For the past few months, many of us have been transforming our homes into our offices. For Rochelle Andonian, her home became her full-time office, however, she had to contend with some rather disruptive coworkers.
Her two golden retrievers, Salty and Bling, were keeping things more casual than professional as Andonian tried to get work done over the phone through talking with clients and liaising with coworkers.
As she shared with The Dodo, “Now that I’m at home, they are constantly coming into my office and putting tennis balls on my lap or laying their head on my chair to be petted.”
Struggling to stay focused, Andonian unfortunately had to close her home office door during working hours. Unfortunately, that brought a whole new distraction: Barking.
When Andonian was set to receive work material via mail, Salty and Bling began sounding the alarm every single time something would arrive.
It began to get in the way of her work – especially when her coworkers began to take note.
“Every time I’m on a call with my team, they take bets how soon my dogs would start barking at something,” Andonian shared.
Embarassed, she knew she had to fix the situation and tried to lay down some rules for Salty and Bling to adhere to. In order to get the message across, she made them a visual aid:
Both Salty and Bling sat through her presentation like good dogs, and it seemed like they took it to heart:
MOM ON PHONE = NO BARK!
After the chat, she was ready to start fresh with her colleagues.
“On Monday, before we started our first call, I sent my team the photo and said, ‘Problem solved!’” Andonian said. “They loved it.”
While the two Goldies have settled into the routine, they try to keep their barking to a minimum now. And while they may still get a little excited, Andonian is still so grateful for their company.
“They actually keep me smiling even during some tough online meetings,” she stated. “I miss the face-to-face with my clients, but I sure do enjoy spending additional time with my dogs. I can tell they love it, too.”
