I’ve snorted coke, necked cocktails & even had an affair while ‘WFH’ – I get all my work done so who cares?

WHEN Anna* started moving from location during the pandemic, she could person won a prize for the astir conscientious employee, chaining herself to her laptop and hardly taking a luncheon break.

However accelerated guardant 4 years, and her work ethic has slipped truthful dramatically she’s adjacent ‘worked' from a edifice furniture with her lover, snorted coke connected a Friday day and cracked unfastened a vessel of vino - each successful bureau hours.

Here the joined 41 twelvemonth aged communications expert, from London, reveals precisely what 'working from home' looks similar for her...

Anna says: "Sitting successful the beauty salon seat connected a Thursday day I rapidly occurrence disconnected an email telling my brag I’m connected a call.

Then I settee down to bask my pedicure interest escaped - contempt the information I should inactive beryllium astatine work.

I had a prime of clip for my pedicure, 7pm oregon 4:30pm, but by 7 I wanted to beryllium successful the pub, truthful 4:30 it was.

It’s not a uncommon occurrence for maine to ‘juggle’ my moving hours to acceptable my leisure activities.

And I consciousness nary guilt astir it astatine all.

'I was the astir conscientious employee'

I wasn’t ever similar this. When lockdown happened backmost successful 2020 and we were each forced to enactment from location I was the astir conscientious worker imaginable.

I logged connected astatine 9am, didn’t adjacent instrumentality the afloat hr for luncheon and stayed astatine my table beyond my 6pm finish.

I enactment full-time successful communications and adjacent erstwhile I didn’t person immoderate contiguous deadlines, I’d bash immoderate other research.

My turning constituent happened erstwhile the shops reopened successful June.

I went retired for my luncheon and successful my excitement astir being capable to browse successful the likes of H&M and Zara I mislaid way of time.

When I realised I’d had an other 40 minutes connected my luncheon hr I was overwhelmed with panic and raced backmost location acceptable to apologise profusely... lone to realise that perfectly nary 1 had noticed my absence.

Learning the tricks of the trade

It sowed the seeds of my gradual diminution into an worker that chooses however to walk her moving day.

To commencement with it was conscionable logging connected successful my pyjamas and past going disconnected to person my ablution and get dressed connected institution time.

Then I started having the unusual nap – ever mounting my alarm for 20 minutes aboriginal truthful if idiosyncratic did announcement my lack past it wouldn’t person been for long.

As I started learning the tricks to disguise my skiving – emailing everyone to fto them cognize I was connected back-to-back calls, oregon updating my teams presumption to accidental ‘on a call’ - I realised that different radical were doing it excessively - oregon had a batch much existent calls than I do.

I yet confessed to a mate that I was having the occasional nap, and she laughed and said she sometimes had 4 a time and had binge watched astir of Selling Sunset successful enactment hours. It made maine consciousness better. And we egged each different on.

Sex and concealed affairs

Soon I thought thing of watching TV erstwhile I wasn’t busy, having leisurely luncheon breaks and batch cooking.

My hubby works shifts for the NHS truthful erstwhile helium was astatine location during the time we’d adjacent occasionally person sex.

But our narration suffered done lockdown truthful it wasn’t that
often.

Which brings maine to my worst skives. I bumped into an aged schoolhouse person connected a locomotion successful January 2021 and we got chatting.

We arranged to conscionable for much walks and soon our relationship
turned into an affair.

He’s a policeman truthful could easy bash ‘overtime’ and arsenic a cardinal worker
could publication into hotels.

So each week oregon truthful erstwhile his time disconnected coincided with my husband
being astatine enactment we’d conscionable astatine a edifice and person sex.

I’d instrumentality my laptop with maine and cheque my emails regularly and bash immoderate calls I had to do, from my furniture – with my camera turned off.

Drinking vino and snorting coke

It fizzled retired aft a twelvemonth oregon so, but I did bask the naughtiness of doing thing truthful ‘wrong’ and getting paid.

Ditto erstwhile I ace unfastened the vino astatine 3pm connected a Friday day – inactive precise overmuch a play occurrence.

I precise occasionally person a enactment of cocaine too, if I’m going retired aboriginal that night.

I’m present backmost successful the bureau for 2 days a week, which I bask arsenic I similar the operation and seeing my colleagues.

But I besides bask my days astatine home. I ne'er consciousness frazzled immoderate more, having to travel home, benignant the washing, bash my housework and cook.

I get each of that organised successful bureau hours arsenic and erstwhile I’m not swamped with work.

'Self pleasure' breaks

I tin besides ever get a quality assignment – due to the fact that I tin put them astatine unpopular times similar a Monday morning.

And present that I don’t spot my lover, if I’m feeling frisky and my hubby isn’t connected a displacement past we’ll person sex, if helium isn’t astatine location I’ll instrumentality a small clip retired to pleasance myself.

My favourite skiving determination was telling enactment I was getting counselling backmost successful 2022 – saying the lone imaginable clip was astatine 9am connected a Friday morning.

I went for 3 weeks earlier I realised that my anxiousness was down to the pandemic and that I was getting better, but arsenic acold arsenic they’re acrophobic it’s ongoing and I get an other hr successful furniture connected a Friday.

I’m acold from the lone 1 who takes the unusual hr oregon so.

One workfellow was adjacent silly capable to station a communicative connected Instagram of her with her feet up watching a Christmas movie with her kids astatine 3pm connected a Thursday day – she swore unsighted that it was from the night
before, nary of america believed her.

'I tin ne'er leave'

But contempt each of this I don’t consciousness I’m doing thing incorrect – crucially my enactment ever gets done to a precocious standard, it has ne'er slipped.

I’ve been astatine the aforesaid institution for 12 years truthful I tin bash it blindfolded.

Equally if I’m truly engaged I’ll enactment precocious successful the evening oregon astatine the
weekend.

That’s 1 of the reasons my brag trusts maine and values me.

And erstwhile I had covid, I worked done it.

I emotion my occupation and similar doing it well, I conscionable don’t deliberation it’s indispensable to bash it each betwixt 9am and 6pm.

But it does mean I tin ne'er permission - the thought of being successful a caller job
and having to relationship for each infinitesimal of my clip with a brag who doesn’t spot maine is not a blessed thought.

* Name has been changed.