[phoehne]

Or they might just suffer from the basic problem that people find remote work over teams and periodic meetings depressing. I don't like bull-pen style team rooms. The distractions and everyone sitting there with headphones on, tuning each other out. It makes going to an office seem counter-productive and, for lack of a better word, stupid. There has to be a happy medium. Like having an individual room like a home office but at the company offices. Where you could set up a permanent desk the way you wanted. I wonder why no one's thought of that...

I was an essential worker through the pandemic and had to go in. I never could go remote but I think I was happier than most people I knew. I had gripes. I had fast food, to-go options for lunch (for the most part). I still had work friends. We even started a subversive happy hour at the office, when everything else was closed. (Masked up and sitting apart, because on one wants to be the one who takes out the whole ops center with a quarantine, but enjoying a cold brew and some commiserating is hops lubricated therapy.) I watched some of my co-workers go to "on line happy hour" events and it looked weird with fake backgrounds. No thanks.

I've worked remote before. It was okay. But I still went into the office a couple of days a week. For brief, informal chats with may boss and peers. It was a happy medium, but I still found it a little isolating. It was great at first, but slowly became 'meh' and then I was happy to go to another, more normal gig.

I'm taking a new role at my company, one where I could work remotely. But I'm going to go into the office. I don't like the bull-pen seating but the corporate overlords are putting in more focus rooms. If I find I really need a break, well, I can put in a couple of days at home. Fortunately, that's much easier to do now. I know myself. I don't need someone to watch over me to be productive. That was never the issue. I need to be around some number of people because I'm a human fucking being and, a number of counter examples aside, we're largely social animals.