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December 22, 2019

What are printer brownies?

I am a pretty literal thinker.

Last holiday season, a colleague who works remote (vs. my organization’s brick-and-mortar office) and I were talking about the unique parts of being a remote worker. She said, “Even though I’m not in the office, when someone says there are brownies by the printer, I still look.”

ME TOO!

That’s how printer brownies were born at my office last year. (I shared them in our Slack channel for remote workers.)

What are printer brownies?

But 2019 calls for something more (plus I wanted to make brownies and Santa is craving brownies with his milk Christmas Eve night). Therefore, I added a task to my list for tonight.

What are printer brownies?

Why does it matter to serve “printer brownies”? It matters because 30% of US workers work remotely full-time (according to Owl Labs). Telecommuting is growing, with FlexJobs reporting a 22% increase in people working remotely between 2017 and 2018. Despite this growth, Owl Labs reported that “38% of remote workers and 15% of remote managers received no training on how to work remotely.”

There are lots more stats to show how much remote work is growing and the uneven nature of how people learn to work remotely. I had never worked remote until I started a several-year period of freelancing in 2014. Then when I got my current job (at a place where I had been freelancing), I was officially a full-time remote worker.

Of all the things I’ve learned about remote work (which are almost exclusively self-taught and not lessons I always learned well the first time), the biggest one is that connection matters whether you sit across from each other in a physical office or you only ever chat digitally with someone thousands of miles away.

That’s why when someone looks for the brownies by the printer, I try to help them feel more connected than disappointed.

What are printer brownies?

I’m linking this post up at Kat Bouska’s blog for the prompt, ” Write a blog post inspired by the word ‘task.'”

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Paula Kiger
Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.

Filed Under: Reflections Tagged With: Gig Economy

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Diane says

    December 23, 2019 at 10:23 am

    Now those are some brownies even I can have!

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      December 23, 2019 at 3:53 pm

      Exactly! Don’t limit yourself LOL!

      Reply
  2. Haralee says

    December 23, 2019 at 11:42 am

    What a terrific perspective! Virtual brownies are great and you are right connections are crucial for effective remote work!

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      December 23, 2019 at 3:53 pm

      So crucial. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  3. madamdreamweaver says

    December 23, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    I get the important of connecting if working remotely. That’s so neat so many people can do that! The brownie idea is cute.

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      December 23, 2019 at 3:54 pm

      Right? It’s so important!

      Reply
  4. Rebecca Olkowski | Travel/Lifestyle Blog โœ’ (@baby_boomster) says

    December 24, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    I think I gained a pound just looking at them. Great post.

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      December 24, 2019 at 9:31 pm

      They were so fudgy! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  5. John Holton says

    December 25, 2019 at 10:41 am

    I was in a couple of situations where I was a fulltime remote worker, which was good because I had a stroke in 2007 and couldn’t drive or travel. Problem was I couldn’t find any remote opportunities, and finally I retired and went on Disability. Yours sounds like an ideal type of job; guess I was a little too ahead of my time…

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      December 25, 2019 at 5:27 pm

      Hi John. Thank you for sharing that, and I’m sorry nothing materialized after 2007. I count my blessings every single day for a variety of reasons that I ended up in this position. Thanks for chiming in.

      Reply

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