I agree with your sentiment. I encounter a majority of people in my workplace that say they really miss the chance encounters with people they don’t get to work with frequently - those chance encounter they say sparks something interesting. When I hear people vocalize this, they portray it as something of value and while I don’t doubt they value the interaction I do doubt that the interaction has created productive value. I think what they are really valuing is the social fabric of the workplace.

My theory is that as more of us have less and less social interaction outside of the workplace (especially in the northeast I think), people really value the social aspects of the workplace. The socialites among us will likely lead the way back into the office and drive peer pressure for the rest of us to return.