Hotel Solitude/Breakfast with Smartphones/Who is this Remote Worker
Three of the five most-read texts in this newsletter are about some kind of pain
I have already written in this newsletter about how the life of a nomad can be lonely. And I'm not even one of those nomads who travel the world alone. On the contrary, I have generally been in places near family, friends, or professional contacts. I also make new friends quickly. And regardless, the nomadic life is still solitary.
I'm a nomad who stays in Airbnbs, jumping from one to another, but this week I had to stay in a hotel, no longer with the friend who got the time zone wrong with me in Tabatinga. It's incredible how this feeling of loneliness is stronger in hotels.
The small rooms, the lifeless decor, the view from the window to nothingness. These elements don't bother you as much if you're a tourist staying for a few days. After all, the hotel room is just an accessory for the primary purpose: enjoying the destination. Your home, in your city, will be waiting for you when you return.
If you're a nomad, you're not just traveling in the traditional sense. Those days in the hotel become your life and your home. And the suffocating feeling starts to take over as you spend hours working inside the hotel.
It's curious how the hotel lobby is bustling with arrivals and departures of tourists or people on business, while Airbnbs have a monotonous life, typical of residential buildings. But the sensation when you enter the apartment is entirely different. I feel at home most of the time. Because it is a home, decorated for that purpose. It's just not my home, but my home for those days.
Some writers and artists have lived or still live in hotels, like Mário Quintana from Rio Grande do Sul and Jorge Ben Jor from Rio de Janeiro. I imagine their rooms are larger than my cubicle at the Ibis in Belém. Under their conditions, perhaps I wouldn't be writing this text. Or maybe they also experience the loneliness of hotels. After all, it's in pain that great songs and books are created.
Three of the five most-read texts in this newsletter are about some kind of pain. I may need more hotel solitudes.
The contemporary way to alleviate hotel loneliness (or any loneliness) is through social networks and smartphones. I have been working with social networks for many years, and this is one of the topics that attract me the most. Wherever I am, I notice that people who are alone constantly look at their phones.
Of course, the ease of long-distance communication is incredible. Indeed, it reduces loneliness. But there needs to be a balance. Otherwise, you miss out on enjoying the moment by staring at a screen. Taking a solo trip is pointless if you're immersed in a parallel universe the whole time. And there's so much to observe. The landscape, the customs, the interactions between people, the messages on the walls.
Another mistake of the solitary traveler is excessive posting. The urge is to alleviate our loneliness with a flood of likes on Stories. I might be a traveler out of sync with the zeitgeist, but I don't see how stroking your ego will make your trip better. Social networks literally become addictive. You're no longer just updating your contacts; you're dealing with your dopamine, which increasingly demands more and more likes to satisfy less and less.
I understand that some nomads and travelers make this their profession; in that case, social networks are a work tool. I'm not advocating for zero posts for anyone. This is just an invitation to reflect. I'm glad my Instagram usage time has been only 10 minutes daily.
And you, what do you do to use social networks less? What advice would you give to solitary travelers? Let's try to improve everyone's journeys.
Who is this remote worker
Name: Randy Fusieger
Place of Birth: Cidade Gaúcha, Paraná (but I studied and graduated in Maringá, also in Paraná, where I lived for 7 years)
Age: 28
Profile: Journalist, currently a specialist in CRM and content management. Speaks, writes, listens, and tells stories —but also analyzes data and manages leads. Resides in Florianópolis, SC, and shares the apartment with two cats: Felícia and Nair.
How is your relationship with remote work? When did you first come into contact with it? Was it before or after the pandemic? Did the pandemic change anything?
My first experience with remote work was during the pandemic. I switched jobs on March 30, 2020 (14 days after the first complete lockdowns took effect). I transitioned from an agricultural cooperative to join the marketing team of a technology company, still based in Maringá. This company already had a remote-first culture even before the pandemic, with many employees from different locations across Brazil used to remote work routines.
However, for me, I think I had to deal with three significant situations: my home becoming my office (and the lack of familiarity with that, until it became routine); the anxiety of others thinking work wasn't being done because they couldn't physically see it, which is more common in traditional office settings; and the chaos of the pandemic world, which exacerbated the anxiety from the first point.
I started working from home at a company I joined in the early days of the pandemic. However, the agricultural cooperative I was with previously also needed to switch to remote work temporarily due to the closure of everything. So, my first encounter with remote work differed from that of many people who intentionally chose this way of working. In my case, the pandemic initially led to it due to necessity.
Yet, in spite of my resistance to what was new to me, comfort eventually emerged: shortened commuting time from home to work (in reality, the elimination of that commute); the opportunity to engage in other projects (like the podcast "A gente conversa" [We Talk]); rediscovery of significant physical spaces for me —during the pandemic, I did a major renovation of my room, with the premise that if that place was going to become even more like my home, it needed to reflect my personality even more, among other factors.
Since when have you been living in Florianópolis? The city attracted many remote workers during the pandemic, and they have continued to stay. Has this influenced you to work remotely as well? In what sense?
I moved to Florianópolis in August 2022, last year. The move here fulfilled one of my criteria for integrating personal and professional life by living in a place that had always caught my attention. I first visited Florianópolis in 2019. I traveled alone, spent eight days in the city (also alone), and it was the first time I experienced a true beach —an actual beach: sea, sun, and sand. I had never seen the coastline up close before that year (I was 24 then).
Yes, living here has inevitably pushed me towards remote work. Currently, I'm already in a hybrid work system here. However, specifically, because Florianópolis is a capital city with stunning beauty, and since my field allows it, I see the possibility of remote work as a positive thing, precisely to be closer to nature - and, of course, to enjoy great moments with Felícia and Nair, my cats and faithful companions on this journey here (laughs).
Finally, as I mentioned, I have been working in marketing for years, and I am currently a CRM specialist. It's a role that can be done 100% remotely as it involves entirely online systems.
How have you dealt with this growing desire for remote work? How have you planned to make this a reality? What is your current hybrid work like? Do you see any positives in in-person work that remote work can't match?
I genuinely believe that there's a "match" between people suited for remote work and companies that embrace remote work, just as there's a match between those who thrive in in-person work and companies with that culture.
For example, remote workers in a company with a robust in-person culture might feel entirely out of place: colleagues are hesitant to send video call links; meeting rooms lack specialized hardware to include remote employees (with multidirectional microphones on the table and a webcam with zoom and movement). This sense of fit or misfit depends on whether the company aligns with an in-person or remote culture.
Returning to the topic: my perception of my inclination toward remote work is becoming more evident. Whether it's developing and evolving "A gente conversa" to potentially become a fixed project in my career one day (leading to other projects), or acquiring technical marketing knowledge to work in remote-first companies, that's the path I envision for myself. However, as it's still taking shape, I'm discovering how to prepare myself.
There's another aspect to consider here: the distance from my hometown. Living in Florianópolis places me about 800 km away from my family and friends. Remote work also brings me this benefit: instead of counting the days of going back and forth on a fixed schedule, the diversity of working from home might allow me to work a season there, another here, and so on. For me, this benefit is the most significant.
Regarding the benefits of in-person work that remote work can't surpass, there are some values that in-person work offers: when you're face-to-face with a colleague, it seems that you can extract more of what the person has to offer, whether personally or professionally.
I could even say that in-person work allows us to have more significant contact with the work routine and the company's ideas, but today, this can be easily transferred online. I would consider that a point, but since I've contradicted it, I see in-person and remote work almost with the same perspective (laughs).
At the same time, what are the advantages that in-person work can't surpass in remote work? The world has been returning more and more to in-person work. Why do you think this phenomenon is happening? How can it be slowed down? Why do you think there's so much prejudice against remote work?
Remote work in today's context balances two cultural aspects prevalent among Brazilians: the need for human interaction and a strong sense of freedom.
Brazil is a vast country. While people want to feel a part of something (in this case, work), being physically close to colleagues, the sentiment of the "anywhere office" is growing stronger. Last year, even the Corona beer brand capitalized on this trend, selecting people for an "anywhere office" sponsored by the company.
As for the resurgence of in-person work - we see global companies doing this, like Apple and Amazon. I think it's tied to two factors: a cultural one, which is the need for human interaction and collaboration in "real-time"; and another, more "authoritarian," which relates to the fear I mentioned at the beginning of the interview: just as I initially felt a "fear" that my work might not be perceived as productive since it couldn't be seen, there's also the opposite fear: leaders, entrenched in their micro-management styles, becoming increasingly desperate to control and ensure that their subordinates are working.
For me, this insecurity in the work relationship is the determining factor. I recently saw a post on LinkedIn that said "bringing your laptop to do remote work somewhere other than your home doesn't make sense," I wholeheartedly agree.
When you're working remotely, how do you feel? How does it improve your quality of life? What can you do in remote work that you can't do in another setup?
I'm deeply connected with myself, my routines, and certain life pleasures I won't give up. In terms of a daily routine, one of these pleasures is waking up early, not to catch the first bus, but to prepare a breakfast that's good for me; during lunch, even if it's just taking a walk around the neighborhood, looking at the street, observing people's movements. Spending more time with my cats, being able to travel (as mentioned) to my home state to visit my family...
As a professional, I've also noticed a change in my concentration efforts. In a remote work setting, I'm interrupted much less by others, whether to ask about my work routine or share some gossip privately. All of this shifts to online communication: need something? Reach out on Slack, Skype, Meet, Teams... Of course, there are natural impulses for contact (after all, we need to work collaboratively), but how it happens changes, and it's much more beneficial for me.