Sorry, for the confusion, "Crew desk builds as many long calls as there are reserves." Should have said short calls.

Depends on where you are commuting from, you didn't say. 1 leg, 2 legs?

Commuting to ORD is pretty easy, EWR I would imagine would be easy as well. Lots of flights, most times of the day. However, be careful. There are some holes. The earliest you can do something after days off is 10 am. Crew desk sometimes will give you a 10 am short call. If coming from the west, you can't get there early enough on the same day and requires the night before arrival. Keep in mind the FOM commuting policy. Have to have backups.

Depending you your home, long call can be done from home with the caveat of above. Short call, well, the crew desk loves those. I commuted to ORD for 8 months, and got exactly 3 extra days off at home instead of sitting in domicile. It doesn't mean I was flying, I was sitting short call about half the time.

If you are commuting from EWR to home farther west, some trips get back late enough you may not be able to get home on the same day. Long call release on the last day is 10 am, but that won't ever happen because they will give you a short call. Short call automatic release is 1500, much more likely.

For the record, cheap shots, anyone can make. It takes skill and cunning to have someone, and everyone except them can see it.