Minutiae of the office

Wordle 1,019 4/6

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Yesterday I went to the office for the first time in over a year.

Last week we got a notice that electrical power would be out at our house for some kind of work for basically the whole day, so I went to the office. I biked in, which took a little preparation, and I wasn't sure about until the last minute due to the weather.

I only miss two things about the old days: some of the people a tiny bit, but that doesn't matter because they're gone whether I'm there or not, and the fact that I get exercise easily. Biking is obvious, and in addition to that, I hit my phone's recommended step count by 2 PM. Even when I'm spending my working hours sitting at a desk, the bathroom and faucet for water are farther from it than at home, and I usually want to leave the building for lunch.

Other than that? It sucks. Phones don't have headsets by default, so if I want to make a phone call, I'm bothered by other people doing the same. If I want a conference room, I have to go through a whole process to reserve one. And the surroundings are sepulchrally beige. People seem excited that it's not in the basement like it used to be, but cubicles with windows got claimed early and they only have views of other brutalist offices. (Of course, it rained off and on yesterday, so that doesn't help.)

I picked one cubicle early. The certificates and paperwork on the desk left over from 2020 was funny. The chocolate bar next to them that expired in 2020 was a little sad or gross but mostly funny. But I later found a chocolate bar in a drawer which also expired in 2020 and had mouse gnawings on it and mouse poop around it. Not funny. I found another cubicle before having my lunch.

There's not even any benefit to work. In addition to the problems above, on-site collaboration isn't a thing because so many other people are home or at a different office. It's just as easy to procrastinate as it is at home. I can procrastinate anywhere I have an Internet connection - I wrote most of this there, after all. My productivity may or may not be a concern, but it certainly didn't get better being surrounded by cubicle walls. It was nice to meet in person someone I've only known through Teams meeting, I guess, but that was just recognizing his voice at the cafe.

I'm not completely ruling out going back at some point, but I'm disinclined.