My worst week as a nomad started with a goat in Chiang Mai

So I'm trying to have a serious client call from my Airbnb, right? This place looked great in the photos. Five minutes into the call, a goat walks right up to the open window and starts yelling. I'm not kidding, full-on bleating. My client goes silent, then asks if I'm at a farm. I had to mute and shoo it away with a towel. The wifi cut out twice that day, and the power went out for six hours. I spent the afternoon working from a cafe that charged 200 baht for a smoothie. The whole week was like that, one weird thing after another. Has anyone else had a work week completely derailed by local wildlife?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera_murphy1mo ago

Oh man, that goat story is amazing! I was once on a video call from a rental in Arizona and a javelina family, like wild pig things, just started rooting around right under the window. The snorting and grunting was so loud my boss asked if I had the TV on. The whole call I was praying they wouldn't charge the door. Nature does not care about your meeting schedule!

carr.brooke1mo ago

That javelina story is a perfect example of how the world keeps moving while we're all stuck in these little digital boxes. I've had birds hit my window and a delivery guy knock during a big presentation. It feels like there's this whole layer of real life, messy and loud, that our work apps just try to wallpaper over. The meeting might be virtual, but you're still a physical person in a place where other things happen. It's funny how a wild pig can remind you that your zoom room isn't a sealed pod.

daniel8571mo ago

Gotta disagree a bit. That real world mess is the whole point of being out there. The goat and the javelina aren't ruining the work, they're part of the deal. If you want a sealed pod, stay in a regular office. The chaos is the trade-off for the freedom.