Dinner with the boss

I was invited to join my boss for dinner last night. I think it was probably as a token of appreciation for the long hours I've been putting in lately. The night before, he had been off for the day, but came in during the late evening - probably to pick up some paperwork. He found me at my desk at 8:30PM. Yesterday was the third day in succession where I had worked at least 10 hours. I would have preferred to go home early, truth be told, but it will be a cold day in hell before I'll say no to a free meal.

We went to Outback (my choice), and on the way there, I realized this is the same place I chose the last time he took me to dinner. Among the many topics of discussion, I broached the subject of my moving back home. I wanted him to candidly discuss any concerns he might have about my telecommuting. He admitted that "face-to-face" communication is an important part of his relationship with all employees. At the moment, there is only one employee in the entire organization that is allowed to telecommute (perhaps more accurately, to work at home, independent of any contact with the office). This employee also happens to be a life-long friend and 20+ year working colleague. It's obvious that a level of trust has been earned over the years. The challenge for me will be to remain "plugged in". I will be telecommuting in the true sense of the word - working from a remote desktop using the company's resources.

In the case of the other employee, he still makes a trip to the office once a week, driving perhaps 50-70 miles, one way. In my case, the commute would be 250 miles, so I'm not sure how often the boss will insist on actually "seeing" me. I am investigating things like Netmeeting and other "whiteboard" applications that will make it possible to be more involved in day-to-day communications.

Perhaps, if we start doing teleconferencing on an ongoing basis, I may have to switch to a commercial cable internet account, based on bandwidth usage. That's a price I'm willing to pay - assuming it's not an expense that would be reimbursed.