In this installment of “Mind Wandering At Home During The Pandemic” we asked the question:
Do you really miss the office or just miss leaving the office?
The things we miss about the office are not really office-related. While it is true, we miss the group whiteboarding strategy sessions in the conference room, we do not miss them enough to risk the safety of our fellow coworkers and their families. We are lucky to have the choice to work remotely.
Here is a list of office only activities that really are not office related. In fact, this list more closely resembles activities related to work that get amalgamized under the umbrella of “things that happen while in the office.” But that is too nerdy to put on a t-shirt.
- Going to lunch with a coworker or clients.
- Listening to podcasts during the commute to and from work or with headphones at your desk when you really don’t want to be bothered, but Judy isn’t using headphones in the next room on her conference call and we might as well be sitting in on her meeting.
- Happy hour at the shitty wine bar (or any bar for that matter).
- Knocking off early because your last call canceled.
- Abstract debates citing government-funded research comparing the health benefits of flavored bubbly water versus diet soda. Answer: they are the same thing.
- Holiday office parties.
- Meeting with clients in the office or at a coffee shop.
- Whiteboarding strategy sessions focused on dominating the slow division church league basketball draft.
- Not erasing whiteboard strategy sessions for months. We just meet in another room with a clean whiteboard or erase a whiteboard session that has surpassed the unwritten statute of limitations.
- Staying at work a little too long because we just don’t want to go home and start our second jobs.
What do you miss about the office that is and is not work related?
