My Favorite Work-at-Home Benefit

There are a lot of reasons why I love being a freelance writer and working at home. Sure, there is the setting my own hours, wearing comfy clothes, no bosses or co-workers to bug me with their annoying habits, not having to endure air conditioning (which I loathe), and so on.

But my favorite benefit? I'm doing it today. I've moved to my branch office in the family room because my beloved Phillies are playing an afternoon game, in HD no less.

In the old days, if the Phils played an afternoon game, I had to figure out how to listen to the game without raising the ire of a cranky boss. For some reason they thought I couldn't multi-task well enough to listen to a game and work (silly old bosses -- I've been writing to the soothing sound of baseball since I was a little girl and the jobs I was doing in my past life tended to involve more photocopying and filing and stuffing envelopes than it did writing). Even worse than the bosses were the co-workers. Even though the volume on my computer was always turned down so only I could hear it -- step two feet from my desk and the sound disappeared -- my co-workers thought baseball in the office was a bad thing.

So, I'd have to often turn the games off so I could listen to my officemates talk about Tom Cruise's love life, graphic details of someone's surgery, or gossip about someone who worked in an adjacent office. Yeah, well, sue me for thinking a Phils game was much more interesting.

On most days, I spend my entire work day in my little office. Day baseball is a nice treat, and I'm still able to answer email, take phone calls, and stuff envelopes without missing an at bat.