Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:34     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The restaurants, coffee shops, and flower vendors are starting to flourish again. There are some great things happening, too. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.


Feds are not the ones supporting expensive downtown restaurants. Maybe sandwich shops, but even then, the closest shop to my office now is a two block walk and lunch is 30 minutes. There isn’t enough time to walk there and back, order, eat, and get back through security. Plus, it’s like $15 for a sandwich I can make at home for a couple dollars. I’ve been in the office full time for 3 weeks and I have yet to spend a dime downtown. I’m also a DC resident, so spend almost all my money in DC and am spending less overall because I had to quit my gym, can no longer do dinner out on weeknights because I get home so much later, gave up the personal trainer since I can’t do that before my TOD anymore with the commute, quit my pool league since I don’t want to stay up that late anymore, etc. So all told I’m probably spending close to $800 less a month now.
That’s just you. Plenty of my coworkers relish in eating out and doing coffee runs at $7 a cup! They make it happen with metal detectors and all. They even shop retail from time to time. Plus, I see people carrying bouquets 💐 of flowers. So, someone is consuming.


I worked at a highly compensated FinReg and nobody is going out for lunches and coffees.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:33     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Golf course by my house was packed with 30-60 year old men every weekday between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday the last few years.

And there is a bar with a weekday happy hour next to golf course from 3-6pm that has been crowded with 30-60 year old guys last few years.
Precovid was only guys over 60 and SAHMs at course.
So many out walking all hours of the day around the neighborhood with Fido. Many others outside constantly grooming their yards. Still others out playing with the kids in the front yard. It was like tons of folks retired early. We had a good run of it for 5 years. But there was not discipline across the board with productivity up. Our Zoom meetings had people just jogging on their treadmills half listening.


Stop lying. Almost every agency transitioned to Teams.

My productivity is the same or less with RTO.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:30     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The restaurants, coffee shops, and flower vendors are starting to flourish again. There are some great things happening, too. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.


Feds are not the ones supporting expensive downtown restaurants. Maybe sandwich shops, but even then, the closest shop to my office now is a two block walk and lunch is 30 minutes. There isn’t enough time to walk there and back, order, eat, and get back through security. Plus, it’s like $15 for a sandwich I can make at home for a couple dollars. I’ve been in the office full time for 3 weeks and I have yet to spend a dime downtown. I’m also a DC resident, so spend almost all my money in DC and am spending less overall because I had to quit my gym, can no longer do dinner out on weeknights because I get home so much later, gave up the personal trainer since I can’t do that before my TOD anymore with the commute, quit my pool league since I don’t want to stay up that late anymore, etc. So all told I’m probably spending close to $800 less a month now.
That’s just you. Plenty of my coworkers relish in eating out and doing coffee runs at $7 a cup! They make it happen with metal detectors and all. They even shop retail from time to time. Plus, I see people carrying bouquets 💐 of flowers. So, someone is consuming.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:27     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You knew where you job was when you bought your house. Poor choice on your part.


Many people bought post pandemic when commutes were very different. My job was in my house at that point.


This was my case, too. I purchased my home in 2021 when telework was still in full swing. The last few weeks have been my first experience with post-pandemic traffic.
Well consider yourself lucky for 4 years. The party is over.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:26     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Golf course by my house was packed with 30-60 year old men every weekday between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday the last few years.

And there is a bar with a weekday happy hour next to golf course from 3-6pm that has been crowded with 30-60 year old guys last few years.
Precovid was only guys over 60 and SAHMs at course.


Fed manager here. This is why we are all being forced to RTO. Employees couldn’t work 8 straight hours. They said their managers didn’t care and let them work flexible hours, but that likely wasn’t true and/or the manager didn’t have the right to allow that. Too many people were unavailable during the day. Honestly it was only a few rotten apples but they ruined it for everyone.

Or… they could have given fed managers more ability to hire/fire and track employees the way private sector managers can.


You dont speak for me. Or my prior work. We DID have flexible work schedules. Why do you hate that your employees want lives that are balanced and benefit them instead of just your work?
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:23     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:If anything metro feels safer now with RTO. yes there are rowdy teens but they don’t bother anyone. I work by union station and the homeless tents are also gone.
Metro is in the upswing. They have been improving with Metro police presence and newly installed gates.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:19     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:Golf course by my house was packed with 30-60 year old men every weekday between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday the last few years.

And there is a bar with a weekday happy hour next to golf course from 3-6pm that has been crowded with 30-60 year old guys last few years.
Precovid was only guys over 60 and SAHMs at course.
So many out walking all hours of the day around the neighborhood with Fido. Many others outside constantly grooming their yards. Still others out playing with the kids in the front yard. It was like tons of folks retired early. We had a good run of it for 5 years. But there was not discipline across the board with productivity up. Our Zoom meetings had people just jogging on their treadmills half listening.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:19     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Golf course by my house was packed with 30-60 year old men every weekday between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday the last few years.

And there is a bar with a weekday happy hour next to golf course from 3-6pm that has been crowded with 30-60 year old guys last few years.
Precovid was only guys over 60 and SAHMs at course.


Fed manager here. This is why we are all being forced to RTO. Employees couldn’t work 8 straight hours. They said their managers didn’t care and let them work flexible hours, but that likely wasn’t true and/or the manager didn’t have the right to allow that. Too many people were unavailable during the day. Honestly it was only a few rotten apples but they ruined it for everyone.

Or… they could have given fed managers more ability to hire/fire and track employees the way private sector managers can.


but did daily productivity suffer measurably or noticeably with such flexibility? did any effective management changes or adjustments not take place during that time?
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 14:13     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Traffic is only going to be worse with the spring storms, like the one hitting during the commute home on Monday.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 13:50     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:Golf course by my house was packed with 30-60 year old men every weekday between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday the last few years.

And there is a bar with a weekday happy hour next to golf course from 3-6pm that has been crowded with 30-60 year old guys last few years.
Precovid was only guys over 60 and SAHMs at course.


Fed manager here. This is why we are all being forced to RTO. Employees couldn’t work 8 straight hours. They said their managers didn’t care and let them work flexible hours, but that likely wasn’t true and/or the manager didn’t have the right to allow that. Too many people were unavailable during the day. Honestly it was only a few rotten apples but they ruined it for everyone.

Or… they could have given fed managers more ability to hire/fire and track employees the way private sector managers can.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 13:27     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Golf course by my house was packed with 30-60 year old men every weekday between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday the last few years.

And there is a bar with a weekday happy hour next to golf course from 3-6pm that has been crowded with 30-60 year old guys last few years.
Precovid was only guys over 60 and SAHMs at course.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 13:07     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The restaurants, coffee shops, and flower vendors are starting to flourish again. There are some great things happening, too. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.


Not everything is bad….
- My house is clean since no one is there during the day.

-I am walking more and eating better since I am not snacking at home 24/7 (I bring my own lunch)

-I am working less. 8hrs vs 10hrs at home. They are getting what they are paying for.


My quote got reported and deleted so I’ll try one more time piggybacking on this

Another thing that’s really good about having true rush hours with everybody back in the office working normal office hours is that the time in between rush-hour is gloriously free of traffic. Because instead of being at target or the dentist office or the vet or the gym or the grocery store, people are in their offices from 9 to 3.

This is a welcome return to status quo for those of us who do things like work overnight in the ER and enjoy going grocery shopping midday mid week


Me, me, me… Are you also happy how things are going at HHS?


You know, I am not alone in enjoying the relatively empty roads again from 9:30 - 2:30. There are tens of thousands of us in the DMV who are the essential workers were never handed the gift of WFH and who work weird schedules and, as a perk for working bizarre hours, we enjoyed empty Targets, hair salons, vets and roads during the day —- until 2020. When these places became clogged all day long with people simultaneously working from home while getting highlights.

It’s fascinating how the roads and the stores are a ghost town now. Especially because every thread on here insists that every former WFH was working all day long.


honestly i think its more the cuts and risk of RIF, where huge swaths of consumers have pulled back. i haven't got a haircut since january for example!


It's this but the beeatchy night shift workers is just a selfish hag.

NP but I assume this night shift worker works in a hospital or some other essential service. I would never call those people selfish as they worked all throughout covid while you sat at home.


+1
Oh, the irony that is completely lost on this poster.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 11:38     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The restaurants, coffee shops, and flower vendors are starting to flourish again. There are some great things happening, too. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.


Not everything is bad….
- My house is clean since no one is there during the day.

-I am walking more and eating better since I am not snacking at home 24/7 (I bring my own lunch)

-I am working less. 8hrs vs 10hrs at home. They are getting what they are paying for.


My quote got reported and deleted so I’ll try one more time piggybacking on this

Another thing that’s really good about having true rush hours with everybody back in the office working normal office hours is that the time in between rush-hour is gloriously free of traffic. Because instead of being at target or the dentist office or the vet or the gym or the grocery store, people are in their offices from 9 to 3.

This is a welcome return to status quo for those of us who do things like work overnight in the ER and enjoy going grocery shopping midday mid week


Me, me, me… Are you also happy how things are going at HHS?


You know, I am not alone in enjoying the relatively empty roads again from 9:30 - 2:30. There are tens of thousands of us in the DMV who are the essential workers were never handed the gift of WFH and who work weird schedules and, as a perk for working bizarre hours, we enjoyed empty Targets, hair salons, vets and roads during the day —- until 2020. When these places became clogged all day long with people simultaneously working from home while getting highlights.

It’s fascinating how the roads and the stores are a ghost town now. Especially because every thread on here insists that every former WFH was working all day long.


honestly i think its more the cuts and risk of RIF, where huge swaths of consumers have pulled back. i haven't got a haircut since january for example!


It's this but the beeatchy night shift workers is just a selfish hag.


NP but I assume this night shift worker works in a hospital or some other essential service. I would never call those people selfish as they worked all throughout covid while you sat at home.


I’m happy to call her selfish if she thinks her right to drive to Target supercedes everything.


Exactly. And how do you know we aren't also people who were going into work during the pandemic. That doesn't mean we celebrate tons of our neighbors being laid off in the most cruel ways possible for no real reason other than to dismantle the government so that we can get to Target faster.

FFS she is a selfish, repugnant hag for even leaving that post. People's lives are being totally upended. F her Target runs.


We don’t care.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 11:25     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:Simple, employers want RTO so badly, don't complain about not as much work getting done. The extra commuting time has to come from somewhere. Ate you going to give up sleep or working out because the commute is taking 15 hours/week out of your life?


This. It's especially true for private employers, I don't owe them anything but the standard 8 hours a day if they are working to make my life harder.

I used to work many extra undeclared hours as a fed. Now my old job is going unfilled, and i am spending lots of time commuting that I used to spend working. Oh well.
Anonymous
Post 03/30/2025 11:14     Subject: RTO:Traffic is atrocious

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The restaurants, coffee shops, and flower vendors are starting to flourish again. There are some great things happening, too. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.


Not everything is bad….
- My house is clean since no one is there during the day.

-I am walking more and eating better since I am not snacking at home 24/7 (I bring my own lunch)

-I am working less. 8hrs vs 10hrs at home. They are getting what they are paying for.


My quote got reported and deleted so I’ll try one more time piggybacking on this

Another thing that’s really good about having true rush hours with everybody back in the office working normal office hours is that the time in between rush-hour is gloriously free of traffic. Because instead of being at target or the dentist office or the vet or the gym or the grocery store, people are in their offices from 9 to 3.

This is a welcome return to status quo for those of us who do things like work overnight in the ER and enjoy going grocery shopping midday mid week


Me, me, me… Are you also happy how things are going at HHS?


You know, I am not alone in enjoying the relatively empty roads again from 9:30 - 2:30. There are tens of thousands of us in the DMV who are the essential workers were never handed the gift of WFH and who work weird schedules and, as a perk for working bizarre hours, we enjoyed empty Targets, hair salons, vets and roads during the day —- until 2020. When these places became clogged all day long with people simultaneously working from home while getting highlights.

It’s fascinating how the roads and the stores are a ghost town now. Especially because every thread on here insists that every former WFH was working all day long.


honestly i think its more the cuts and risk of RIF, where huge swaths of consumers have pulled back. i haven't got a haircut since january for example!


It's this but the beeatchy night shift workers is just a selfish hag.


NP but I assume this night shift worker works in a hospital or some other essential service. I would never call those people selfish as they worked all throughout covid while you sat at home.


I’m happy to call her selfish if she thinks her right to drive to Target supercedes everything.


Exactly. And how do you know we aren't also people who were going into work during the pandemic. That doesn't mean we celebrate tons of our neighbors being laid off in the most cruel ways possible for no real reason other than to dismantle the government so that we can get to Target faster.

FFS she is a selfish, repugnant hag for even leaving that post. People's lives are being totally upended. F her Target runs.