Same boat. Totally miss the socialization. I hated having to steal part of my living space to make an “office”. It is so isolating. But I live in an apartment, which unlike the “huge house in the country” crowd doesn’t lend itself to making an office. Especially with a kid.

Sure I could move to some huge house with a fancy office but that just seems wrong to me. Density is the only way only of sprawl and inefficient resource use. But density makes it kinda hard to have a two bedroom, one office apartment. It also becomes rather depressing.

I dunno man, the chips are gonna fall on the table sooner or later. Lots of people working in the tech industry completely lost their mind over Covid and I suspect there is a lot of healing that people need to process. I don’t think people are working with their whole brain yet…

Here we go again. The onsite crowd demanding that their coworkers fill in their socialisation and emotional voids. I hope employers understand that quite a few want back to office so they can slack and cheap chat with coworkers, maybe play petty politics a bit too.

Brutally accurate comment, these are my thought exactly but I couldn't summarize it in words.

(This comment is from my point of view and is about me. It is not about you. It's OK if people are different! I am not trying to force you to feel how I do.)

Near the end of a year of forced WFH, I was pretty close to zero productive hours per day. I hated it. I would wake up crying. If having a few unproductive hours of chat per day with coworkers who also want to be in the office is what keeps me sane and working, then so be it. My employer seems fine with it.

(Thanks for reading this comment. This is a reminder that this comment was from my point of view and was about me. You may feel differently than I do! That's OK.)

> Here we go again. The onsite crowd demanding that their coworkers fill in their socialisation and emotional voids. I hope employers understand that quite a few want back to office so they can slack and cheap chat with coworkers, maybe play petty politics a bit too.

The fact my post would get a response like this really makes skeptical of this whole WFH trend. Normal people don't write stuff like you did. What you wrote is so dismissive of others feelings and thoughts... it's just wildly inappropriate. It's like somebody who is trying to force an agenda.

It feels quite a lot like the kind of responses somebody might get when they pointed out issues with societies covid mitigations. You'd get the same dismissive, nasty tone.

Live and let live, eh? This shit is just bizarre.

>I miss my commute, 30 minutes each way on a train — it was my reading time. Now I don’t read, work or something else fills the slot.

This argument is absolutely insane to me. You weren't paid for your commuting time before - if work now fills that slot it's because you're choosing to work earlier/more.

(This comment is from my point of view and is about me. It is not about you. It's OK if people are different! I am not trying to force you to feel how I do.)

Like the parent, I also really like my commute. It's 40 minutes, each way, on the bus. I also use it to read. There's a library right next to my office! I'm going there this afternoon before I grab the bus. It's great.

When I was forced to work from home in 2020, the commute was actually one of the things I missed the most. You're correct that I could have just spent 40 minutes reading each day at home. But I didn't! I looked at my phone or cleaned the house or started work early or something. Having the forced structure is what works for me, to enforce different "parts" of my day. I catch the bus at 7 AM. I read for the 40 minute ride. I get to work around 8. I catch the bus home at 4 PM. I'm home around 5. It works for me.

Working from home didn't, I felt lost and bored and frustrated and actually had some breakdowns near the end of it and ended up going back to the office before I was vaccinated, which was kind of scary but better than waking up crying. I don't know why that's the way I am, but it is.

(Thanks for reading this comment. This is a reminder that this comment was from my point of view and was about me. You may feel differently than I do! That's OK.)

And i fully respect that and i think your option to work on site should be granted. Also i appreciate you focusing on your preference and not seeking to fill in voids with other people. To be fair i do like reading and working from home allows me to do it more often. If there is a book i need i simply order it and have it delivered to my door - more time saved for reading. But that is what _i_ prefer and this debate should be focused around what individuals want and expect from all this without impacting others. Naturally all of this should be beneficial to employers as well because you know work is not charity. But an employer benefits from your being more productive at home or at the office then it should allow for whatever maximises their investment in you.

> this debate should be focused around what individuals want and expect from all this without impacting others

I don't see anyone in this thread doing otherwise.

I agree, this thread is more considerate than others. But some arguments for returning to office work imply having others return. In your case you have your own routine that doesn't rely on others changing theirs. But those who wish to return to onsite so they can socialise imply that everyone else needs to return. I mean who are they going to socialise with? Walls? Desks? Similarly those who can only convey their message to an audience thats in their immediate proximity imply that everyone else should return so they can sit and stare at whiteboards together.

Other people who also want to be in an office. My current WFH-friendly job has about 5 people who come in to the office most every day, and many others who drop in once a week or so.

And thats fine - what i am saying is that it should be a right not a requirement. As opposed to what onsite workers demand, that we all return to offices.

Years ago I rented a desk for additional contracting work I was doing at a shared work space. I think it was called Nedspace when I was in Portland. Many companies going remote offer this, will pay for your monthly spot.

Personally, these days at the age of 42, I prefer working remote.

> Personally, these days at the age of 42, I prefer working remote.

Of course you do. You have the space to accommodate it and have yet to see the larger impact this “everybody works at home” will have.

Work is work. That’s why you get paid for it. You get paid because otherwise nobody would do it…