"Virtual call center work" is a suggestion from Nancy Fox of Fox Consulting, but your success in this endeavor would certainly depend on your ability to fake an Indian accent. Believe me, no one wants to get turned down for a home loan modification by a virtual bank employee in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. If you're going to be given the telephonic runaround, you want it to come from Bangalore.
Zimmerman lobs the question of whether your second job could pose ethical or legal conflicts to Gregory C. Keating, an employment lawyer. "If you do your own work on company time -- and use their computers, paper, copy machines or phones for that work -- you can be fired," posits the spoilsport attorney.
I don't have a law degree myself, though I never do miss a "Perry Mason" rerun. But it seems to me that your employer would certainly cut you some slack. Explain that right now you do almost no work on company time. The sight of you pounding away at a computer, loading sheaths of paper into the copier, and talking all day talking on the phone to someone other than your Facebook buddies would definitely improve morale at your current job. And what boss would object to that?
Whether or not you should tell your current employer about your new employer is a difficult question. "Although some managers can be very empathetic," writes Zimmerman, "others may question your commitment to the company or start looking for signs of fatigue."
I'd like to know where you find these empathetic bosses. If you had one, you'd be paid what you are worth, and wouldn't need to moonlight. You should resent any employer looking for commitment, since I know you are 100 percent committed to be 100 percent uncommitted. On the other hand, I'm sure you have no objection to your boss checking for signs of fatigue -- just as long as it can be done without waking you up.
