It's all about Donna

I had no clue what I was getting into when I raised my hand. I have VD (volunteer disease). I work at a progressive company that allows telecommuting. Not only do they allow it, they promote and encourage it. They have created a truly wonderful environment for the mobile employee; at least in my eyes they have.

First, a little background.

My day job has a Web-based tool created by Travel Studios for Cubeless (or something like that). In our case, it’s called SabreTown. They launched it last summer and it runs on the company intranet. It brings employees, who are spread out all over kingdom come and back, together. Many view it as a social platform comparing it to the likes of MySpace and facebook. I haven’t used either of those sites, so I can’t comment. What I do know is that SabreTown adds a whole other dimension to the work environment, and with so many home-based employees, it helps ease the feeling of isolation. I discovered SabreTown quite by accident last December. At first I was a little skeptical. Let’s face it. I’m a contractor, I have to be very careful what I say and do (that’s a post for another day). SabreTown is very addictive with its groups, Q&A, community profiles and so much more. It’s fun answering questions both work and play. It’s great reading the profiles. And you learn a lot about the culture and people who work there. The best part, for me anyway, is knowing there is always someone I can talk to when I need help in getting my job done.

As time and SabreTown have evolved, I’ve become a bit of a social leader with a strong sense of community. I’ve made friends literally all over the world (Brian in Germany, Tim in Spain, Carole in Canada, Cesar in Urguay, and Marilyn in Oklahoma. I even got to meet Brian in person when he came to headquarters earlier this year; Tim avoided me–actually I think he was just too busy with his boss). I founded two of the groups in SabreTown and have an active blog. They have this feature called Karma. I’ve managed to acquire well over 2500 karma points… that gives me 4 stars and 5 pics on my profile. They know me. I was even invited to be a charter member of the first SabreTown Council. Unfortunately since I’m a contractor, my manager’s manager wouldn’t allow it. I think that sucks; I even volunteered to participate on my own time and wouldn’t bill them for my time. No go. Sadly I understand. But I still think it sucks.

Fast forward to June…

One of the SVPs put out a call for people to be interviewed by the local newspaper for an article they were dong on the rising cost of gas and working from home (WFH). Right place, right time… I raised my hand. I got picked. I was told I would be contacted the following day for an interview.

The next day came, and right on cue, I got *the* call. I bet I was on the phone for an hour. Well, maybe not, but it sure seemed liked it. My brain was picked clean. While talking, it came out that my manager said he didn’t care where I worked as long as my work got done. He’s a horseperson, too, and said I could work in my barn for all he cared. Just get the work done. When this came out, the reported couldn’t resist getting the photo. Can you imagine my surprise when I opened the Sunday paper to see a 7 x 9.5 inch color picture of myself on the front page of the Work & Money section?! Holy cow!

You can read my story in the Fort Worth Star Telegram!