Dr. Gridlock: Drivers are looking for the exit on I-95

Travelers responding to my suggestions [Dr. Gridlock, Nov. 1] about long-term solutions to Interstate 95's traffic congestion had their own practices and policies to propose.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

Why does almost every American have to "go to work" every day? We're covering the landscape with concrete, never seeing our children when they're awake, and allocating one-fourth of the country's petroleum consumption directly to commuting.

I understand that psychiatrists, diplomats, bulldozer operators, chefs and janitors have to perform their jobs on site. But most of us don't do those kinds of work. Especially here in the world's bureaucracy hub, the majority of the workforce spends almost all of the workday talking on the phone, processing data that are or should be computerized, and attending meetings -- an activity that can be done very well virtually, even with today's webcams and software.

The only business reason for demanding that we create these stifling traffic jams is that our managers have never been trained to evaluate our performance on the basis of our accomplishments, so they pay us for the number of hours we spend looking like we're working.

The other reasons for not working at home have nothing to do with business. While doing research on unreported and unpaid overtime for my chapter in "IT Measurement: Practical Advice From the Experts" (Addison-Wesley, 2002), I discovered that:

-- Many Americans want to curry favor with the boss by spending as many hours at the office as the boss does.

-- Many of them don't enjoy their hours at home because their family life is unpleasant.

These are all poor reasons for making the Middle Eastern oil barons wealthier and gridlocking the country's highway network.

You're a perfect case study. I'm a professional writer, too, and I know there's absolutely no reason to ever see my manager and co-workers face to face except to socialize. You obviously have to spend time in traffic, gathering information for your articles, but do you do all of your writing and editing at home? Or do you have an editor who insists that you come into the office to keep him company -- doing your part to keep traffic moving slowly?

Gene Fellner