Rec Room Rhinoplasty

One of the sweetest combination of words in the English language is "work from home." If they could, everyone would work from home. Trust me, it is just easier. You can get the extra 30 minutes of sleep since you don't have to commute, you can work on mini-projects around the house during those 15 minute breaks you would normally take to gossip with co-workers and generally be more efficient with both your home and work life. Sure, it gets a little lonely, but that is small price to pay for never having to put on a tie. Once you have worked from home it is hard to go back to the office setting, which is why everyone was flipping out when AOL recently announced that they would require any employees in their home location to start working from the office again. The pull of being able to work while still wearing your pajamas is also why most scam artists will insert the line, "work from home" somewhere in their spam email because they know it is an enticing enough idea to get a few people to fall for it. The thing is, not everyone can work from home and I think it is about time for a few industries to come to grips with the fact that not every job can be accomplished within a 20 foot radius of your couch.

I don't know why it has been catching my eye so much lately, but it feels like more small businesses are being run out of home offices (or at least doing so well they can afford a new sign). Driving down the street the other afternoon I must have seen 5 new signs for business ranging from tax attorney to optometrists, all in front of homes that look no different from yours or mine. (Ironically, a couple of them were located a block away from some of the empty office buildings, which always drives my dad crazy. He has no idea why you would build a office complex if you didn't have anyone to rent the space and yet there are dozens of them going up every day.) Anyway, while I admire the spirit of these people to not only embrace the work from home attitude but to also start their own businesses, I have to say that even though a cozy feeling comes in handy for some business transactions certain procedures are going to put people more at ease if they are done in a more official setting. It is just that some jobs (for example, dentistry), don't feel quite as professional when done in a room which has a dusty pool table in the corner.

This used to be the rage back in the day and I can totally see why. Everyone wanted to be more at ease and it gave the patient the feeling they sort of knew this person. You were in their house, could see pictures of their family - it made the entire experience more personal. The problem is that, like with a lot of things which are no longer done the way they used to be, we just know too much now. We have all heard a horror story of someone who had a medical procedure done by a "doctor" in a hotel room and the person was either scarred for life or killed. That is why at this point I just think it is safer for everyone involved to be in a sterilized office building. No, it won't be as cozy or make you feel as though you and your doctor are now friends, but at least you can be slightly more confident that they diploma on the wall isn't a result of Photoshop. It is also safer for the business owners. Think about how many terrible customers you dealt with during your lifetime. Now imagine those awful experiences were happening in your living room. Not only would that awful customer forever ruin the memories of that house, they know where you live. If that isn't enough to make you want to start looking for office space to rent, I don't know what would.

Besides, there is something to be said for working in an office. Some of the greatest ideas in history were developed in a group setting. When the person is flying solo you are left with only one opinion to work off of, which can be dangerous. But, no matter what I say, people are always going to try to work from home whenever possible. I guess what we need to figure out now is where the 'work from home' line is. To me, it is pretty simple - if at any point you will be drawing blood from a stranger who is asking you to perform this service in exchange for money than you should be in an official office. (And in case you are wondering, a strip mall is not very official. I know some of these chain-type doctor offices have offices in malls. You can go to them if you like, but if there is a Dollar Store within five spaces of the office I think you should consider that a factor.) Anything beyond that I am willing to take on a case-by-case basis, though I would say you should also consider the exterior of the house before taking your business inside. If the outside looks worn-down and in need of serious upkeep, that should speak volumes about the quality of work being done inside the house as well. I mean, it is not like they couldn't mow the lawn because traffic was crazy on the ride home.