ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

The novelty of working from home has worn off for one local father this morning, who said he’s about ready to start heading into the city again for work.

Doug Merchant prefaced that statement by telling The Advocate that he loves his family but as he’s about to start his fourth workweek at the kitchen table, he says he’s weeks ahead of the rest of us when it comes to being in relative isolation.

“My wife is a nurse, so she’s pretty flat out at the moment,” he said.

“She’s been sleeping at her brother’s holiday house down there on Lake Betoota for the past three weeks. To make sure she’s not passing on anything she might catch at the human smash repairs where she works,”

“So it’s just me and the kiddo up here. It’s been nice but I’ve got a job to do at the same time. Tell you what, but. I’m pretty keen for things to go back to how they were, just quietly.”

For almost a month now, the commercial litigator has been working from home.

He said the work is not dissimilar to what he’d be doing at the office.

“What I do for a living is I use a computer and my knowledge to complete tasks relating to that knowledge in exchange for money to pay bills with. To be real with you, fuck face, I could do my job anywhere in the world if I had to,”

“Never thought I’d say this but I miss getting on the D45 bus into down every morning, swiping my little card on the swinging glass gates, getting the lift up to my cubical, putting my briefcase down, immediately heading to the loo to take a 45-minute shit on company time. Taking an hour for lunch. Fuck me, you don’t know what you got till it’s gone, hey Joni?”

More to come.

