"Do Not Disturb" While Working?

[VeganNomad58]

Hello Remote Working Road Warriors,

I work as a remote medical ASL interpreter and am looking to work on the road from my van. I'm figuring out the data signal issue, my next big concern that I absolutely cannot be interrupted while I'm working. [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Would you want your interpreter to disappear [/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]in the middle of your proctology exam or when your had your feet in the gynecologists' stirrups?? I think not. lol [/font]

In order to work on the road, I must have reasonable assumption that I will not be disturbed. The rules for working in a building are that I must be able to lock the door so no one can enter the room while I'm interpreting. I'd have to have similar privacy to work from the van.

What would be a sign or indicator of "Do Not Disturb" I can put up on or near the van that you think would be effective?

Thanks!
Lulu
aka The Vegan Nomad

 

[GoingMobile]

I would try a Do Not Disturb between: (hours you're occupied by work) If you have times you would be available, if someone needed to communicate with you, you might try including that as well. My thinking is if someone like a ranger needs to communicate something, if they see you have a window of time where you are available, they might come back then. One could hope. 

I would include the specifics of the work you do and why it is important not to be disturbed. But design the sign so the essential information is in larger type, centered, so it is seen first, and then make any details smaller, so they read secondarily.

Good luck.

 

[abnorm]

""I would include the specifics of the work you do and why it is important not to be disturbed.""

Ummm NO !.....You don't WORK on Public Lands....certainly don't advertise you work from there........just DO NOT DISTURB is fine

 

[maki2]

It would be extremely rare for a stranger to come up and knock on your van. Relax, that it is not going to be a real issue in your work life. It is your friends you might travel with who could cause a disruption. You can sort out a signal for them not to disturb you if such a need ever arises.

 

[john*thomas]

Wasn't it a sock on the door handle that was the universal sign to not disturb?

 

[maki2]

A sock on a door handle is not a universal do not disturb sign as I have never once heard that mentioned in my 70 plus years lifetime.lots of doors and sides on a van, you will need several signs.

But if you are going to work with the side door open get a couple of post and some bright colored plastic tape from a hardware store and put that temporary barrier along with do not disturb signs about 12 feet away from the van so no one walks up close.

 

[maki2]

..

 

[desert_sailing]

Wasn't it a sock on the door handle that was the universal sign to not disturb?

It certainly is... and with 100s of thousands of links discussing that as a signal it is pretty much universal .. tho not technically universal by and large it is.

one person who is not in "the know" doesn't diminish the usage or meaning among the majority.

 

[user 423]

Then again someone who didn't recognize the meaning might knock on your door to ask why you had a sock on your door.

I'm sure most people would be able to figure it out

Maybe a big sign that says, "IN COVID QUARANTINE" would work.

 

[izifaddag]

It would be extremely rare  for a stranger to come up and knock on your van. Relax, that  it is not going to be a real issue in your work life.  It is your friends you might travel with who could cause a disruption. You can sort out a signal for them not to disturb you if such a need ever arises.

I agree completely. 
I wish someone would come and say hello. I have no contact for weeks on end. Leadville was one of the most unfriendly places I have ever been. I was ignored pointedly there. 
Rarely does anybody approach anybody else and I have no idea why. We are all in the same boat. Well maybe not. The $40+++ a night crowd don't mix with the likes of me.

 

[izifaddag]

It certainly is... and with 100s of thousands of links discussing that as a signal it is pretty much universal .. tho not technically universal by and large it is.

one person who is not in "the know" doesn't diminish the usage or meaning among the majority.

I have never heard of that. Not that I disturb folks anyway.

 

[john*thomas]

It was a bit of a cheeky reply but.................

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sock on the doorknob

 

[user 423]

Rarely does anybody approach anybody else and I have no idea why. We are all in the same boat.

My experience is much different. Just about in every campground I've ever been to people have either started friendly conversations with me or Ive started one with them. There is always something you can choose to start small talk about that pertains to camping or the lifestyle. The different rigs. Campground conditions. Bear danger. Someone's cute little pet. Then there's the old standby: The weather

 

[Cammalu]

I never heard of the sock on door either.

Do you plan to camp in RV parks or boondock? If you are boondocking you can get as far away from people as you like. Doubt you will be bothered.

 

[Cammalu]

I wish someone would come and say hello. I have no contact for weeks on end.

Come to Quartzsite for the winter. Lots of groups and activities to choose from. You’ll have to hide if you don’t want company.

 

[user 423]

I never heard of the sock on door either. 

It's probably more of a frat boy thing. Did you ever date a frat boy?

 

[wayne49]

If you have days where you won't be working, shut your door and see if anyone disturbs you.

Now, you do have to understand that a Ranger, who is alerting everyone to the need to evacuate now, will ignore any sign.

 

[wayne49]

It's probably more of a frat boy thing. Did you ever date a frat boy?

Supposedly, college dorms as well.

I lived in a frat house and had never seen it in use in real life, but I wasn't patrolling the floors in the house.

Some guys were more likely to have hung a bra as a prize taken in conquest on the door.

Not everything in the Urban Dictionary was actually in wide use.

Could be a collegiate version of an urban legend.

 

[MrNoodly]

It would be extremely rare  for a stranger to come up and knock on your van. Relax, that  it is not going to be a real issue in your work life.  It is your friends you might travel with who could cause a disruption. You can sort out a signal for them not to disturb you if such a need ever arises.

Right. The only times I've ever been approached while in my van, with the doors closed, were by friends I was camping with or, a couple of times at night, by the police. I've been approached a few times, while in a shopping center or city park parking lot, sitting in my doorway, by goodhearted people offering skeevy vagabond me some food. But mostly people avoid us. We make them uncomfortable. People are no more likely to approach you in your mobile abode than they would be if you were sitting in a car somewhere, talking on the phone, drinking coffee or whatever. Proselytizers, door-to-door sales people and other types that might interrupt us when living in buildings won't be bugging you.

 

[izifaddag]

Come to Quartzsite for the winter. Lots of groups and activities to choose from. You’ll have to hide if you don’t want company.

Sounds good but that was not my experience of Quartzsite last winter. I was there in November and January.