Mom working from home teaches dogs the new ground rules
Like so many of us, Rochelle Andonian is working from home these days as the Covid-19 pandemic continues largely unabated in the U.S. And, like many of us, she’s having a hard time getting enough uninterrupted quiet time to do her job.
The thing is, her dogs Salty and Bling are happy to have their mom home all day – so happy that they don’t want to leave her side.
They also just enjoy staring at her while she tries to concentrate, especially around dinner time.
“Now that Iām at home, they are constantly coming into my office and putting tennis balls on my lap or laying their head on my chair to be petted,” Andonian told The Dodo.
To be fair, those two sweet faces are just too cute to ignore. But it’s not so cute when they’re trying to play or barking during a Zoom meeting.
“Every time Iām on a call with my team, they take bets how soon my dogs would start barking at something,” Andonian said.
It’s almost like dogs have no respect for the ways of the working world.
But as much as we’d like to snuggle with our furry friends all day, there’s work to be done and concentration is key if we don’t want to be up until the wee hours finishing what should have been a regular workday.
Sometimes we just have to put up with the sad faces that come with denying them attention 24/7.
But Andonian decided to give her dogs a chance to learn what mom was really up to in her office all day in the hopes that they might start to respect her workspace.
She’s particularly concerned about the barking that takes place when she’s on a Zoom call, especially when the mailman comes or packages are delivered to the house with work materials.
That’s why she set up a little homeschooling session for Salty and Bling.
It’s no surprise that the hilarious photos of Andonian’s presentation to her pups have gone viral. They look like such eager students!
Since dogs can’t read, she was clever enough to include photos on her poster, which is now on display outside of her office lest her voluntary co-workers forget the rules.
In order to show her colleagues that she was trying to rectify the barking problem in their virtual meetings, she sent along the photos as proof that efforts were being made.
“On Monday, before we started our first call, I sent my team the photo and said, ‘Problem solved!’ā Andonian said. “They loved it.”
There’s no word on how well the lesson worked, but it’s clear that mom has made every effort to control her furry wanna-be colleagues.
Of course, at the end of the day, we wouldn’t trade our pets for anything and we have to understand that quarantine has been wildly confusing for them.
Things are getting exhausting for all of us and some of us would even prefer to be back in the office for a little peace and quiet or a real conversation with a colleague or client at this point.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t make the most of our chance to work from home and spend time with our pets, even if the reason is not something to celebrate.
According to Andonian, the dogs actually do play an important role in her workdays now.
“They actually keep me smiling even during some tough online meetings,” Andonian said of her current work situation. “I miss the face-to-face with my clients, but I sure do enjoy spending additional time with my dogs. I can tell they love it, too.”
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Source: The Dodo, Rochelle Andonian via Facebook