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I Miss Working from the Office

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Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#101

Post by Jugurtha »

paul_f wrote: post #92
Jugurtha wrote: post #65

Yes. Some people on the internet were also advocating for a return to the office because people could not stand the loneliness anymore and need to interact socially. I had to point out that this was symptomatic of a poor social/family life [outside of work]. If someone is lonely working remotely and they miss humans, it is a sign the only humans they interacted with were colleagues. It's also a sign of what the perso…

This is a bit unfair. Many people socialized with the bowling team, through their church, at school, as part of a volunteer organization, etc, that may have also all shut down because of COVID.

There is no judgement in my comment for it to be fair or unfair. I guess the word you're looking for is "incomplete", in which case, it absolutely is incomplete for brevity.

My point was on this particular shortcut in many articles including large publications:

A: I work at the office

B: I'm not lonely

Not A => Not B (I don't work at the office therefore I'm lonely), and then coming up with a solution that it's time to get back to the office, failing to respect the contraposition, and implying that there's equivalence with a hidden B ==> A implication that is not necessary true.

Your point does not contradict my comment, actually, because all these are outside of "work/office". Again, my point was about the equivalence between remote work and loneliness not being automatic. One way to go through that is having a social life outside of the office. Granted, many things have closed, but that's why I said it was a sign of what the person could try and improve (finding things that haven't closed, finding joy somewhere else). Not saying it's easy.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#102

Post by watwut »

w0utert wrote: post #82
Jugurtha wrote: post #65

Yes. Some people on the internet were also advocating for a return to the office because people could not stand the loneliness anymore and need to interact socially. I had to point out that this was symptomatic of a poor social/family life [outside of work]. If someone is lonely working remotely and they miss humans, it is a sign the only humans they interacted with were colleagues. It's also a sign of what the perso…

I don’t understand this comment, do you suggest all forms of social contacts are created equal and people should just replace the social interactions they used to have with co-workers by visiting their family more often, organizing more poker nights with friends or taking salsa classes or whatever? That makes absolutely no sense, these interactions are completely different from those you would have with your co-worke…

But the truth is, for many people colleagues are the only people they regularly interact with. Especially people who work a lot have basically non existent or purely formal other relationships. They don't even know how to relate to people outside of job setting.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#103

Post by mkl95 »

The only thing I miss about working in an office is having a workstation and other gear readily available. The startup I work for was on the brink of bankruptcy when I was hired, so I have worked with my desktop computer ever since. The current job market can be really dark unless you live in a handful of places.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#104

Post by redis_mlc »

knuthsat wrote: post #40

I have too much pressure from my significant other. She can't look at me doing nothing (when I'm thinking or having my 15 minute rest between productive hours). Every single time I need to clean something up. I started going to the store and cooking lunch during work hours. Then I also get complaints about not doing the dishes while I'm working. It was nice when the work and home were separated and I just did all my…

According to the MGTOW community, women require constant validation, often subconsciously.

So think of her nagging as not being able to realize and limit her need for validation from you.

You can look for related titles on Youtube with Red Pill and MGTOW in the titles that will help you to frame for yourself and how to explain to your wife that dysfunctional but common element of your relationship.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#105

Post by schwartzworld »

iso947 wrote: post #61
bamboozled wrote: post #10

Thing I miss are: * Having someone clean my works space. My house gets dirtier now and I’m forever cleaning it, doing dishes. * The distinction between the beginning and end of my work day. * Having free space in my house. * Off the cuff dinner and drinks with colleagues. * No lag meetings and whiteboard sessions. * Having intervals apart from my family actually felt healthy, although we have adapted to being around…

I’m confused about your dishes claim. You mention you go home for lunch anyway so dishes don’t seem terrible, otherwise it’s a plate and a knife to pop in the dishwasher. When you were in an office and someone scheduled a 6am meeting what would you do? For me in the office I have a cup that I put in the dishwasher at the end of the day. At home I have a better cup that I put in the office at the end of the day. If yo…

OP mentioned kids, which is a big complicating factor. We gave two and oof, the dishes thing is real. We are cooking more, and for more people every meal.

As to popping out to the pub with colleagues, again it's tough with the kids home. If I go out anywhere between 4-8 I'm basically sticking my wife with the toughest time of day. Also patio season is done here and you wouldn't catch me drinking indoors during the pandemic.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#107

Post by matthewh806 »

crispyporkbites wrote: post #80
Aeolun wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When someone of greater rank than me in an inconvenient time zone wants to have a meeting with me involved, I have to attend. I’ve practically lost all my mornings from 6am - 9am, 3-4 days a week. I don’t understand this situation. If this happens I reject the meeting invite, and later see it rescheduled (if my attendance was mandatory). Is there a different way this happens?

Yup, it doesn’t get rescheduled and you slowly lose influence and find yourself working on things you hate, getting bad reviews and eventually getting fired/leaving because you hate your job

I would rather that outcome than having to wake up at 6am multiple times a week for a meeting.

There is no way I wouldn't hate my job anyway if it was forcing me into ridiculous schedules like that...

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#108

Post by nvarsj »

For me the biggest struggle with working from home has been psychological. I find it much harder to focus for some reason, even with a dedicated room to work in. When I was working in an office my mind would automatically switch to work mode, and I could be productive for 6+ hours. At home for some reason my mind never quite switches into work mode. I've been trying many things and it has gotten better but still not there. It's almost like I've developed mild ADHD. I wonder if anyone has some tips for this, as I'm running out of ideas.

The only thing that has worked for me in the past is to go to coffee shops and despite the noise and general discomfort, my brain instantly goes into work mode and I can focus. But this isn't really viable w/ lockdowns.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#109

Post by franciscop »

Jugurtha wrote: post #65

Yes. Some people on the internet were also advocating for a return to the office because people could not stand the loneliness anymore and need to interact socially. I had to point out that this was symptomatic of a poor social/family life [outside of work]. If someone is lonely working remotely and they miss humans, it is a sign the only humans they interacted with were colleagues. It's also a sign of what the perso…

Never thought of it that way and, while I strongly agree in general, 8h/day is a large chunk of our life. I can see how working alone at home vs with more people, even if you meet people after work, can be lonely for some!

I normally cowork with friends around once-twice a week (I did the same before the pandemic!) but I'm lucky to live in a big city with lots of friends. Or maybe that is exactly your point? That now that people are freed from the office they can meet and work with friends?

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#110

Post by matthewh806 »

ozorOzora wrote: post #44
feralimal wrote: post #13

No offices, everyone work at home - everyone so busy... And then you look around, what is all this work achieving? What were we achieving when we worked in the office? Were we doing anything real at all?

I can relate to that, I feel like most computer stuff is a hamster wheel for smart peeps.

I've come to the conclusion that maybe us computer people are not truly smart. And we just like the comfort of thinking that we are.

Yes, we're good at logical thinking, implementing systems, reasoning about problems etc This just makes us useful in the end or good at a certain way of thinking.

"Men of science may be simple tools of others, with no more idea what they are about than a hammer has of a house"

I believe this is true of software developers too - if we were truly smart we wouldn't be on the hamster wheel in a cage belonging to someone else

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