1st day back in office, this is truly horrible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were you this incapable of functioning pre-pandemic, or is it a long Covid thing?

Were you not employed before 2020? Suck it up buttercup. It’s call real life.

But pre-pandemic there were very few people who knew how beneficial working from home could be for their health, wellness, family life, etc. Most people who had a WAH grumbled about not having face time or being disconnected since WAH infrastructure wasn't as robust as it is now. Or they said they felt isolated or went house crazy if they didn't have a system in place for getting out of the house daily.
With COVID people had to adjust to being in the house more often, WAH, etc. They got new routines, new priorities, more time/less time, some marriages fell apart, some got stronger, and some families readjusted their priorities after realizing how LITTLE time they get with their kids. Companies invested in WAH capabilities and many of us were WAH- even when we would have transitioned back to the office at any earlier time- for 1-2.5 years. Of course I wanted to go into the office when I had a toddler at home part-time and my job was always taking a back seat to my DH's fed job, which always seems to somehow be in emergency mode.

Now people are being asked to revert back to the office but all the benefits of the office no longer feel like benefits. I get to control my house temp, I have a fantastic setup at home that I personally paid for, all my meetings are virtual, I save money on gas, I can work outside on a pretty day, I walk on my treadmill 2-3x day for 10-15 minutes, etc. Managers act like they want people to work but all I hear about are companies paying out the wazoo for return-to-office parties and office "culture" events, which are not working.

Progress was never made by going backwards and that's what many companies are asking people to do. There are some jobs that will never be able to, and were never able to, work from home. That is not the point of WAH vs WOH discussions. Those jobs are nothingburgers because they never had to transition to/from WAH and WOH. But I can assure you that the WOH people would rather have the WAH at home. All of my teacher friends complain about how much earlier they have to leave because of traffic. WAH people are also more likely to make mid-day appointments, thereby, reducing the amount of people who require early morning and late afternoon appointments.

Nope, this is where you're wrong. It's not going backwards. WFH during Covid, for 99% of people, was a stopgap measure.

It worked. It was progress. Jobs got done, work got completed, deliverables got met. Thats what matters. A stopgap for 2 years? 6 weeks sure. 2 years- nope. Thats the new normal.

Well, your boss disagrees, so that's all that matters. Go find a new job if you're too important to "waste time" on a commute.

Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP going into the office is a waste of some many resources and a total waste of time and effort. I agree with you not sure why you are getting such heat from these catty ladies but in no way does it make any sense to go back in.

You’re a sexist. And it doesn’t matter if you or OP think it “makes sense”or not. This is the job. Don’t like the conditions, leave. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Agree so strongly with every word that OP wrote. I'm with OP and frankly so is everybody else I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of us have been going back to work since 2021 and enduring wearing masks for a period of time and getting Covid checks at work. This is 2023. It’s time to get back to normalcy. Good luck, off, finding your next job. I hope they don’t give you a writing test.

Normalcy is now WFH. My employer cut our office lease short and I now don’t even have an office to go into. Sorry you have to schlep into an office, but based on my peer group, that certainly isn’t the norm.

OP has valid complaints. Being forced to go into an office is like getting a pay cut. You’re putting in more hours per week (commuting) and losing money on gas. COVID sort of let the cat out of the bag so to speak as far as employees realizing it doesn’t have to be this way. Employers can try to squeeze that toothpaste back into the tube, but it’s too late. Unless you have a need to be in person for a particular task, it just feels punitive and micro-managing to force people to do their work in an arbitrary office location.

well, our employer put the toothpaste back in the tube. And traffic in the last 18 months in DC metro has risen substantially as others got their toothpaste back in, too.

[Anonymous]

Companies should be entirely called out on their push for ESG if they're requiring workers in the office. Forcing they many people to burn fossil fuels to commute and wasting that much energy on heating/cooling unneeded office space burns huge amounts of fossil fuels and pollutes the planet for no reason at all. It's really dumb and companies that are ESG frauds by forcing people into work should be dropped dby big hedge funds who all say they want ESG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of us have been going back to work since 2021 and enduring wearing masks for a period of time and getting Covid checks at work. This is 2023. It’s time to get back to normalcy. Good luck, off, finding your next job. I hope they don’t give you a writing test.

Normalcy is now WFH. My employer cut our office lease short and I now don’t even have an office to go into. Sorry you have to schlep into an office, but based on my peer group, that certainly isn’t the norm.

OP has valid complaints. Being forced to go into an office is like getting a pay cut. You’re putting in more hours per week (commuting) and losing money on gas. COVID sort of let the cat out of the bag so to speak as far as employees realizing it doesn’t have to be this way. Employers can try to squeeze that toothpaste back into the tube, but it’s too late. Unless you have a need to be in person for a particular task, it just feels punitive and micro-managing to force people to do their work in an arbitrary office location.

well, our employer put the toothpaste back in the tube. And traffic in the last 18 months in DC metro has risen substantially as others got their toothpaste back in, too.

Cool. But you know that toothpaste didn’t go neatly back into the tube … congrats to the employers who now have a building full of disgruntled, disengaged employees (b/c you know a lot of them feel the same as OP even if not venting it online). And in a few years all they’ll be left with are the duds who couldn’t find a better remote job. The quality employees will take their skills to one of the many other companies offering mostly telework duties.

If you think that technology and workforce expectations haven’t changed the employment market, then you have your head in the sand. Maybe you’re too busy with your commute to keep up with current labor market trends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Companies should be entirely called out on their push for ESG if they're requiring workers in the office. Forcing they many people to burn fossil fuels to commute and wasting that much energy on heating/cooling unneeded office space burns huge amounts of fossil fuels and pollutes the planet for no reason at all. It's really dumb and companies that are ESG frauds by forcing people into work should be dropped dby big hedge funds who all say they want ESG.

You think they really want to expose themselves as total frauds/ hypocrites on ESG by opening that can of worms?

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's truly awful. You'll figure out a new groove and get used to being back in the office.

- Signed, Your Manager

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has to go into tge office every day due to the nature of my work, I agree with OP. Why make someone who can do their work remotely come onsite?
I have a colleague who comes into the office once a month so that people such as myself can give her paper documentation. The rest of the time I don't need to see her face to face.

+1 Team OP.
Don't the rest of you want us off the roads?

It makes so much more sense to travel and coordinate for in-person just a few times a year. The rest of the times, someone's always virtual anyway. So virtual works.

I’m torn. I 100% don’t want OP causing unnecessary traffic, but it’s also just gross to complain like this when working from home is such a privilege.

+100. Not to mention…you’ve had it this good this long. Pony ride’s over.

DH and I both have full time WFH jobs. Many of our neighbors work from most if not all of the time. We’re in a wealthy neighborhood full of people working in law, IT, finance, etc. I find it amusing how many bitter office workers on here trying to convince themselves those of us working from home are “losers” in our pajamas watching Netflix all day. Go check out the money and finance forum and try to figure out how many of these high earners are actually commuting to an office on a regular basis …

This. I just got promoted and now make $250k which is not quite high earner level but not terrible for 35 either. FT WFH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For crying out loud, when did people become such babies?

+1 the whining is tedious.

[Anonymous]

They want us back in the office, but none of our equipment works and we have no local tech support. My setup at home is all functional.

They want us back two days a week, so I go in late and leave early those days to compensate for my commute time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is this supposed to increase my productivity? I am so PO'ed right now. First, I had to wake up 1.5 hours earlier than I do when I WFH so that I could eat breakfast, get ready and commute. That's 1.5 hours less sleep than I normally would get, and my brain power and focus is probably now 50% of what it is when I WFH because I'm more tired. I can't imagine how much this will compound over an entire week, month, and a year of simply getting less sleep because you are required to show up for office culture. Secondly, there is nothing more awful than getting up in the morning, having to lug all sorts of crap to the office like your computer, lunch, and gym clothes for after work, and get slammed with freezing cold temperatures. And for what? So I can waste time and fuel in traffic? The stupidest part about this all is that we have a hybrid model where people can pick and choose which days to come into the office. That means many meetings are still held virtually anyway, so all I'm doing is wasting huge amounts of time getting ready to go into the office and for commuting just to do the same exact crap I'd do with WFH anyway, which is to sign into virtual meetings. They are doing in person meetings in the office where they book rooms and sign into a virtual meeting, but it is soooooo annoying for people who attend virtually who are always on time, because people in the office are always late to meetings since it is impossible to make it to a meeting on time at a different office location if you have back to back meetings. So much wasted time and productivity down the drain when you're constantly waiting for people to show up and they're 5 minutes late because they have to walk from location to location. How much time is wasted during the week with all of the meetings and people are always 5 minutes late when all of that could be avoided if people just WFH and attended everything on time by using virtual meetings?

I can't wait to look forward to the end of the day too when I have to unnecessarily pollute the environment wasting gas on a commute and also have to waste tons of time sitting in traffic. It is uncompensated use of my personal time consumed by commuting and I'm being forced to use my own money to burn on gas to get to work I could be doing more productively at home. I'm so angry right now. Our coffee machine and coffee options are terrible and the bathrooms are filthy when I could be doing my duty at home in my nice clean bathroom and making my own gourmet coffee. I'm already going to be looking for a new 100% WFH job after this. I am highly skilled and have years of experience in my field. I am very difficult to replace because it often takes 2+ years to train a new hire until they are up to snuff in terms of being trusted to work on their own in our field. Employers should be put on notice: their best employees are angry at being forced to do stupid office culture that tanks productivity, makes people losesleep, and wastes so much of their time on commutes. Get into the 21st century and drop the stupid office culture from the 1900s.

Bless your heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has to go into tge office every day due to the nature of my work, I agree with OP. Why make someone who can do their work remotely come onsite?
I have a colleague who comes into the office once a month so that people such as myself can give her paper documentation. The rest of the time I don't need to see her face to face.

+1 Team OP.
Don't the rest of you want us off the roads?

It makes so much more sense to travel and coordinate for in-person just a few times a year. The rest of the times, someone's always virtual anyway. So virtual works.

I’m torn. I 100% don’t want OP causing unnecessary traffic, but it’s also just gross to complain like this when working from home is such a privilege.

+100. Not to mention…you’ve had it this good this long. Pony ride’s over.

DH and I both have full time WFH jobs. Many of our neighbors work from most if not all of the time. We’re in a wealthy neighborhood full of people working in law, IT, finance, etc. I find it amusing how many bitter office workers on here trying to convince themselves those of us working from home are “losers” in our pajamas watching Netflix all day. Go check out the money and finance forum and try to figure out how many of these high earners are actually commuting to an office on a regular basis …

This. I just got promoted and now make $250k which is not quite high earner level but not terrible for 35 either. FT WFH

Well yea, this is why you're gonna have a hell of a time finding ppl who want to teach your kids in a few years. I know I tire of leaving my DW in bed while I go off on my commute to teach each day. Thankful that Ed tech is actively recruiting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM shows who it is all along - a bunch of middling, unimpressive boomer middle managers stuck in a dinosaur mindset of the 20th century.

Can you all please retire and let the workforce modernize already? You are a huge drag on worker productivity with all of your inane micromanaging and stupid office culture that only wastes tons of time.

+100
Yup. Nothing like a bunch of lonely managers who want to go to the office to feel relevant, and demand everyone else does, too, even if it means driving 1+ hours each way to sit at a desk and attend a web-based meeting that everyone else on the call is joining from their office of bedroom. All to just demonstrate they still have control in the corporate game of Simon Says and justify the buiding lease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of us have been going back to work since 2021 and enduring wearing masks for a period of time and getting Covid checks at work. This is 2023. It’s time to get back to normalcy. Good luck, off, finding your next job. I hope they don’t give you a writing test.

Normalcy is now WFH. My employer cut our office lease short and I now don’t even have an office to go into. Sorry you have to schlep into an office, but based on my peer group, that certainly isn’t the norm.

OP has valid complaints. Being forced to go into an office is like getting a pay cut. You’re putting in more hours per week (commuting) and losing money on gas. COVID sort of let the cat out of the bag so to speak as far as employees realizing it doesn’t have to be this way. Employers can try to squeeze that toothpaste back into the tube, but it’s too late. Unless you have a need to be in person for a particular task, it just feels punitive and micro-managing to force people to do their work in an arbitrary office location.

+1 I had a micromanager boss early in the pandemic who was also a bully and got her jollies reminding me that I'd be back at the office soon (while other staffers with different managers were not required to return, and no, my duties did not require me to be there at all). It really is about micromanaging most of the time.