This morning, going into work, I had a feeling I’d be coming home shortly. I had cramps and an upset stomach, which usually always accompany the bittersweet arrival of my monthly curse. My boss, who knows I have some chronic health problems, lets me work from home when I’m feeling really uncomfortable, so after about an hour and a half of suffering at the office, I high-tailed it back to my apartment.

I’m really enjoying working from home today. I’m able to watch the dog and cat wrestle (they’re hilarious), and when they’re not playing, the dog is curled up next to me or in my lap. I have the television on in the background. I can do all my work on my laptop from the comfort of my couch in underwear. Some days, boy do I love working at home. I wish I could do it more often, but then I remember my first job right out of school.

It was a PR/marketing job that I took until I could find something in journalism. It was a tiny company — at the beginning it was just me, the business owner and an intern. The intern was dismissed mid-summer, so then it was just me and the boss. He kept saying he was going to hire a partner and grow the business, but it never happened. Soon he got a consulting position at another company, which was supposed to be part-time, but ended up taking almost all his time. Because I was so often by myself at the office, he told me I could work home whenever I wanted. I was thrilled and thought it wouldn’t even feel like work.

But it sucked. At that point my real duties diminished (it turns out he was in the process of closing down the business) and I was mainly doing research and data entry, which quickly became mind-numbing. Spending every day alone in my one-bedroom apartment got old fast. I was getting cabin fever. I was dying to get out of the house and talk to a real, live human — even if just to interact with the Blockbuster cashier. When I finally found an opportunity in journalism and got out of that job, suddenly spending every day in an office populated with warm bodies felt like a novelty.

But soon after entering cubeland, I began to miss the quiet and peacefulness of working at home. I was tired of hearing other peoples’ conversations, dealing with annoying people and and sitting at an uncomfortable desk. I missed my dog and my couch and my freedom. It seemed that the grass is always greener on the other side. I realized that my ideal is smack dab in the middle of the two situations. Some days I crave that interaction I get in office and love that I can just walk around the corner and chat with friendly co-workers. Other days I just want to focus on my work and be left alone from the distractions of dozens of people, and not have to make small-talk every time I venture into the office kitchen.

I think it’s wonderful that my current boss let’s me work from home every once in a while when I’m feeling really bad, though he told me he only wants me to do that when I absolutely have to since he thinks it’s really important for us to all interact in person. Because of that, sometimes when my IBS is acting up I suck it up and stay even though I’m feeling miserable. I just put on my happy face and try to appear normal.

After experiencing both types of work environments, I think I would be extremely content if I had a job that allowed me (or everyone, for that matter) to work from home two days a week. That would give me three solid days of face-to-face interaction with colleagues, plenty of time for meetings and more than enough social time. Two days at home would allow me to really focus on things that I want to accomplish, allow me to spend a little more time with my dog and help me feel a little less stressed and more comfortable when I’m not feeling great. It wouldn’t be so much time alone that I would feel isolated or lonely. And just think of the money to be saved on gas

How do you feel about working at home? Love it or hate it?