It really baffles me how that is the case (I understand the tongue in cheek). I have been working remotely for just shy of 10 years. That capability was a primary reason for going into programming in the first place.

I find it so old fashioned how by default, they expect me to stand in the rain for 2 hours a day to travel to the centre of a city to sit at a desk and log into the internet for 38 out of 40 hours a week.

That is a real life equivalent of a code smell.

Have you tried having a conversation with your employer? If they view it as a negative maybe you could forego your next salary increase and ask for maybe two work-at-home days per week or something similar.

PS: Where did you first learn of the expression "code smell"? I'm curious because I recently heard of it and would like to know if it was from the same source

He said he has been working remotely for 10 years.

You are right. I completely oversaw that somehow.