The Dreaded Return

May 30, 2021

As companies and businesses begin to implement plans to transition back to the office (some sooner than others), I can’t help but think about all the things there are to dread about returning to the office – and how the office will be different from before the pandemic. Here are just a few:

The Commute – For over a year now (less than a year if you count the couple of months that we’ve returned to the office before the holidays), I’ve gained over an hour of sleep every weekday. From waking up to arriving at work, it used to take me around 1.5 hours every morning. This included waking up and getting ready, getting to my bus stop (while hoping that my bus arrives on time), and walking the last stretch to my office building. Did I mention the anxiety that goes on in my brain when I don’t see my bus coming when it’s supposed to?

Taking the bus is not the most enjoyable method of transportation. While most of the people who get on the bus are usually the same, you do sometimes see random strangers that you hope would never walk towards you. Space is also limited, and sometimes you’d have people standing in front of you when there are no more seats left – that’s a bit too close for comfort. Keeping this in mind, while public transportation is a cheaper option than driving, the time, unreliable schedule, and most importantly, cleanliness, is enough to deter you from wanting to take it after the pandemic (at least for a few months…or years).

So what’s the other option? Driving, which still takes around an hour from waking up to arriving at work.

Paying for Parking – There’s no such thing as free parking in an area where space is limited, rent is expensive, and your company does not own their own parking lot. The cheapest parking garage is blocks away, but the bill still adds up. This isn’t the cheap $2-$3 parking you can find in some areas – it’s the $12-$30 per day parking spaces. If you subtract the sketchy walk to the parking garage, it’s a safer option than public transportation. Which risk would you take if you had to decide between the germs on the bus and walking to your car?

In-Person Meetings – Face time, face time, face time. That’s something that is emphasized all the time. It’s true – being able to put a face to a name makes it easier for you to remember that person, but let’s also bring up the fact that some people do not project their voice at all, and having a mask on does not help the situation. I cannot hear them even after asking them to repeat themselves. I cannot read their lips to get an idea of what they are saying either. However, if it was on a phone or video call, I would be able to turn up their volume when they speak. How convenient!

Helping Someone On Their Computer – The rush to return to the office is so that colleagues can interact with each other and more effectively help each other and work together right? Well, if I am helping someone at their computer, I’d rather not enter their cube or stand too close to them – but wait, how do I point at their computer screen to tell them what to click? It is a struggle to walk someone through how to do something when you are standing six feet away. In your own cube, however, you can share screens and request control so that you can show them exactly what you are talking about – but then, you can accomplish the same at home.

Lunch “Break” – If you’re not the type who likes to go outside in the blazing sun during lunch, it’s difficult to find a place to take a break. You can stay inside your cube, but people will think you’re still working and come ask you questions. You can walk to a building nearby, but you just don’t feel like it’s very clean there because it’s a public space. What can you do? Just keep working.

When you’re at home, you’re able to set your status to away, step away from your computer, and do whatever you want for the next hour. In the office, even if you step away from your cube, someone is bound to come talk to you and engage you in a conversation, and if you do not participate, they will ask you, “Why are you so antisocial?”

Well the truth is, sometimes people need to recharge. You’ve spent a morning on calls and answering questions and using up the juice in your brain, and you just need a break. Some time alone. Without that time to recharge, how can you keep working efficiently after lunch?

Saying Good-Bye to Privacy – From the colleague peeking through the gap in your cube to the colleague who just loves touching and opening things in your cube without your permission, get ready for your comfortable-space bubble to pop. For some reason, some people just have trouble respecting other people’s personal space. There’s also the overly caring (a.k.a. nosy) people who constantly ask you what you are up to.

It’s not a secret that I’m not the type to share with the whole world what I am up to, or that I like to keep a certain distance when talking to people (how can you even look at the other person’s face when they are standing so close to you?). Since the pandemic, I’d like that distance to increase. And please, don’t try to whisper in my ear.

Eating in the Conference Room – As if a lunch meeting isn’t sad enough, a lunch meeting in the conference room is worse! It’s not the brown bags and workshops that contribute to the sadness, but the meetings where you have to think and take notes and worry that you may get called on at any second. All while you are eating without masks together! It’s all about getting that face time right? Without the masks?

With only a few of so many dreadful things linked to returning to the office listed above, what are the perks that some lucky employees at other companies are offering?