Bonus Blog! Enjoy this bonus blog post with a funny cartoon and a WSJ writer's response to my letter to the editor. You won't believe it! I posted this sign in my front yard this week with this memo and cartoon!
HO! HO! HO!
DATE: December 14, 2020
TO: All Neighbors, Dog Walkers, & Cell Phone Conversationalists!
FROM: John Pearson’s Home Office (overlooking Calle Guadalajara!)
RE: Laugh-Out-Loud! (…or maybe TALK-Out-Loud!)
This is funny! On Dec. 9, The Wall Street Journal featured a fascinating article by Alexandra Samuel, “How to Protect Your Privacy When Working From Home.” It suggested you walk around the neighborhood and make your office calls then. I couldn’t resist—so I submitted a letter to the editor with a tongue-in-check mention about listening in on YOUR calls! LOL!
The Editor
The Wall Street Journal
RE: “How to Protect Your Privacy When Working From Home” (Dec. 9)
During this coronavirus marathon, dozens of my work-at-home neighbors have been following Alexandra Samuel’s advice for sensitive office calls: “a walk around the neighborhood—out of earshot of my neighbors as well as my family—allows me to speak freely and get some exercise, too.” But, hello? My home office faces the street and with my office window open, I can hear every “sensitive” office call! Unfortunately, the neighborhood dogs have designated my mailbox area as their favorite rest stop—so I hear everything. “Hey, Joe! Just deal with it. Stop whining to Pedro about Jennifer’s Zoom manners!”
John W. Pearson
San Clemente, Calif.Amazingly, the writer emailed me on Dec. 10—and sent a cartoon!
Oh gosh, John— you have made me realize I am a blight on the neighborhood!Your description of the predicament was so vivid that I commissioned the attached cartoon for you from my husband and in-house cartoonist, Rob Cottingham. Perhaps if you post it on your front gate, the neighbors will get the hint?
Thanks so much for writing!
Alex
Laugh-out-loud! I thought you would enjoy her response—and this hilarious cartoon from her husband and "in-house cartoonist," Rob Cottingham.
P.S. Merry Christmas and enjoy your walks along Calle Guadalajara. Maybe some day—after COVID—we can get acquainted! (And, by the way, your sensitive office call conversations are safe with me!) Read Alexandra Samuel’s article online.
How to Protect Your Privacy When Working From Home
There are ways to keep colleagues from intruding on your home life, and family members from intruding on your work life
“Walk it off: For sensitive office calls, take a walk around the neighborhood with your phone and headset so that you can talk freely out of earshot of your family and neighbors. You’ll get some exercise, too.”
P.P.S. That’s me in the cartoon, in my second-floor home office—listening in on your “sensitive” phone calls! LOL!
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