinda of a PITA - which might be age related in my case but I am keeping to my standard schedule - just not actually leaving the house but I'm still doing the same grooming.

Try it without pants.. I hear it makes things much more tolerable.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Have her add a Zoom virtual background picture. Then you don't get seen at all and can wear PJs to your heart's content.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Can you ask her to turn her camera so you're not in the frame? Maybe even turn her entire desk around? Or, she can tell her co-workers that your company has a different dress code, hence the reason you're sitting around in your PJs!

 

[MarkLT1]

Have her add a Zoom virtual background picture. Then you don't get seen at all and can wear PJs to your heart's content.

That could work. Originally I set her up with zoom + a virtual background of the Death Star.. she claimed that it "wasn't professional." I said it "made her look powerful." Tomato, Tomahto. Maybe I could make a virtual background of our office, and photoshop myself in a full-on tuxedo standing behind her.

Can you ask her to turn her camera so you're not in the frame? Maybe even turn her entire desk around? Or, she can tell her co-workers that your company has a different dress code, hence the reason you're sitting around in your PJs!

Unfortunately, that wont work. Her desk is a built in, and my desk is the world's heaviest sit-to-stand desk (I'm not kidding.. this thing takes multiple people to even scoot it over a bit). So in that regard, its not worth PJ pants. As for the dress code, it is a brand new job for her and it is a leadership position. 3-weeks into the job, they went all virtual (awkwarrrrrd), so I figure I shouldn't push my luck too much there. (I told her she is "the boss", she needs to assert her dominance, and say "my hubby will wear whatever he wants, and if you have a problem with it..." she mumbled something about this being why I work alone.. shrug)

Also.. I already work from home every day.. so once this isolation stuff ends, I can go back to my pants optional home office. I guess I need to be the adult here.

 

[Boopuff]

My coworker and I constantly joke that we need makeup artists. I put on my "face" everyday. Good grief, but the camera does not work wonders...

 

[loves to dive]

My hubby has worked from home for years and years but thankfully doesn't have to do video calls because boy would his clients be shocked. Way back when he worked for the same company I do, he didn't come in until around 10 but would do support from home before he came in. More often than not he was buck nekkid. Our receptionist had to call him at home once and after she hung up the the phone I told her he was probably nude, she is one of those easily embarrassed people and after that had the hardest time looking at him when he came in. Thankfully, now days since age has set in, he does wear clothes but it's no telling what and I can guarantee there are many days he hasn't combed his hair.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

We're retirees so the stay at home work thing is really non existent but your post reminds me of the three Senior Pics I still have up on the wall of our three sons. They are wearing very nice suit jackets, nice pressed shirt, with an impressive tie probably from JCP but I will tell you a secret.......they are sitting in their gym shorts from the waist down!!

I bet that makes you smile every time that you look at that photograph.

 

[AuntieMe3]

My sister just starting working from home a week or two ago. They had a meeting with management to see how things were going for everyone and some of the complaints were....not sleeping well at night because they're next getting enough activity during the day(its an office job so no more activity than working from home...lol), not liking working in pajamas(umm...get up and get dressed), and not drinking enough water throughout the day(this one is just weird...why aren't they drinking water)....???What???

She said these people are gonna ruin it for the rest of us....

 

[RamblingMad]

I’m eating too many Twinkies and delivered ice cream.

 

[JimMIA]

Maybe I could make a virtual background of our office, and photoshop myself in a full-on tuxedo standing behind her.

Before you go live with that, think carefully about the ramifications of a glitch!

 

[MarkLT1]

...think carefully about the ramifications...

I think my lovely wife would argue that this is one of my weak points.

 

[disneychrista]

The part I’m missing out on is actually getting to stay home. Still working just like normal.

 

[Piglet843]

Unfortunately, that wont work. Her desk is a built in, and my desk is the world's heaviest sit-to-stand desk (I'm not kidding.. this thing takes multiple people to even scoot it over a bit). So in that regard, its not worth PJ pants. As for the dress code, it is a brand new job for her and it is a leadership position. 3-weeks into the job, they went all virtual (awkwarrrrrd), so I figure I shouldn't push my luck too much there. (I told her she is "the boss", she needs to assert her dominance, and say "my hubby will wear whatever he wants, and if you have a problem with it..." she mumbled something about this being why I work alone.. shrug)

Also.. I already work from home every day.. so once this isolation stuff ends, I can go back to my pants optional home office. I guess I need to be the adult here.

I get that you can't move the desks, but you can point the camera in a different direction, right? more to one side or the other that just moves you out of frame??

 

[MarkLT1]

I get that you can't move the desks, but you can point the camera in a different direction, right? more to one side or the other that just moves you out of frame??

We've tried. Its an interesting office setup- the built-in where she is working is a built-in corner desk (it is a very strange setup we inherited when we bought this house). If we turn her webcam (which for some reason seems to be the widest angle webcam in existence) all the way to the left, she can kind of push up against the edge of the corner desk (to keep herself centered), and if I scoot all the way over to the right side of my desk, I can *just* get off the side of the frame.. but its not really comfortable for either of us. So in the meantime, I'll be the business casual pant legs sticking out from under the desk in the background, and jokingly complain about it on the DIS boards.

If anyone knows of a way for zoom to crop the video size, I am all ears.. I spent way too much time looking through the settings unsuccessfully.

(I really want to gut the weird corner desk thing, and make a nice shelving unit for the printer, etc.. but am quite glad I hadn't done so before she needed to start working from home).

 

[soccerdad72]

Even though our home office in our house has two desks in it (basically, one built in desk with two seats and shelves in the middle), I'm camped out in the dining room at this point, because my wife has pretty much non-stop conference calls all day long and it would be too hard for both of us to be in there together. I figure we're not having any dinner parties anytime soon, so the dining room table can be used as an extra desk.

A side note to this past month - it's kind of cool getting a glimpse into all the news and sports folks houses and checking out what's on everyone's shelves as they report things. Granted, I'm sure they're all picking a spot intentionally and probably arranging their bookshelves to show people what they want to see, but it sort of feels like we're having a change to peek into their house for a minute.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Seriously. Just find a cool Zoom background she finds professional enough.