I miss the days when I worked closely with sales guys. All that good food, free, and they appreciated good work. These days, I work for the gov't, and no one appreciates efficiency. So I mostly just hang out at home, play with my kids, and make sure my cluster stays up.
You'll probably either have to get used to it, or find a job outside the greater ny metro. And yah, sales guys don't work when they're in the office, in the office they're just catching up on paperwork.
If it's not in the picture, it's not there. I greatly prefer the clitmouse. Takes a little getting used to, but works really well...it's the only thing I miss on the macbook.
How would romex violate a fire code?
As to other power cables sounding better, since the first 40 ft + of wire is romex, all you're gonna do with anything else is impede power, so you're solving the problem in the wrong place...
Getting to telecommute is easy. Just prove to them that you can get work done and aren't incompetent.
Management likes seeing that people can be social, interact with their coworkers, and still get all their work done. The guy that is grumpy and hiding in the corner, and still doesn't manage to get things done, he's the one you jetison.