A New Chapter in the Office Saga

 

It's Wednesday, which means I'm in the office.  Because it's important that I be in the office, right?  (If you need to catch up:  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2022/09/new-weekly-routine.html, which is really the start of the whole process...sort of.)  As a side note, the express bus was EARLY this morning and while I gave myself enough time to get to the stop based on the time that it was supposed to arrive at my location, when I checked on my walk down, what should have been a bus arriving in 15 minutes was now arriving in 7.  Good thing I wore old loafers as I did a modified "run" (I'm NOT a runner) downhill and managed to get to the stop with 4 minutes to spare...This express bus thing can be a challenge.  It also requires more walking, but it takes me DIRECTLY to Penn Station in Newark and if I purchase a Flex Pass (20 one-way trips to be used in 30 days) it will be cheaper than what I am currently doing.  Of course that means that I'd have to be in the office for 10 days during any given month so until now it hasn't been an option, but...

I can't recall if I wrote about it (I MUST have...I always do!), but we were told earlier in the year, that we were "requested" to return to the office 3 days a week (vs the one that we are currently doing).  This return was supposed to begin in "early May".  Well, last year they brought up the return to the office one day a week and then didn't really “require" (although nothing is technically "required", but...) it until after Labor Day.  So when they said the beginning of May...well I was thinking if I was lucky, it would be over the summer and if I wasn't it would be mid-May.  I was wrong.  Early May means as of MAY 1.  

This was announced on April 25th (nothing like giving you a heads up) and it is EXPECTED (I can't use the word "required" officially) that starting Monday everyone will be in the office 3 days a week.  (And aren't we lucky that we don't HAVE to go in every single day?  Am I feeling lucky?)

The "good" thing is that other than Wednesday (which is a must), I get to "select" whatever days I want to work in the office.  Those days don't always have to be the same (again, except for Wednesday), so I can go in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (which is what I think I will do next week) or Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ...or any other 3-day combination I want.  (You'll notice I've left out Friday...if I can at all avoid it, I don't want to go to Newark on Friday, especially as we get into the warmer months.)  

But wait there's more!  (As they say in those ubiquitous commercials.)  When I come in on Monday (or Tuesday if for some reason this Monday doesn't work out), I will NOT be going to the little workstation that I have been sitting in (and personalizing the "Bfth way") since September of last year.  No, I, along with my co-worker (currently on my left side) and my boss (currently on my left nearest the window) will be moving down 7 rows (from Section 420 to 416) to the "northern" section of the building.  (I am currently sitting in a more centralized area.)  This places me further away from the kitchen area, ladies’ room, help desk and elevators.  Why is this move being made?  So that I can be closer to other "teammates."  (People who I have never met face to face and rarely interact with, but...) It will also put all of us in sight of the bigger boss (two steps up from my manager) who will be moving from the (cool kid) 3rd floor to our floor.  While his office doesn't have a window, it does allow him to look out, past the worker bees, to see the outdoors.  It also means he can interact with us more.  (Let me be clear, he is a nice man, but he is a TALKER.  To be completely honest, most of what he talks about, I don't care about [sorry!] and he can be a distraction when I am busy.)  Personally, I think this is all just a way to better monitor who is in the office and when.  As I see it, the corporation spent big bucks renting and renovating this space and they need bodies in chairs to prove that it was worth the investment.  (My opinion:  it wasn't.)  Productivity and "being better when we're together" is...do I have to say it?  As always, most of the people I deal with on a regular basis I never see.  (And in some cases I never have met face to face.)  They are field salespeople (who don't have an official office and production people (who work in other parts of the country).  So...

Come Monday morning, I'll be going to my new space.  (My "stuff" is already packed in the small little portable drawer space that we have each been given and ready to roll down the aisle.) The very first thing I will do will be to set up MY space (because if I have to be there, I'm going to make it MINE as best as I can) and doing what I always do.  (In my personal opinion, I do it better from home because with no commute I am online longer.)  Let the fun begin again!