I'm sure right now, lots of people who dreamed of wfh and couldn't have tried it and learned that it might not be the right arrangement for them.

Also, I find it hard to accept that people who pick certain jobs out of preference (not made to chose out of circumstances) like "blue collar jobs" would expect working from home. What does it mean for a steel worker to be working from home? A warehouse worker? A painter? A housekeeper? A cook?

I do agree with the rest of the sentiment you shared though... The sense that some people who are enjoying the current state of affairs want others to return to normalcy while they are living the exception.

Hot desking is your CEO standing up and saying "I got nothing" when asked how to increase profitability.

a cute one liner, Regularly scheduled video chat meetings are anti pattern for remote work.

That's my feeling at the moment. trying to schedule people around the world to do video chats is a lost cause. Its also trying to cram the office experience into remote work. Video chats are a waste, no one is engaged, probably because most meetings are useless. Like stand ups, who's listening? We were only engaged becasue its socially awkward to not be in person. Now, I can turn my camera and mic off and stretch until I hear my name or just do my work. There's my stream of thought and slight rant.

That would be messed up, but what is actually being said is “Given that you need to go out into the danger, its good for you that I don't go out and needlessly increase that danger.”

In fact, I've heard the exact argument made from the side of workers that have to go out into the danger—whether to deal with it directly because thet are in healthcare, or because they work in retail in essential sectors, or whatever—that out of respect for their safety, people who don't need to be out magnifying the danger shouldn't be.

Let's hope everyone can choose the job they want and have the benefits that come with it.

I know plenty of blue collar workers that would never want to work behind a desk, and also know plenty who started earning a lot of money at 18.

I find your "blue collar victims" mentality very strange.

I'm pretty sure this is what is regarded as "progress" these days... :)

And since most of those jobs aren't usually salaried, I think they'd all welcome being able to go to work and continue to earn.

The fewer people out and about, the less opportunities for the virus to spread.

Yes, it's messed up, but it's better than the alternative: Everyone going about their lives like normal and spreading it even more.

I honestly don't see any better alternative.

Given that some people are not working from home, surely it's strictly better for them if the spread of the virus is reduced?

This isn't a decision that could be rolled back easily or without significant capex. Companies that are doing this must be thinking it's a long term thing.

Or they were thinking along these lines anyway and this was the push to get them over the line. Or they're putting real estate expansion plans on indefinite hold in the case of "you don't need to come back in the office but you can."

Similarly, I suspect that the people moving out of NYC aren't those with a mindset of "I could never live anyplace else on account of the opera." In many cases, they're probably people who were toying with idea already and this accelerated the process.

Perhaps even some kind of comfortable spacesuit you can just live in all day will help the blue collar workers.

I'm only half joking. I would like to think there will be a strong push for a much more hygienic society in the future. A corona vaccine will never completely solve the problem, and who wants to even get a traditional flu. I suspect these social distancing measures are just how we live now.