[bluefirebrand]

Everything about working in an office sucks.

Commuting sucks, paying for parking sucks, shared kitchens suck, open floor plans suck, office politics suck, being at the whim of people "just dropping by your desk to ask a quick question" sucks. Getting sick all the time when people don't stay home and they spread it around the office sucks. No seriously, I haven't had a cold or flu since the pandemic started, I love not getting sick every flu season.

What is good about offices? Why do you like them?

[missedthecue]

I like commuting, I like smalltalk, I like dropping by people's desk to ask a quick question, and I don't mind it when people do the same to me. I like getting to know people, I like going out for lunch with coworkers, I like building relationships with people. I like knowing the identity of those I work with beyond a Slack pfp.

I can understand the not getting sick part, but I guess I never really suffered from colds that often. (Though I know some people who get them four times a year -- if this is you, I sympathize)

I know this website has a selection bias for introverts but surely I cannot be the only human who feels this way. The worst part is that anyone who wants WFH can have it, but I cannot have what I need. I pay for a WeWork just to get me out of the house, but that's basically nothing more than an expensive home office. My job is still 100% slack and zoom with everyone else in their bedrooms. WFH makes me depressed.

[otoburb]

>>The worst part is that anyone who wants WFH can have it, but I cannot have what I need.

Some employers are mandating back to office, so this option is being taken away. Those that prefer to WFH are not able to have what they need/want.

I'm always curious why those who like to work in the office are opposed to letting employees choose what they wish to do.

>>My job is still 100% slack and zoom with everyone else in their bedrooms. WFH makes me depressed.

I feel that most WFH proponents are in the minority, or on the spectrum of wanting to have the option to go in sometimes. So hopefully you won't be 100% on Slack/Zoom if employees are given the choice.

[bluefirebrand]

> I'm always curious why those who like to work in the office are opposed to letting employees choose what they wish to do.

I think it's because they know that a lot of their coworkers will choose not to come into the office anymore, so the office will feel empty and that will make them feel lonely and sad.

[otoburb]

>>I think it's because they know that a lot of their coworkers will choose not to come into the office anymore [...]

That was probably true during the pandemic, but anecdotal conversations I've had with non-tech colleagues and friends surprised me by echoing what many in this thread are saying: that they'd like the option to go into the office on certain days, but not necessarily 100% either way.

It feels like the true minorities are those that that are 100% in either direction, except that there seems to be a higher percentage of leadership teams in the 100% minority.

[WelcomeShorty]

> I like commuting, I like smalltalk, I like dropping by people's desk to ask a quick question, and I don't mind it when people do the same to me. I like getting to know people, I like going out for lunch with coworkers, I like building relationships with people. I like knowing the identity of those I work with beyond a Slack pfp.

You can not seriously suggest that people who can do (and have done the last 2 years) their job remotely and want to keep doing that, come to the office to satisfy these... desires?

Why not get a job that gives that to you, naturally like a sales person or bartender or something.

[etrautmann]

What? I’m in the middle here but your suggestion is not practical. Your professional interests should be largely orthogonalizable from your personality traits like degree of extroversion. I’m a scientist. I like people. I don’t want to have to be a bartender because I like working with other people.

[WelcomeShorty]

I did not make myself clear. I reacted to your "The worst part is that anyone who wants WFH can have it, but I cannot have what I need."

Which implies you want "me" back in the office to satisfy your social desires and NOT because of improved productivity.

You can have what you need, just not with me / your colleagues. But you seem not to want an alternative solution.

[dnissley]

Hello, introvert here. I also love all of those office things you listed (provided I have enough space to work by myself in between). I specifically quit my wfh-only job and moved cross country to go back to the office. I joined Meta here in Seattle where most of my org's employees still are wfh full time, and so I still have lots of video calls, but I've found a nice sized crew of people like us who come in most days and have been enjoying it thoroughly. It's kind of oddly cozy actually, having only 10-20 people out of 80-90 seats on any given day. Kind of like coming in the day before some major holiday when lots of ppl take off an extra day, except it's everyday. I can't recommend enough getting out of the wfh situation if it's making you depressed.

[egeozcan]

Why can't you just be you, together with other extroverts, and stop trying to convince others to come to the office?

As people are discussing if they should quit over having to come to the office, you can also think about quitting because you don't have an office to go to?

[missedthecue]

Why quit? There are no companies or startups hiring my occupation for in-office-only. There are no job boards that curate in-office-only hiring postings. I could quit and go WFH for another company but that doesn't solve the problem.

[egeozcan]

> There are no companies or startups hiring my occupation for in-office-only.

There are many companies which have offices you and people with similar preferences as yours can go to. Do you mean you want your colleagues also having to come to the office even if they don't want to?

[missedthecue]

What I miss isn't the office building. It's the people. I don't really care to sit in an empty office.

I don't want to "force" you to do anything. I would like to find a workplace where I can thrive.

[egeozcan]

If I could only thrive in a workplace where all people wore sunglasses, and I kept telling people "why do you hate wearing sunglasses, it's so much better, sun appearing behind the screen totally not a problem anymore! also, I really need you to wear sunglasses for me to thrive", what would others think?

[bluefirebrand]

> The worst part is that anyone who wants WFH can have it, but I cannot have what I need.

This really makes it sound like you think other people should be forced back to offices so that you can get what you "need"

Office work shouldn't be your substitute for a social life.

[missedthecue]

What I mean to say is that I cannot take unilateral steps to remediate the issue at hand (i.e. quitting and finding a new employer)

Someone who prefers WFH can do this.

[bluefirebrand]

Frankly, this is bull.

The last two years of the pandemic is a huge outlier where remote work has been the norm. Most workplaces before the pandemic were full time in-office and it seems there's a huge push starting to get everyone back in offices across a lot of industries now.

Many companies might wind up settling on a hybrid approach, but I can almost guarantee you that will lean more towards office than remote.

I'm sorry that the forced remote has been hard for you, but get over it. Society is still built by extroverts for extroverts. You will be able to get those jobs a lot more easily going forward than I will be able to find fully remote jobs, I guarantee it.

[freedom2099]

Don’t you have friends? For my social needs I have family and friends… and since now I don’t have to commute and I am home at lunch I can engage more with them than before! Life is so much better since I started working from home!

[kyriakos]

I guess it depends how much distraction you used to get. Personally there were times when people from multiple teams were queuing at my desk to speak with me. Same happens during remote but at least I can choose when to respond and prioritise them accordingly. Ironically I forgot this issue existed at the office until I went back for one day and it started happening again (at a lesser extend since less people were in). On that day I decided that going to the office at least for my current position is not viable. Thankfully the company is still happy allowing remote work.

[lloydatkinson]

Was the entire point of your argument just to attack someone else’s point of view? Don’t be one of those “I don’t like WFH so how can you possibly like it?”. The entire way you asked it indicates you are indeed being that person.

Be better.