[di456]

I am grateful for a remote job. Sometimes being at home for too long I get stir crazy and if I plan my day well I can schedule in time for breaks and walks and feel better. If I had a 45+ minute commute each way again I'd be stir crazy in traffic. No thanks.

The hardest part for me is balancing slack and video conferences. Slack can be useful but it's hard to have more nuanced conversations and make complex decisions. Those really need conversation to make them effective.

A friend recently mentioned that they are on a forced return to office 3 days a week and they spend most of their day on calls with people in other cities and countries. If I had a job I was mildly disinterested in and was forced to commute for no reason, that would nudge me to quietly apply for other jobs. Any company claiming to be climate friendly and forcing people to commute is hypocritical (cough cough Amazon).

If someone wants to be in an office, then accommodate them. Then for everyone else shift the office space budget to the travel budget. Done.

[ShadowBanThis01]

"Any company claiming to be climate friendly and forcing people to commute is hypocritical (cough cough Amazon)."

But on the other hand it's Amazon and its ilk that allow people to be at home all the time, not out running errands. Don't get me wrong: I'm no fan of Amazon. But on one hand you have a lot of self-proclaimed car-haters pretending that nobody needs a car, but then wanting to take away the street capacity that makes carlessness possible by enabling delivery.

[di456]

I've started enjoying in-person shopping more lately. It's a way to get out of my WFH bubble and feel that I can get in and out of the stores in about the same time as shopping online with Amazon.

I'd argue that Amazon is benefiting from more people working remotely and is not as much enabling people to be home more. Even without online shopping I'd still prefer remote work.

[ShadowBanThis01]

I frequently prefer in-person shopping too, but inventory control gets ever worse. At this point, I'm shocked if I find anything in stock anywhere... even staple items. I do prefer to support brick-&-mortar businesses, and will pay a bit extra to do so.

"I'd argue that Amazon is benefiting from more people working remotely and is not as much enabling people to be home more"

Not sure what the point is there.

[di456]

> Not sure what the point is there.

> it's Amazon and its ilk that allow people to be at home all the time, not out running errands.

I was addressing that line

[ShadowBanThis01]

Yeah but I don't understand the point you're trying to make. If people couldn't have stuff delivered, and couldn't shop during business hours, then what?

[di456]

Shop during non-business hours?

I've found that I can shop during business hours fine. And if not during business hours I can shop for what I need in the evenings before stores close. It comes down to time management.

For example, yesterday I took an hour break for lunch and ran a couple errands while I was out. No big deal.