Today is my first day working physically in my office since March 16, 2020. Almost a full 18 months of 100% work from home. And now I have to show back up.
I have never been fond of working in offices. Being an introvert who also gets easily distracted, cubicle style offices have always been the bane of my existence. However, in the six years I’ve worked for this company, five of them were in the office. Only in the last half of 2019 was I able to work from home in any capacity and that was limited to two days a week.
So, when the decree came down to take your work laptop home because we were doing work from home for the foreseeable future, I was definitely excited. I bought a new desk chair and a second monitor for my home setup. Later, I invested in a standing desk. I rearranged my entire office to make it more efficient.
And I thrived under work from home. For one thing, I could roll out of bed at 7:45 and still log in for my 8:00 shift. I had a stocked kitchen fifteen feet away as opposed to a collection of vending machines forty-five feet away. My dad would occasionally drop me off meals when I had especially busy day.
But, most important of all, I couldn’t see my coworkers slacking. Oh, I had a good idea that they were. I heard rumors of people being caught sleeping in the middle of the day. Or working from bed instead of at a desk or table. Of people going outside to garden for several hours while they were supposed to be working. Taking their work laptops to the bar while they met with friends (in a panini, no less!) during working hours. But, and here is the important bit, I couldn’t see it.
Some of my coworkers are amazing people who work exceedingly hard. And I love them. However, we also have a hefty handful of people who are just there to collect a paycheck and they aren’t held accountable for their actions. I have watched coworkers spend an hour faced away from their computers discussing what they were going to order in for lunch. Which, when I was putting in ten to twelve hour days and buried in unread emails, was frustrating, to say the least.
Needless to say, I’m not thrilled to be returning to that dynamic. My frustration and stress levels were so much lower when I was working from home. The saving grace is that I only have to work in the office 50%. One week on, one week off. And those work from home weeks are going to be what keeps me sane.
So, wish me luck this week as I try not to throttle my coworkers.
Happy Monday!
