7 ms·

Can't imagine working in an office again. The bathrooms, the bad food you inevitably end up eating, the hour a day lost to commute, the interruptions, having to

Can't imagine working in an office again. The bathrooms, the bad food you inevitably end up eating, the hour a day lost to commute, the interruptions, having to shower and wear pants. Yuck.

xwolfi 5y ago
Remove the commute and all is solved. I pay 4000 USD a month in rent in Hong Kong to sleep near my bank lol
- lostcolony 5y ago
  Not really. I've lived near where I've worked my entire life. The furthest I've lived is about 4 miles, and even then I'd bike 6, just so I could bike along the beach. I still prefer remote.
- thret 5y ago
  There is something glorious about walking five minutes to work and knowing your co-worker spent an hour in traffic. It's like cheating death on a small scale.
  - lmkg 5y ago
    It's literally cheating death, only spread out over a long period of time.
    - labster 5y ago
      And by not driving, you cheat death a little bit more on behalf of other people. Less air pollution is good for literally everyone.
  - annoyingnoob 5y ago
    When I had this situation I was expected to show up any time, like if the alarm went off or to let a contractor in, etc. I was unofficially on-call for all things office. And blamed if something odd happened after hours. Walking to work was glorious.
  - smitty1e 5y ago
    My foot commute is 20min, but involves dropping the kids at school on the way. #Winning
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - bostonsre 5y ago
    Yea, after dealing with the accidents and traffic seemingly every day on 101, having a short walk to work is just incredibly glorious and results in so much less stress. A nice couple block walk on water to an office in the morning is a pretty great way to start the day.
- DevKoala 5y ago
  I was renting an apartment in SF to be near the office and avoid the commute, but it just wasn’t the same. I missed my home and family. Eventually I decided I would arrive to the office at lunch time to avoid rush hour and leave at 8pm. That worked out much better for me. Now that I am fully remote, nothing will convince to ever set foot in an office again. I just rejected a position worth a raise in the six figures because management couldn’t commit to allow me working full time remote. I make that much extra just working on side projects with the free time I gain by staying at home.
  - Seattle3503 5y ago
    I'm curious how you monetize your side projects.
    - DevKoala 5y ago
      I have a friend who has a huge contract with a manufacturing company that is publicly traded. Whenever I have the time I pick up some tasks from him. It allows me to work on WebGL which is a nice break from the data engineering/systems design work I do for my regular full time employer. I also have a crypto trading bot, but honestly, I stopped it recently due to the fact I wasn’t ready to deal with the volatility of the last few weeks.
- Trias11 5y ago
  I paid $4800 in SF to be 40 min. away
  - vmception 5y ago
    boom got'em! I bet people told you that you had a short "reverse" commute and therefore lucky that it was only 40 minutes each direction!
ricci_curvature 5y ago
Don't forget having friends and a social life. Life is so much better now that I can sit in my house all day browsing 4chan.
dan-robertson 5y ago
On the other hand I can’t wait to get back to the office. Less work cleaning my own bathrooms or worrying about loo roll, getting reasonably nutritious good food for lunch and breakfast without needing to plan for it, 20m of exercise twice a day walking to/from work, the social interactions, being able to wear pants because the office has AC. The above is a little tongue in cheek but also true. I think it is important to acknowledge that different people have different lives and want different things. I can certainly imagine being in a situation where I would want to work remotely.
- izolate 5y ago
  I can see what you're getting at, but everything you described can be achieved by joining a coworking space. It boils down to this: a 100% remote policy doesn't rob you of what you need, but a 0% remote policy robs those of us who prefer WFH from what we need.
  - weyland108 5y ago
    The co-working workspace has security implications. Also I think the current setup is working to a large extent because everyone is remote and playing field is even. It will be somewhat complicated after half the team is on-site and other half is not.
    - rStar 5y ago
      i’ll just continue to work for a company with the ability and desire to deal with those security issues, and whatever other problems my preferred way of working causes, since it makes me a happier and more productive employee. plus, in my experience, when you work from home, you don’t have to deal with an asshole control freak boss, since almost all of those don’t allow work from home in the first place, given a choice. ipso facto, one of the benefits of working from home is the opportunity to work under “better” management.
  - spoonjim 5y ago
    Nothing "robs" you. Companies make choices, employees do too. There will be a mix of companies offering everything from on-site only to remote-only and if you're skilled enough you will be able to dictate the terms of your employment.
electricslpnsld 5y ago
> The bathrooms At my first job they were so crunched for space my desk in the open office was about ten feet from the entrance to the men’s bathroom. I got to quickly know everyone’s schedule, and knew I just had to leave my desk at certain times during the day due to certain coworkers… my manager was not happy when I cited that as my reason for quitting a few months in!
- liveoneggs 5y ago
  I had a similar setup where the bathrooms were in the office area (not in the hallway like normal) and the ladies had a double-door system but the mens was just door -> urinals (minimal walls/splash guards) so it was an all-day wang-fest for my whole row!
- whoisburbansky 5y ago
  Was your manager unhappy with you or the company?
  - nsonha 5y ago
    Plot twist: unhappy with them for criticizing the manager's private matter
- anitil 5y ago
  > my manager was not happy when I cited that as my reason for quitting a few months in! If your manager was so unhappy I'm sure they would have been willing to swap desks with you and experience the - uh - ambience ...
cyberlurker 5y ago
Finally, validation! I hate the bathrooms at my work but everyone thinks I’m crazy when I complain.
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  One of the downsides to Asia is that there’s a small minority of people who use sitting toilets are squatting toilets. About 7 years ago I worked in a building where the offices all shared a bathroom with several other companies. We would always need to go to the 2nd or 4th floor if we needed to go #2 due to someone on the 3rd floor using the toilet to squat, which resulted in foot prints on the seat and $#!+ on the back of the toilet seat… Luckily they decided to tear down the building so we were forced to move. But that is the worst experience I’ve had. So you’re definitely not crazy haha Edit: nothing wrong with squatting toilets, just using a sitting toilet as a squatting toilet is the issue.
  - axaxs 5y ago
    Ah, squatting toilets...reminds me of my first time in Japan. Was waiting to land so I could uh, unload. Finally deplaned, and hurried to the restroom. Saw what looked like a urinal buried sideways into the floor. As a tall person with bad knees, I cried inside and scurried away. It's just not something a person thinks about or assumes, does this country have toilets like mine? Oddly enough, by my second trip, that same bathroom(I assume, but can't be positive) had at least 2 functional western toilets, bidets and all. First time using one of those, and not what I'd describe as pleasant, but story for another time :). On another note... in my wife's country many people actually do use western toilets as squatting toilets. People typically have just a typical western bowl, with no tank or seat.
    - philliphaydon 5y ago
      I have a bidet. When I eventually move back to NZ I’m gonna make sure my house has one!
      - 5y ago
Trias11 5y ago
Imagine asking all the nicely dressed people on video zoom/webex call to stand up! lol
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jpseawell 5y ago
I wear khakis and a dress shirt just to put me in the working mood. No shoes or socks though.

Can't imagine working in an office again. The bathrooms, the bad food you inevitably end up eating, the hour a day lost to commute, the interruptions, having to shower and wear pants. Yuck.

xwolfi 5y ago

Remove the commute and all is solved. I pay 4000 USD a month in rent in Hong Kong to sleep near my bank lol

lostcolony 5y ago
Not really. I've lived near where I've worked my entire life. The furthest I've lived is about 4 miles, and even then I'd bike 6, just so I could bike along the beach. I still prefer remote.
thret 5y ago
There is something glorious about walking five minutes to work and knowing your co-worker spent an hour in traffic. It's like cheating death on a small scale.
- lmkg 5y ago
  It's literally cheating death, only spread out over a long period of time.
  - labster 5y ago
    And by not driving, you cheat death a little bit more on behalf of other people. Less air pollution is good for literally everyone.
- annoyingnoob 5y ago
  When I had this situation I was expected to show up any time, like if the alarm went off or to let a contractor in, etc. I was unofficially on-call for all things office. And blamed if something odd happened after hours. Walking to work was glorious.
- smitty1e 5y ago
  My foot commute is 20min, but involves dropping the kids at school on the way. #Winning
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- bostonsre 5y ago
  Yea, after dealing with the accidents and traffic seemingly every day on 101, having a short walk to work is just incredibly glorious and results in so much less stress. A nice couple block walk on water to an office in the morning is a pretty great way to start the day.
DevKoala 5y ago
I was renting an apartment in SF to be near the office and avoid the commute, but it just wasn’t the same. I missed my home and family. Eventually I decided I would arrive to the office at lunch time to avoid rush hour and leave at 8pm. That worked out much better for me. Now that I am fully remote, nothing will convince to ever set foot in an office again. I just rejected a position worth a raise in the six figures because management couldn’t commit to allow me working full time remote. I make that much extra just working on side projects with the free time I gain by staying at home.
- Seattle3503 5y ago
  I'm curious how you monetize your side projects.
  - DevKoala 5y ago
    I have a friend who has a huge contract with a manufacturing company that is publicly traded. Whenever I have the time I pick up some tasks from him. It allows me to work on WebGL which is a nice break from the data engineering/systems design work I do for my regular full time employer. I also have a crypto trading bot, but honestly, I stopped it recently due to the fact I wasn’t ready to deal with the volatility of the last few weeks.
Trias11 5y ago
I paid $4800 in SF to be 40 min. away
- vmception 5y ago
  boom got'em! I bet people told you that you had a short "reverse" commute and therefore lucky that it was only 40 minutes each direction!

ricci_curvature 5y ago

Don't forget having friends and a social life. Life is so much better now that I can sit in my house all day browsing 4chan.

dan-robertson 5y ago

On the other hand I can’t wait to get back to the office. Less work cleaning my own bathrooms or worrying about loo roll, getting reasonably nutritious good food for lunch and breakfast without needing to plan for it, 20m of exercise twice a day walking to/from work, the social interactions, being able to wear pants because the office has AC. The above is a little tongue in cheek but also true. I think it is important to acknowledge that different people have different lives and want different things. I can certainly imagine being in a situation where I would want to work remotely.

izolate 5y ago
I can see what you're getting at, but everything you described can be achieved by joining a coworking space. It boils down to this: a 100% remote policy doesn't rob you of what you need, but a 0% remote policy robs those of us who prefer WFH from what we need.
- weyland108 5y ago
  The co-working workspace has security implications. Also I think the current setup is working to a large extent because everyone is remote and playing field is even. It will be somewhat complicated after half the team is on-site and other half is not.
  - rStar 5y ago
    i’ll just continue to work for a company with the ability and desire to deal with those security issues, and whatever other problems my preferred way of working causes, since it makes me a happier and more productive employee. plus, in my experience, when you work from home, you don’t have to deal with an asshole control freak boss, since almost all of those don’t allow work from home in the first place, given a choice. ipso facto, one of the benefits of working from home is the opportunity to work under “better” management.
- spoonjim 5y ago
  Nothing "robs" you. Companies make choices, employees do too. There will be a mix of companies offering everything from on-site only to remote-only and if you're skilled enough you will be able to dictate the terms of your employment.

electricslpnsld 5y ago

> The bathrooms At my first job they were so crunched for space my desk in the open office was about ten feet from the entrance to the men’s bathroom. I got to quickly know everyone’s schedule, and knew I just had to leave my desk at certain times during the day due to certain coworkers… my manager was not happy when I cited that as my reason for quitting a few months in!

liveoneggs 5y ago
I had a similar setup where the bathrooms were in the office area (not in the hallway like normal) and the ladies had a double-door system but the mens was just door -> urinals (minimal walls/splash guards) so it was an all-day wang-fest for my whole row!
whoisburbansky 5y ago
Was your manager unhappy with you or the company?
- nsonha 5y ago
  Plot twist: unhappy with them for criticizing the manager's private matter
anitil 5y ago
> my manager was not happy when I cited that as my reason for quitting a few months in! If your manager was so unhappy I'm sure they would have been willing to swap desks with you and experience the - uh - ambience ...

cyberlurker 5y ago

Finally, validation! I hate the bathrooms at my work but everyone thinks I’m crazy when I complain.

philliphaydon 5y ago
One of the downsides to Asia is that there’s a small minority of people who use sitting toilets are squatting toilets. About 7 years ago I worked in a building where the offices all shared a bathroom with several other companies. We would always need to go to the 2nd or 4th floor if we needed to go #2 due to someone on the 3rd floor using the toilet to squat, which resulted in foot prints on the seat and $#!+ on the back of the toilet seat… Luckily they decided to tear down the building so we were forced to move. But that is the worst experience I’ve had. So you’re definitely not crazy haha Edit: nothing wrong with squatting toilets, just using a sitting toilet as a squatting toilet is the issue.
- axaxs 5y ago
  Ah, squatting toilets...reminds me of my first time in Japan. Was waiting to land so I could uh, unload. Finally deplaned, and hurried to the restroom. Saw what looked like a urinal buried sideways into the floor. As a tall person with bad knees, I cried inside and scurried away. It's just not something a person thinks about or assumes, does this country have toilets like mine? Oddly enough, by my second trip, that same bathroom(I assume, but can't be positive) had at least 2 functional western toilets, bidets and all. First time using one of those, and not what I'd describe as pleasant, but story for another time :). On another note... in my wife's country many people actually do use western toilets as squatting toilets. People typically have just a typical western bowl, with no tank or seat.
  - philliphaydon 5y ago
    I have a bidet. When I eventually move back to NZ I’m gonna make sure my house has one!
    - 5y ago

Trias11 5y ago

Imagine asking all the nicely dressed people on video zoom/webex call to stand up! lol

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jpseawell 5y ago

I wear khakis and a dress shirt just to put me in the working mood. No shoes or socks though.