COVID-19: OhMyCronus!

Those colors are totally not me. If I were to make a fursona, which I wouldn't because I'm not a furry, it would be gray with a little gray for contrast and then some little pops of gray to give it visual interest.

 

I don't believe he made a costume for Pickle Rick that long ago.

 

Found your photo!

 

Mmmm, not you most likely...


Ha, found you

 

When is the next furry convention?

Just asking for a friend

 

Go away you fraud.

Yeah, that's cute.

Is what I'd say if I was a furry.

 

So my mother-in-law contracted COVID right around Christmas. The way we found out about was unfortunate. My wife received half a dozen calls during her work hours on/around 12/23 or 12/22 from her mother. Once my wife decided to call back, the MIL was talking to someone and had the wifey call back.

After telling my wife she contracted COVID, the wife asked where she was. Turns out MIL was delivering presents to people since she was supposed to host Christmas and a few get-togethers and wouldn't be able to (MIL is a social butterfly). Naturally, she decided the best course of action was to deliver the presents and tell them in person why she was unable to attend any social gatherings. Over the course of her "isolation" which included Christmas and NYE, we called her at Chic-Fil-A, a friend's house, a grocery store, and a gardening/nursery store. After a while, we stopped asking why she was answering from the Bluetooth in her car since it was an exercise in futility.

When my wife asked where she could have contracted, the MIL threw out the bridge club, choir, Arlington Ladies, grief counseling sessions, a widows club, a restaurant or two and a few other options. Not to mention the normal places such as grocery shopping, or running to the post office.

The MIL did feel fine at first, which was an issue since she used it as her excuse as to why she kept going out. Closer to NYE she was really tired and sounded terrible for the better part of a week. Just last week she started getting back to her normal self.

 

The Job Market for Remote Workers Is Shrinking - WSJ

Remote work is plummeting because bosses hate it. The thing is, I, as a boss, am not a big fan either...it does make my job slightly but noticeably harder. But the way I see it is, that's the gig. When you accept this kind of job, to be the boss, you're supposed to make decisions that serve the team. Not you, the team.

But I'm a left wing pinko commie who worked like 3/4 of my working life as a non-boss, so what the ******** do I know about bossing.

He's a Fury.

 

I've had the option to work at home (when needed, like workers at the house or Dr appt) at my last two jobs. At my current job, being in the office is pointless. I've been down a few times and it is just me sitting at a desk talking to no one face to face, there is no one on my team/group who is in Chicago. My boss is in Charlotte, one of my reports is way out in a Chicago exburb and the other is in NYC so even if I was in the office all of my interaction with colleagues would be over Teams.

 

I can't imagine companies are not seeing the pluses of not having people in the office unless absolutely necessary, just from potential savings in utilities, cleaning, catering, office space, etc.

 

CEOs are monkey see - monkey do types (Corporate employees, isn't this right?) . This dumb shit started with the likes of that failed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. The buzzword that spread like wildfire is "co-working" and the concept is that some highly creative teams work better in close proximity. This may work well for some areas like marketing where "brainstorming" sessions can produce results.
The problem is this may not be practical for other types of teams, like technical teams for instance where the talent can be spread around the world and also where work tasks can be highly individualistic. Don't need to brainstorm together in some sweat shop to produce some lines of code!
As far as availability and reach, I would say some companies may not be using the right tools or approaches.
The team I work for has folks all over the world and using good messaging and teamwork software tools and procedures we can communicate and deliver solutions like clockwork.
A lot of this all blow over once these aholes start seeing the long term cost of real estate and productivity stats, and then a new buzzword will be all the rage.

 

I like working in the office and I also like the fact that there are few people in the office.

 

You're a special kind of stupidface, aren't you?

 

Indeed. This is now a golden opportunity for truly active and meaningful Human Resources Management, to taylor made individual employee's suited working conditions.

 

I get to walk to work. And the internet is a lot faster. So... I'm down with being in my office.

Also, "work from home" for me means my kitchen table isn't just where my wife and I sit down to eat... it's a job site.

Again... for me. If it works differently for other people, cool.

 

If your job is pushing digital bits around instead of physical bits and you have good connectivity then work from wherever is 100% effective given the current tools available. This applies to the vast majority of management roles up to the C suite as well. That these MFers want to revive business travel for face to face meetings and team building / culture is a crime against the environment.

Get with the times. Your future hires are already living the digital life.

 

The article screams of puff piece dropped by execs. But that's been the case since remote work became more ubiquitous in 2020. I don't share the same viewpoint as some, especially now that this particular door has been opened, it's going to be near impossible to shut. No matter what a bunch of execs who started working in the 80s/90s/00s think. It also needs to be said that a lot of employers have been pulling bait and switches when it comes to remote work. The other thing to consider is that these folks think that tech and such is still in the 90s.

These articles never ask why the execs want people back in the office. Usually the reasoning is vague, based on something such as people watching The Office too much, thinking best ideas are happening (I call bull, my best ideas came from hanging out in bar) or a nostalgia for a time that was never there. The one argument I hear is "The water cooler chat and then an idea happens." Again, bull. Usually in break rooms I heard people discussing TV shows or their weekends. I've sat in enough brainstorming meetings to know that little to nothing happens in them.

I've been remote since February 2020. I don't have any aim to be in an office anymore. Two years ago I moved into my current role and was able to be trained with a colleague based out of Texas. My boss is based out of Colorado, several colleagues are based in Texas, Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Georgia. The reason I don't want to be in an office anymore? Well, for one. I don't have a commute. I lived 10 minutes from my office, but I have saved wear and tear and fuel on my car, I can sleep in a bit, I don't have to pretend to look busy when it's slow. But the big one? I can have some peace and quiet. I don't have to hear inane conversations, which happened when I needed to focus on something.

And I get it, working remote is not for everyone. But the problem is execs (and people of a certain age) are insistent on returning to a culture that is slowly but surely no longer dominant. You may have had points in 1998 when we didn't have a serious reason to really look into it. But 2020 happens, turns out that it's actually not problematic, and yet people don't want to acknowledge that. It'd be easier to let people have options at least. I don't mind hybrid, but when we did that we had a balance. I get that some may need to be in the office for their reasons, but I hate that mantra of "If I have to be in office, you should too!" It just doesn't work and it causes companies to lose good employees.

Either way, I'm not as bullish on this mindset as some execs (Or WSJ) thinks. They've been publishing pieces like these for a year, twisting around for a shred of hope.

 

In my experience, the people who interrupted me for something always needed it when it was obvious I was swamped. And it was usually for things that wasn't needed for another three weeks.

 

Like I said, a lot of folks stuck in the 80s/90s.

 

I feel no great joy at providing a workspace for my employer free of charge.