Daniel had been working from home for six months. At first, he had loved the idea of working remotely. No more long commute to the office every morning. He could wake up later and work in comfortable clothes. But now he was starting to see the problems. It was Monday morning and Daniel had an important video meeting. He turned on his laptop and opened the meeting app. But his internet connection was very slow today. The video kept freezing every few seconds. 'Can you hear me?' Daniel asked his colleagues. 'Your voice is breaking up,' his manager replied. Daniel felt embarrassed and turned off his camera to save bandwidth. After the meeting, he called his internet provider. 'We are experiencing high traffic in your area,' the support person explained. Daniel sighed and decided to work from a coffee shop instead. The next day, Daniel faced a different problem. His neighbor was having construction work done on their house. The drilling and hammering started at eight in the morning. It was impossible to concentrate on his work. Daniel tried wearing headphones, but the noise was too loud. He went to the library to find a quiet place to work. Another challenge was staying focused without supervision. Daniel often found himself checking social media. 'Just five more minutes,' he would tell himself. But five minutes would turn into an hour. He downloaded an app that blocked distracting websites. Working from home also affected his health. He spent too many hours sitting at his desk. His back started to hurt from the bad posture. He also forgot to take breaks and eat regular meals. The biggest problem was the feeling of isolation. Daniel missed talking to his colleagues in person. Video calls were not the same as real conversations. He missed the coffee breaks and lunch with the team. Sometimes he felt lonely working alone all day. Daniel decided to make some changes to improve his situation. He set up a proper home office with a good chair and desk. He created a daily schedule with regular breaks. Every hour, he would stand up and stretch his body. He started taking a walk outside during his lunch break. To fight the loneliness, he joined an online community for remote workers. He also started going to a coworking space twice a week. There he could meet other people and work in a professional environment. After a few weeks, things started to get better. Daniel found a good balance between working at home and being social. He learned that remote work was great, but it needed some structure. Now Daniel enjoys the freedom of working from anywhere. He still has bad days, but he knows how to handle them.
English Story (A2)Remote Work Problems
This A2 English story is designed for elementarys learning English. It includes simple vocabulary and short sentences to help you improve your reading and listening skills. Click any word to see translations and hear pronunciation.
About this story
Daniel faces common remote work challenges: slow internet during video calls, noisy neighbors, difficulty staying focused, and feelings of loneliness. He learns to improve his situation by setting up a proper home office, creating a daily schedule with breaks, and joining a coworking space to meet other people.
Translations in English
Linked wordUnderlined wordOther words
Comprehension Questions
4 questions
1
What happened during Daniel's video meeting on Monday?
2
Why could Daniel not concentrate on work the next day?
3
What did Daniel download to help him stay focused?
4
How did Daniel fight the feeling of loneliness?
Vocabulary
30 words from this story
