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I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

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Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#311

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

foxpurple wrote: post #261
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rush hour sucks though even if you use the metro/tram/bus/train. The idea that the majority of the adult population should be travelling either in or out of the city centre at the same time seems quite preposterous now.

They shouldn’t be travelling that far at all. They should be within a walkable distance of where they need to go. Walking to work is never stressful and often does reverse.

I agree but unfortunately that would require rebuilding a large number of the world's cities, which is not very likely in the near future.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#312

Post by moss2 »

midrus wrote: post #85

In my company the only ones that want to go back to the office are those engineers and managers that spend most of their day just walking around, talking to everyone about non important stuff, inviting you to have a coffee, and making jokes until 5pm. Just the people that have nothing to show at the end of the quarter. The most productive engineers, and the ones I enjoy working the most are the remote ones. The only…

It sucks to read this because I feel targeted. I can not get any coding done at home and am 10x more productive if I have people around me working on the same project. I need to see the face of another person or I just go limp and become unmotivated.

People work differently and I think that an employer should accommodate as many types of work environments as possible. There should be a choice between remote or in-office and neither choice should be seen as better or worse.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#313

Post by mobilemidget »

amdelamar wrote: post #44

> The best part is that the cubicle doesn't have tall walls so I can literally see/hear everything, including other people's monitors. Open offices are awful. In my experience most people end up wearing headphones all day, and I did too. My ears would get red and irritated after a while. But I'd keep them on because it was like an unspoken social rule; that if you looked busy and had headphones on, people won't inter…

I'm bit puzzled what sound a monitor makes?

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#314

Post by curiousigor »

IvanAchlaqullah wrote: post #170
CephalopodMD wrote: post #119

I just want my own office. That's all. I'd be pretty okay with going in if I had my own office with 4 walls. First job of my career, they told me I would have an office of my own. First day I come back do for full time (I had interned there too with my own office), they tell me they're switching buildings to go open office in about a month's time. I got a precious few weeks with a personal office, and then it was all…

Yes, working from home is much better than working at open office. However there is some scenario where middle manager can make WFH as hellish as working at open office: by mandating everyone to install invasive spyware so they can "manage" you remotely. Bonus point if the company didn't want to give/loan company devices, so you have to install it on your own personal devices.

That's a huge red flag for me though. If you're employed (so not working as a freelancer for the company), the employer is supposed to provide the equipment you can work on. For them to expect usage of personal devices and then have a requirement of installing these kind of tools on it wouldn't be expectable to me.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#315

Post by AmericanChopper »

thevagrant wrote: post #290
AmericanChopper wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People tend to think this is some form of injustice, but the real reason is that most people work as part of a team, and your ability to deliver value as a team member is constrained by you ability to work as a team member. The anecdote I have for my office is the complete opposite of the parents comments anecdote. The least productive members stayed at home as much as possible, and the most productive ones are in th…

It may depend on the company and the team. In the office I get asked questions or interrupted frequently. I enjoy talking to colleagues and it seems productive. However the bulk of my important work is done alone in longer uninterrupted blocks of time (at home). If I'm forced into an office then unless the team around me is really good/organised, I end up working at home at night to get those uninterrupted blocks of…

> Collaborating with others works as well for me over a video call as it does in person.

This is just fundamentally untrue. Depending on your office culture, processes, personalities of the people involved, and any number of other things… it can be _good enough_. But you are always going to make compromises to communication and collaboration by all working in completely different locations.

I think this is one of the reasons everybody gets so frustrated by the WFH discussion. Sure there’s lots of reasons why the WFH experience can be better for the worker, but most of the discussion on the topic is so completely dishonest. The detractors will grossly exaggerate the downsides, and then comments like this refuse to even acknowledge that compromises are being made.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#316

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

Actually I have very fond memories of my office prior to 2010 or so. I had either a private office or shared it with another colleague, and both options were great as these were both professionals and amiable types.

However, once the open space revolution started and we had to flock like animals, it became a nightmare. People started to have headaches, problems with ears and even vagus nerve from constant headphone use. Some of my colleagues complained their blood pressure levels are higher than ever, with no apparent reason. Production-wise, it was a disaster.

The pandemic clearly demonstrated how useless open space offices were and how much more productive we can be if not treated like cattle. For me it does not matter that much if I work in a private office or at home, but spending most of my day in an open space is unacceptable, especially now that we finally have other options.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#317

Post by glangdale »

I liked working in an open-plan office with my team around me. We were a team of 4 who had been working together from 2007-2008 through to 2017 (for a while, we were 4/5 of Sensory Networks, acquired by Intel). We talked all sorts of outrageous shit, got lots of work done, etc.

After the Intel acquisition it was still good, but having other people in hearing distance of us wasn't nearly as fun (likely for either side).

I enjoyed it a lot more than sitting at home. Conversely, I think sitting at home is way better than being wedged in with a bunch of random semi-connected folks.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#318

Post by zelos »

alexchantavy wrote: post #142
kazinator wrote: post #78

This person has never worked in an office, and has a quiet environment at home. Ah, young and childless.

This is another interesting way to split the WFH vs WFH divide. Senior workers are more likely to have kids than junior workers, and they have the ability to set rules for their workplace and therefore prefer WFO so they can avoid the noise at home.

I think it's the other way round: having kids means you have other demands on your time. WFH means it much easier to take the kids to school, go to parents evening/school play etc.

Plus, senior workers are likely to have a larger house with room for a separate office.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#319

Post by Zababa »

Freak_NL wrote: post #283
foxpurple wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suggest that Friday makes a good time for the mandatory day. Means people can go out for drinks at the end of the day. The in office days will never be as productive but they can be good socialising times so you may as well make use of that.

There is also a trend towards four-day work weeks to account for. I work 4 × 8, and Friday is a good day to have off; you get a long weekend and unlike Monday¹ shops are open in the morning too. 1: This may be a Dutch phenomenon, but many shops and amenities are closed on Monday morning. Especially with the gradual increase of shops being open on Sunday afternoons.

> This may be a Dutch phenomenon, but many shops and amenities are closed on Monday morning. Especially with the gradual increase of shops being open on Sunday afternoons.

This is the case in France too, it's common for small shops to close Sunday and Monday, and be open the rest of the week.

Re: I went to the office for the first time. I fucking hated it

#320

Post by tester34 »

mrweasel wrote: post #199
aba_cz wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is U.S. thing, right? People in Europe are using public transportation to get to work from the edge of the city with no problems. Come visit Prague to see how it's done :D

> People in Europe are using public transportation No we don't. It would add 90 minutes each way for my 15km commute. We really need to stop with the idea that public transportation in Europe is awesome, it not, it actually pretty terrible outside a few select areas. It's actually faster to ride a bike to work in my case, except bikes aren't allowed on the motorway. Europe need to fix it's public transportation syste…

>It would add 90 minutes each way for my 15km commute.

Oo

I've been commuting 40km each way before pandemic with public transportation and it took me (65min of travel + waiting for train + 10min of walking) each way

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