Annoyed with family’s interruptions during WFH, woman locks them out of workspace

Team Udayavani, Aug 7, 2021, 3:22 PM IST

Credit: iStock Photo

The new norm of work from home amid the coronavirus pandemic means that a person gets to spend more time with the family however it does come with some drawbacks, namely interruptions by family members during working hours

In one such case, a woman got so fed up of being interrupted by her husband and children while working from home that she was forced to locks them out of her workspace.

The woman, a mother of two kids in a Reddit post wrote, “My husband is currently unemployed but I recently started working from home in my office for five hours a week. Thing is my husband would constantly barge in to my office and interrupt my work over simple requests he could get done himself.”

The requests ranged from seeking help to fix his phone or help to get the kids ready while he showers.

“I’ve talked to him about how this has been impacting my work, I already handle the chores when I’m not working so I think five hours of work should be respected. He’d apologise and say he didn’t know then do it again and say it was spontaneous.

Two days ago, I had an important meeting and he barged in, interrupted my meeting asking me to fix his tie because he was going out later. It was horrible in front of my colleagues and superiors,” she further wrote.

The woman eventually decided to put a lock on her office door so that her husband and children would not be able to get in without a key.

“When my husband got home in the evening and saw it he looked absolutely shocked. He asked what was the lock for and I replied that because of him interrupting my work sessions this was my only way,” she said.

Her husband sent the kids to their rooms and started shouting at her, saying, “I can’t believe you wanna act like the kids and I are not even here and lock us out like that.”

Tired of these constant interruptions, she decided to put a lock on her office door so that her husband and children would not be able to get in without a key.

After her husband asked her to remove the lock, she sought advice from Redditors on what should be done.

One user suggested that in response to her husband saying, “You wanna act like the kids and I aren’t here,” she should’ve said, “Yes. I want to pretend like I’m away from home in an office while I work, and I’d like for you all to pretend the same.”

Another added, “You are working from home. It’s not mommy time, it’s not fix the sink time, it’s working time. He needs to get his head around it and respect that.”