1 in 12 people are NOT schlepping it to the office any more...numbers not seen since 1983. (When, coincidentally, a band by the name of Men at Work had the #1 single.)
I’m writing now from my brand-new home office. Painted the color of my choice (French’s Mustard Yellow!), filled with things I actually like, and possessing a door. That shuts.
Just being in it makes me think of all the fun I left behind in cubicle land:
- Annoying co-workers. Especially the ones that want meetings when an email will do. And the ones who talk non-stop in the cube next to me.
- Team lunches. Especially when the team is made up of said annoying co-workers. What am I supposed to say to these people??
- Middle managers. And their feeling entitled to ask, “Where are you going?” any time I request vacation.
- Finding stuff to wear. Business casual is a waste of money: too dressy to wear on the weekend, and too casual to wear out at night.
- Late buses. Love the cost-effectiveness of public transportation. Hate the delays and smelly people.
- The “school night” feeling. Now, if I’m up late one night, I’m not required to still show up on time the next day.
- Performance review cycles. Goal settting, self-evaluations….and the always-disappointing merit increase.
- Card keys. And the paperwork involved to replace a lost one.
- Blocked social-networking sites. I’m not sure the company realizes it doesn’t do anything to increase productivity. People just use their phones to access everything. Although – on the upside – bandwidth is freed up for anyone randomly typing in URLs to see just how many are actually blocked…
And those are just the first things that come to my mind. I’m sure you have others? Let me know.
Sofie
Good luck at home, Sofie.