Safe Computer

What people think vs reality

Company car

One of the nice advantages of being a consultant is getting a company car. You usually have the freedom to choose the brand, type, and color you like. It sounds fantastic: you get your brand-new car, drive off to your client, and then… end up stuck in a traffic jam. The navigation system is of no use since there is only one road to your destination, and traffic has come to a standstill. There you are, in your brand-new car, waiting for one or two hours until you can continue driving.

After a long day, you head back to the office to discuss some points. Unfortunately, you are not the only one. You spend 45 minutes driving around in the rain, searching for a parking spot.

And let’s not forget the taxes. The government knows you have a company car, and they are happy about it because they can charge you for that. Depending on where you live, you could end up paying thousands of dollars per year for this “free” car.

Flying

Flying for work always sounds exciting. Your client calls, and you need to fly out to discuss some problems. It is great to visit other places, but the reality is less glamorous. You pack your suitcase with clothes and some comfortable attire for the journey to the airport. You check in, go through security, and then find out your flight is delayed. You end up waiting at the airport, possibly having dinner alone—if you can find something decent.

When you finally arrive at your destination, there is always the question of whether your luggage made it. More than once, I have waited at baggage claim only to find out my luggage was delayed. “We’ll bring it to your hotel tomorrow,” they say, or sometimes later that week.

On the phone

No matter how knowledgeable you are, there will always be clients who ask that one question you had not anticipated. This invariably happened when I was far away from the office, making it impossible to simply walk in and ask for help. The only option was to call the office and hope someone there could provide a solution.

You do not want to make these calls from the client’s location, as it wastes their time. Instead, I would make quick calls during office hours to ensure someone would be available to assist later.

So there I was, in my hotel room, exhausted after another long day. Instead of enjoying a cold beer, I had to make a series of phone calls. These calls could easily take two or three hours. You can only hope to get a quick and workable solution.

Dinners and bars

Many clients understand that you are away from home and staying in a hotel for a few days. They often feel the need to entertain you, taking you out for dinner and a drink at a bar afterward. While this is thoughtful and generous, it can become overwhelming. Sometimes, you find yourself with different dining companions every evening, taking you to the best restaurants where you can’t even complain about their hospitality and effort. However, there are days when all you want is to take a pizza back to your room, watch a movie, and maybe even go to bed early.

Reading updates on regulations

Let’s talk about taxes. Tax regulations are updated frequently, sometimes up to four times a year. Each update includes the entire material, often over 200 pages long. Even if they change just one word on page six, you still receive all 200 pages. To make it more challenging, these documents are often in a different language. Every year, I had to read these extensive documents and compare them with previous versions. I had to mark every page as “read” for the accountants, otherwise it would not count. Significant changes also had to be noted. I would print all these pages, read them, mark them, scan them, and save them. And this is just for taxes; there are more documents from other government departments. Most of this reading is done in the evenings and on weekends.

Learning / study

This is a more interesting subject. Typically, you take a course because you want to learn something new. In my case, I read books hoping to find something useful. Buying books is an expensive hobby, as sometimes you need to read two or three different books on the same subject to get a comprehensive understanding. These books take different approaches, and some explain things better than others. However, when you take an exam, you can call it a study, and then your employer might cover the costs. In my line of work, there are no specific courses or books, so I picked subjects I thought were useful. Topics like security, networking, computer hardware, and SQL offered plenty to choose from. Learning is something you can do on the job, especially when you refer to it as a “study.”