Yes, I’m Working. Really, I am.

I’m squatting down on the floor of the casino gift shop, hoping to hell that no one calls security.  I’m clutching my iPhone, set on speaker mode and mute, and giving the evil eye to anyone who dares to walk within three feet of me. 

Yes, I’m working.  Really, I am.

It might not seem like it, but I’m in my eighth hour of work on this Friday afternoon.  I started around 6:15 am when I woke up in my Las Vegas hotel room to prepare for my first conference call of the day.  I’ve spent the morning on and off calls, in my room on my laptop submitting documents for processing and working on client documents.

And now I’m on our monthly firmwide call.  The timing didn’t quite work out.  We had to vacate our hotel room at noon when the call started, so I began the call in the hotel lobby.  It continued through to the valet, while I ran to the local drugstore, and until I got to the next hotel.  I got dropped from the call several times due to a poor cellular signal.  And then along the way, I got an email asking me to deliver our office’s local report because our office partner was going to be on a flight and my other senior cohort got called out to a client meeting.  I calculated the timing – no problem if my room was ready, a huge one if it wasn’t.

I did it.

And then finally our room was ready – right after my indignity of the gift shop (where I “treated” myself to a $26 t-shirt as a pseudo apology for taking up real estate for 20 minutes).  I was able to finally change into my swimsuit and join my girlfriends at the pool.

They didn’t seem amused… their pool day was already coming to an end at 2 pm while mine was just beginning.  I don’t know that they bought my “I’ve been working all day” statement.

But it was true.  Working from the road is anything but glamorous.

Yes, I can be in Las Vegas any time I want to.  But I still have to work, no matter how difficult it is.