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If I'm sat in a car There are other ways to commute. Commuting via train gave me a chance to go for a walk through parts of the city I'd otherwise not spend a

If I'm sat in a car There are other ways to commute. Commuting via train gave me a chance to go for a walk through parts of the city I'd otherwise not spend a lot of time in. Being stuck in suburban hell currently, working 100% from home is a nightmare scenario for me. Asshole neighbors. Constant noise (far worse than e.g. Oakland). Shit infrastructure (electric, telecom, whatever). And, in my experience, collaboration almost always suffers. One coworker used to work 100% from his man cave but also refused to invest in getting decent WiFi coverage down there. then it's also possible we're discussing the album that's playing, or a video game we both enjoyed, or a novel we're both reading. So? Even though HN has a hard on for eliminating human interaction, socialization is important. That said, Schmidt is wrong to pin Google's failures on remote work. Pichai is a fucking moron and Google's toxic culture is destroying both their ability to put out competitive products and to keep anything around long enough to get meaningful market share.

goshx 2y ago
> There are other ways to commute. There are better places to live. See what I did there? Not everyone has better options to commute.
- esalman 2y ago
  Better places might be more expensive.
  - dsq 2y ago
    True, but doesn't WFH solve that? There must be somewhere that's both good and cheap once you go far enough.
- inferiorhuman 2y ago
  There are better places to live. So? Going into the office makes a clear delineation between my personal and professional life. Working from home means I never get around to doing the things I need to do at home. Working from an office means I leave all (well, most) of that shit at the office. IOW, don't shit where you eat.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
andreiursan 2y ago
On other ways to commute: You assume that people who commute by car do so because they want to, instead of going by train. I don't think that is the case. On people who refused to get a good WFH setup (e.g., WiFi): I bet those are terrible people to work with in the office, too. & I agree with your last point.
- Rinzler89 2y ago
  >On people who refused to get a good WFH setup (e.g., WiFi): I bet those are terrible people to work with in the office, too. Huh? That's some crazy generalization Batman. Many people who rent have little control over their home office setups,. especially in a bad housing market.
- electronbeam 2y ago
  Often there are not other ways to commute
musicale 2y ago
Commutes can be great when they aren't crowded. But overcrowded trains and subways, highway traffic jams, and risk-your-life city cycling are commuting nightmares.
- NBJack 2y ago
  Or cities that have seen a uptick in crime but refuse to either fund security measures or empower the existing workers to do anything about it on mass transit. Seattle used to have a great transit setup between the busses and the light rail. But post Covid, the security and enforcement was scaled back dramatically, making it a real crap shoot on how safe a ride could be. This is slowly being recognized and changing [1], but I don't need the stress of being stabbed or shot each morning on the way to work. [1] https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sound-transit-beefing-up-security-after-numerous-violent-occurrences/RMHHBQAUCJFF7GUFFJNRZPFMEI/ https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sound-transit-beefing-up-se...
lnxg33k1 2y ago
I commuted every day in London, for 6 months, going to work in Croydon, from Blackfriars. It was the worst six months of my life, you make it sound like you're the only one commuting via train, every morning I would get covered in armpits, train delay, train canceled, people standing on top of each other.
- inferiorhuman 2y ago
  Croydon Well there's your problem.
  - lnxg33k1 2y ago
    Imagine going to Croydon while covered in Napalm
wordofx 2y ago
There’s no point in arguing with people on HN. The same people downvoting you are the same people who refuse to use AI because it’s “not perfect”. They would rather work from home and be made redundant and unemployable than be productive and valuable.
- genocidicbunny 2y ago
  No, the people arguing with the parent are the ones who have actual life experience of living in places where there's no reasonable access to public transit (read: most of the USA) and who aren't naive to think that everywhere is a perfect little urban world where you have usable choices in your method of transport. I live inside a major metro area. My closest public transit is a 10 minute drive by car, or a several hour walk by foot, and that's a 3x a day bus. If I wanted to actually access useful public transit, I would need to hike 3+ miles over about 1500' of elevation change, on roads with no sidewalks. And I'm in one of the most public transit friendly metro areas in the US.
  - wordofx 2y ago
    No. You make a choice to live far or unconvinced from your place of work. And that is totally fine. But it doesn’t change the fact you are less productive working from home than in the office. Can argue all you want but it doesn’t change the facts.
    - surgical_fire 2y ago
      You presented no facts. You presented some poorly worded opinions on questionable rationale and inferior vocabulary. In fact, there was this whole WFH experience some 4 years ago, and companies saw no loss in productivity. That is fact.
      - wordofx 2y ago
        Haha a few companies making bold claims it worked despite lost productivity and realising later that being in the office was more productive doesn’t align with your “fact”.
genocidicbunny 2y ago
> There are other ways to commute Really? Pray tell what other methods I would have to commute? The closest bus, train or subway service is about the same distance as driving to work with a car. Parking at work is also free, but I have to pay for parking at the bus stop, or the train stop, or the subway stop. Oh and there's no way to walk there because I would have to walk along the shoulder of a 4-lane highway where the speed limit is 65mph. So, how do I commute without a car?

goshx 2y ago

> There are other ways to commute. There are better places to live. See what I did there? Not everyone has better options to commute.

esalman 2y ago
Better places might be more expensive.
- dsq 2y ago
  True, but doesn't WFH solve that? There must be somewhere that's both good and cheap once you go far enough.
inferiorhuman 2y ago
There are better places to live. So? Going into the office makes a clear delineation between my personal and professional life. Working from home means I never get around to doing the things I need to do at home. Working from an office means I leave all (well, most) of that shit at the office. IOW, don't shit where you eat.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

andreiursan 2y ago

On other ways to commute: You assume that people who commute by car do so because they want to, instead of going by train. I don't think that is the case. On people who refused to get a good WFH setup (e.g., WiFi): I bet those are terrible people to work with in the office, too. & I agree with your last point.

Rinzler89 2y ago
>On people who refused to get a good WFH setup (e.g., WiFi): I bet those are terrible people to work with in the office, too. Huh? That's some crazy generalization Batman. Many people who rent have little control over their home office setups,. especially in a bad housing market.
electronbeam 2y ago
Often there are not other ways to commute

musicale 2y ago

Commutes can be great when they aren't crowded. But overcrowded trains and subways, highway traffic jams, and risk-your-life city cycling are commuting nightmares.

NBJack 2y ago
Or cities that have seen a uptick in crime but refuse to either fund security measures or empower the existing workers to do anything about it on mass transit. Seattle used to have a great transit setup between the busses and the light rail. But post Covid, the security and enforcement was scaled back dramatically, making it a real crap shoot on how safe a ride could be. This is slowly being recognized and changing [1], but I don't need the stress of being stabbed or shot each morning on the way to work. [1] https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sound-transit-beefing-up-security-after-numerous-violent-occurrences/RMHHBQAUCJFF7GUFFJNRZPFMEI/ https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/sound-transit-beefing-up-se...

lnxg33k1 2y ago

I commuted every day in London, for 6 months, going to work in Croydon, from Blackfriars. It was the worst six months of my life, you make it sound like you're the only one commuting via train, every morning I would get covered in armpits, train delay, train canceled, people standing on top of each other.

inferiorhuman 2y ago
Croydon Well there's your problem.
- lnxg33k1 2y ago
  Imagine going to Croydon while covered in Napalm

wordofx 2y ago

There’s no point in arguing with people on HN. The same people downvoting you are the same people who refuse to use AI because it’s “not perfect”. They would rather work from home and be made redundant and unemployable than be productive and valuable.

genocidicbunny 2y ago
No, the people arguing with the parent are the ones who have actual life experience of living in places where there's no reasonable access to public transit (read: most of the USA) and who aren't naive to think that everywhere is a perfect little urban world where you have usable choices in your method of transport. I live inside a major metro area. My closest public transit is a 10 minute drive by car, or a several hour walk by foot, and that's a 3x a day bus. If I wanted to actually access useful public transit, I would need to hike 3+ miles over about 1500' of elevation change, on roads with no sidewalks. And I'm in one of the most public transit friendly metro areas in the US.
- wordofx 2y ago
  No. You make a choice to live far or unconvinced from your place of work. And that is totally fine. But it doesn’t change the fact you are less productive working from home than in the office. Can argue all you want but it doesn’t change the facts.
  - surgical_fire 2y ago
    You presented no facts. You presented some poorly worded opinions on questionable rationale and inferior vocabulary. In fact, there was this whole WFH experience some 4 years ago, and companies saw no loss in productivity. That is fact.
    - wordofx 2y ago
      Haha a few companies making bold claims it worked despite lost productivity and realising later that being in the office was more productive doesn’t align with your “fact”.

genocidicbunny 2y ago

> There are other ways to commute Really? Pray tell what other methods I would have to commute? The closest bus, train or subway service is about the same distance as driving to work with a car. Parking at work is also free, but I have to pay for parking at the bus stop, or the train stop, or the subway stop. Oh and there's no way to walk there because I would have to walk along the shoulder of a 4-lane highway where the speed limit is 65mph. So, how do I commute without a car?