WAH or OTTO?

As I sat in my usual Thursday spot this week, I took a moment to focus on everything that was going on around me. A group of teens were being their teenaged selves, flirting and play fighting. A teacher was waling by carrying something that looked like a Greek temple. Little kids were running around, putting Valentines into paper bag mailboxes. A gym class game of dodge ball was just beginning.

If I were a school administrator, perhaps this would be all in a days’ work. But I am not a school administrator; I “Work At Home (WAH)” for IBM. While working with all the chaos around me, I decided I don’t WAH, but that I am an “OTTO” (Other than Traditional Office) worker. I don’t have an office. My desk drawer is a drawer in the dining room buffet. I work wherever I am and whenever I am in the right frame of mind.

If I can’t concentrate, I stop trying to work. When I am feeling efficient, I get right down to work, even if it is a Saturday evening. I get my hours in, but more importantly, I get my work done, whether it be in a crowded hallway, at my dining room table or in a hotel room somewhere nowhere near my house.