The Lonely Office Is Bad for America • Hacker News Board

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#41

Post by rayiner » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 1:46 AM UTC

warning26 wrote: post #4

> My mind goes first to the young. People starting out need offices to learn a profession, to make friends, meet colleagues This is what I think remote work advocates miss -- pure remote makes work 100% work, 0% percent anything else. This is probably fine if you work at a horrible finance firm where this was the case anyway, but for people in creative/tech professions where fun stuff / offsites / happy hours were th…

I’m quite perplexed at how many people depend on work for their social network. Don’t they have neighbors and friends?

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#42

Post by samcheng » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 1:54 AM UTC

spywaregorilla wrote: post #15

icedchai wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss the simple things, like finding a new restaurant and trying it with coworkers. It sounds cliche, but I liked "getting out of the house" and having more of a work-life separation. I have kinda accepted that that era is gone and is not coming back. The last time I worked out of an office was March, 2020.

have you considered finding a new restaurant and trying it without coworkers

It's amazing - the weekday lunch date with the wife while the kids are at school was never possible when I worked an hour from home.

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#43

Post by samcheng » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 1:56 AM UTC

icedchai wrote: post #11

warning26 wrote: post #4

> My mind goes first to the young. People starting out need offices to learn a profession, to make friends, meet colleagues This is what I think remote work advocates miss -- pure remote makes work 100% work, 0% percent anything else. This is probably fine if you work at a horrible finance firm where this was the case anyway, but for people in creative/tech professions where fun stuff / offsites / happy hours were th…

I miss the simple things, like finding a new restaurant and trying it with coworkers. It sounds cliche, but I liked "getting out of the house" and having more of a work-life separation. I have kinda accepted that that era is gone and is not coming back. The last time I worked out of an office was March, 2020.

Unless you moved to Boise or wherever when the pandemic started, it's still perfectly reasonable to meet your coworkers for lunch. Try it!

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#44

Post by frazbin » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:03 AM UTC

Humming and thrumming down 60 percent, bubbling and burbling at all time lows. Oh dear! I think she has us confused with fish in an aquarium?

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#45

Post by rayiner » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:13 AM UTC

throwaway5959 wrote: post #35

EddieDante wrote: post #13

Peggy Noonan has failed to justify the continued existence of "office culture" and "national culture". As somebody else mentioned, I work for a living. I am not there to make friends. I am there to make money. I am not there to build community. I am there to build software that makes rich assholes even richer, in exchange for pennies on every dollar of value I create.

Peggy Noonan has failed to be relevant for decades and is now a total waste of space. She was recently on Meet the Press where she said Republicans could use their “victory” as an opportunity to go after women voters by changing their tune. She should retire already. What a ghoul. https://www.rawstory.com/peggy-noonan-abortion/

While I agree Peggy Noonan is a Reagan era holdover, this is a poor example of that.

Your average “woman” isn’t a college educated white liberal in a big city. There’s a large number of conservative women who oppose abortion, and the majority are squeamish about it and support making it illegal after 13 weeks. That’s especially true of minority voters. Just 29% of Hispanic households that speak Spanish at home think abortion should be legal. And half of Black people in southern states like Georgia also oppose abortion. But these women, whether they vote democrat or Republican, also tend to support more social programs for mothers and children.

Noonan is absolutely correct that there’s an opportunity for republicans to kneecap democrats looking to keep Arizona and Georgia blue by appealing to socially conservative women who also reject small government orthodoxy. I’m skeptical republicans can do that—I think they’ll fold as soon as the Chamber of Commerce set comes running back now that Biden wants to raise taxes—but she’s correctly identified the path forward for the GOP.

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#46

Post by therm0 » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:25 AM UTC

warning26 wrote: post #4

> My mind goes first to the young. People starting out need offices to learn a profession, to make friends, meet colleagues This is what I think remote work advocates miss -- pure remote makes work 100% work, 0% percent anything else. This is probably fine if you work at a horrible finance firm where this was the case anyway, but for people in creative/tech professions where fun stuff / offsites / happy hours were th…

What I think in-office advocates miss -- You can still do all of these things with _actual_ friends and family who will be around after you get shitcanned, laid off, whatever.

The unfortunate reality is that the discourse around the remote vs. ass-in-seat style of work must be all or nothing. Some workplaces take a hybrid approach, but they often don't have a mix of 100% in-person and 100% remote employees. You're usually in the office 80% of the time with the allowance of a day at home. So complaints like yours get heard by middle management types and they use them to justify the "welcome back to the office" bullshit. It is worlds easier to live my life when I don't have a two hour commute and when I have the ability to get mundane responsibilities fulfilled on my breaks, and when I don't have to rely on others to take care of my pets and family. When your need to pursue an ephemeral relationship with your coworkers becomes an imposition on my need to nurture the people I love, that's a serious problem and I'm not going to politely respect your "preferences".

Go play ping-pong with your friends.

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#47

Post by tmaly » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:34 AM UTC

EddieDante wrote: post #13

Peggy Noonan has failed to justify the continued existence of "office culture" and "national culture". As somebody else mentioned, I work for a living. I am not there to make friends. I am there to make money. I am not there to build community. I am there to build software that makes rich assholes even richer, in exchange for pennies on every dollar of value I create.

This was an opinion article

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#48

Post by 999900000999 » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:44 AM UTC

catchnear4321 wrote: post #26

999900000999 wrote: post #8

I work for money. Money. Money. Not to make friends, not to build culture. Considering how offended everyone is now, work isn't the place to socialize.

You can socialize without sharing everything. I too work for money. I could do a lot of the same things without a job. But some asshole won mega millions when it was my turn. If office culture sucks, I want it to improve, because that’s where I make money. It means I can make money with less stress. Less stress, more productivity. More productivity, more recognition, more opportunities for money. You can look at thin…

That's your problem.

If you have difficulty making friends then go to concerts or something.

I can't imagine any office culture worth the time I waste commuting.

For the record, I'm still friends with multiple co workers from previous jobs. But that's just not the point of work.

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#49

Post by Kon-Peki » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:51 AM UTC

I was in downtown Chicago today, taking my kids to the museum and zoo. The Lollapalooza music festival is happening, so the downtown streets were overflowing with young adults having a wonderful time.

If we can hold out a little longer, and the corporate landlords go bust, and some office buildings are auctioned off, and we can cheaply convert them to residential… It would be like a huge shot of adrenaline to America, making the cities affordable enough for young adults again. It would be good for America

Re: The Lonely Office Is Bad for America

#50

Post by 7speter » Sun, Jul 31, 2022, 2:56 AM UTC

welshwelsh wrote: post #34

quartesixte wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered that not everyone finds their coworkers insufferable, actually finds the camaraderie enjoyable, and do make friends at the office?

Actually no, I'm highly skeptical that happens outside of sitcoms

Also happened in old star trek