Writing Challenge Day 3: Pet Peeves: Home Office Edition

silverbacksays over 3 years ago 3 minute read time

Pets.

Many of us choose to share our lives with them. I, myself, have three! Let me introduce you to them:

Ben is the latest addition to the family. We rescued him as an unsold and abused eight-month-old puppy last October. He’s responded well to our care and is my reliable partner on our daily walks. Everyone loves him, and doesn’t he know it!

Next, we have Lola. She came to us from a family member who found her son was allergic to cats... despite having two other cats. Yeah, I think she had just taken in one too many! Like Ben, she came to us young, less than a year old. Despite that, she is the boss, and while she’s had her nose put out a little by Ben’s affections (he doesn’t seem to understand why she doesn’t want to play with him), she still holds the high ground with impunity. Her desire to nap in random places, like the middle of our autumn wreath in her picture above, is the main topic of this little piece, so read on!

Last, but by no means least, we have Tinkerbell, or Tink as we know her (unless she’s being naughty, which is often—don’t let that picture fool you). She was my mother’s dog, and when Mum passed away four years ago, we took her in, as my father found her too painful a reminder of his wife of 39 years. She came to us after Lola, and before Ben came along, she was very much the bottom of the pile. Now she hides behind Ben, relishing in her newfound furry shield!

With the introductions over, allow me to continue, dear reader!

As we all know, 2020 has been an extremely challenging year. This is an understatement, of course! However, I’m luckier than most. As the principal consultant for Silverback Systems Services Ltd (or Silverback Systems, as it’s more commonly known), I do most of my work from my home office. Here I am, showing off my THWACKcamp 2020 love earlier this month:

The enterprise monitoring arena has, if anything, become even busier this year, with companies scrambling to get a handle on how their office or data centre-based infrastructure is coping with so many of us working from home and nobody onsite to look after it!

So, for me, my work life hasn’t changed. In fact, we’ve had our most successful year! But working from home has its challenges. Sometimes, these challenges can become annoying—they can become our pet peeves, as it were! One furry companion causes me more consternation than the others. Can you guess which one?

Lola enjoys sleeping in random places. Like most cats, if she fits, she sits. Her favourite places have changed since Ben joined the family. His exuberant attention means she can no longer sleep in places where he can nuzzle her (he’s pushed her off the back of the sofa with his nose a few times—he doesn’t know how big he is), so she’s been looking for safer havens.

Unfortunately, she’s chosen the gap beneath my screens as her new favourite spot. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem if she simply lay down and slept. But she doesn’t.

She’ll sit there. In front of whatever I’m working on. If I reach out to move her, she thinks I’m playing, so she flops onto the desk, knocking whatever happens to be on it all over the place. My phone, my wireless mouse, my coffee… You name it, she’s either knocked it over or off of the desk! And the hair! OMG the HAIR! I feel some kinship with Anakin Skywalker, as it gets EVERYWHERE!

Then, when I’m moving the cursor between screens and she notices, she’ll sit up AND WATCH IT! She doesn’t try to attack it, just moves and gets her head and nose RIGHT WHERE I’M TRYING TO CLICK! I have to physically get up and look around her to do my work sometimes!

By the end of a workday, I must have picked her up a dozen times and moved her into the kitchen. There, she has other lofty perches from which to gaze down in triumph at Ben while he whines, not understanding why the small fluffy thing doesn’t want to play…

When it’s all said and done, it’s hard to stay cross at her. No damage has been done, she hasn’t knocked over a full cup of coffee (YET!), and my phone (and mouse) have survived the trips off the desk they’ve suffered at her affectionate flailing! And, let’s face it, when she’s dozing (and not in the way), she is adorable:

Top Comments

bobmarley over 3 years ago

I always have taken my dog along whenever possible when I went anywhere in the car. When I was going into the office every day he was used to being left at home for awhile but now since I'm working from home he usually gets to go along whenever I go out. As a matter of fact he expects it now and on the occasions he can't go along I can see he is irritated when I leave.
For the most part he's a quiet dog and doesn't bark so having him in my office all day is a nice thing. He has a routine, usually joining me around 10am. Spending the mid day with me and then late afternoon off for a nap on his normal bed.
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Kaellanon over 3 years ago

I have no pets, but my son has a large praying mantis that he caught outside the front door of our house. It has it's own cage and doesn't bother anyone.
My "peeves" are three boys aged 3, 7, and 10. A wild and noisy bunch. My wife also watches two other boys (ages 2 and 6) during the day.That's a lot of kids in one fairly small house especially on a rainy day when they can't go outside.
If you've never lived in a house full of boys, just imagine living with a daily home invasion. The invaders don't take anything, they just come in and vandalize the whole house on a daily basis. The nightly cleanup takes at least an hour.
The noise was often loud enough that I had to lock my door and wear my headset to tune it out. I love my boys, they are amazing, but I'm very glad to be working in the office again.
I am always amazed by my wife and her ability to watch, teach, and care for that brood of hellions on a daily basis without going mad.
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janobi over 3 years ago

Cat here, ginger tom named Boris. Mainly because he looks like the UK Prime Minister. But also because I think he meows with a Russian accent.
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rschroeder over 3 years ago

Unfortunately, pets haven't been part of my life for nearly twenty years--coinciding to when we had children. You may be entertained by the idea--I was against having children. I was the baby in my own family, and a late-bloomer in that my father was 47 when I was born. They didn't expect another child after my two sisters came along ten years earlier, so apparently "protection" wasn't part of the deal, and thus "the bonus baby" arrived.
47 years difference was too much, in that my father didn't have energy to play ball with me or do active things. However, he gave me experience with farm animals and pets, as well as with hunting wild game and fishing, and a wonderful education in all things meteorological, geological, mammal, insect, bird, reptile, amphibian, and plants.
I grew up raising chickens, wild ducks (Mallards), dogs, cats, and geese. Plus all of the wild critters around our country farm (pocket gophers, fox squirrels, both red and gray squirrels, ring-necked pheasants, ruffed grouse, wild turkeys, red foxes, white-tailed deer, and the many species of birds and insects native to Minnesota.
So, after a dozen years with my wife, when she said "it's time to start a family" I was in shock. Rather than capitulating, I bought her a puppy. Surely she'd see how much work a little one required, how expensive it would be to own, and the damage to property that comes along with a dog. That was our Siberian Husky, who ended up being a great companion, and proving to be an intelligent friend. She could understand over a hundred hand and spoken commands, and she epitomized the classic "good dog."
But after a number of years my wife said "Well, the dog was good training. Now we're starting a family". And no amount of whining on my part would change her mind, so I gave in to the inevitable, and when our Husky passed away, we already had a boy & a girl to raise. They took our time, and gave us great challenges--and great satisfaction. Both graduated from college, and one has already completed a masters and a Ph.D. (in Theoretical Particle Physics no less!).
With the kids out of the house, it may be time to search for a pet to keep me company, since employment opportunities doing 100% remote Solarwinds and network support are seemingly few. I don't want to retire yet, but if I do retire, it'll be easier with a pet to train & share life with. Sadly it can't be a cat--I dearly love cats, but my wife remains strongly allergic to them. So a hypo-allergenic canine may be on the order.
This was our "family" around 1990. If you want a smart pet that needs a lot of mental stimulation, training, and companionship, who will lick a burglar to death instead of bite them or run them off, who sheds a LOT of hair year-round, a Siberian Husky might be for you!
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cnorborg over 3 years ago

Ah yes, I have 3 at home right now. Two of my own and a third I babysit often. By often I mean probably 9 of the last 12 weeks I've babysat her off and on. Shanti is her name
This is her behind me in my office. Then there is Angel, my girl that I actually had to unwrap her from her placenta and revive her during a c-section birth! She's about to turn 13 now and has been with me nearly non-stop.
And finally Xander, who I adopted when I moved to NM about 9 years ago. This is him on a hike up near Angel Fire, NM for his 10th earlier this year. I know at least one person out there who knows where this is!
I love my pets, but working at home with them does introduce a number of issues. Like right now two of them are snoring behind me, loud enough that it will cause issues on a webex! And when talking about noise, my boy Xander will rarely let a dog walk by, or a person for that matter, without sounding an alarm! Which of course brings the others running. Not only does that have me nearly hovering over the mute button if I'm talking, but can scare me to death if he all of a sudden erupts with noise! He definitely has skills in that regard.
Not to mention his olfactory related skills! Yesterday I was doing some training for a group of people and his delicate digestive tract let loose an odor that nearly made me gag! The slightest thing wrong that he eats will set off this process, and of course he's the one on walks that will try and eat all sorts of stuff. Some people are amazed that if I see him snatch up something I will put my hand in his mouth and wrestle it out while he growls angrily. I have to be very diligent to try and anticipate what will attract him, which can be anything from a road-kill snake, to a napkin, to an odd collection of fur or hair. Quite often, even though I'm quick, I am not quick enough and it gets swallowed whole before I have a chance. The days following Halloween are a bit concerning because if he gets ahold of lots of chocolate, it could be deadly, and not just in the olfactory sense!!
Then there are their demands, my girl Angel will patiently sit there and paw at me for long periods of time waiting me to get her what she wants. Usually that's filling the water bowl, or a treat, or attention or something, but there have been many, many occasions where I have simply been mystified after giving her everything I can imagine. Of course they usually choose to do this when I'm in a teleconference, or the middle of working on something.
Scheduling walks can be challenging, when its hot out going before work is an easy one, but as it gets colder trying to fit walks in while the sun is out, or before dark can be difficult with teleconferences and such.
Would I give it up? No way, especially now, their company is grounding. Being forced out of the office and losing that interaction would be horrible without them. So even though I have quite a few Pet peeves, their simple presence and ability to eliminate stress is critical. Not to mention motivating me to get out and walk them keeps my cardiologist happy too, and me. Without them I might totally forget to take breaks. They definitely make me a better person, especially in times like these...
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