Please don’t make me go back: Some of the reasons I hope work from home continues and I never have to return to an office

 
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I just hope my employer continues to allow me to work remotely.

Working from home I:

  • Have been exceeding production for the past year

  • Don't have to share a keyboard/mouse/desk with another shift (gross).

  • Do not spend an hour a day(+/- 10 minutes) driving, and save all the money associated with that commute.

  • Do not have to worry about driving on snowy/icy roads as my job requires us to be there unless there is a county emergency making travel by road illegal.

  • Do not have to go to work sick, because they act like you murdered 30 children if you call in sick. I can work comfortably while isolated from my coworkers.

  • Do not have to be exposed to multiple sick coworkers at any given time.

  • Do not have to fight 100-130 people for 1 of 3 microwaves on my 30-minute lunch break, assuming someone hasn't taken my food out of the refrigerator and eaten it/thrown it away/left it sitting out to make room for theirs.

  • Do not have to use a restroom that, with frequency (to the point of multiple times over the years management threatening supervised restroom usage for adults), has boogers/urine/feces/blood on the floors/wall/toilet seats.

  • Pack into a noisy open office where I can't focus as people are constantly talking, walking by, burning popcorn, microwaving ox tail and greens that smell worse than burnt popcorn.

  • Deal with ear-damaging fire drills, cram into tiny offices with 20 co-workers for tornado drills/warnings.

  • Deal with an HVAC system that regularly gifts temperatures in the mid-60s Fahrenheit in the winter and mid-80s Fahrenheit in the summer inside the office where business casual is required.

  • Drink milky-white water from the tap AFTER it comes out of a filter that has algae growing in the transparent tube feeding the faucet.

  • Deal with coworkers damaging vehicles. Just about everyone's car has multiple door dings. Personally, I have no less than 1 dozen that, I know for a fact, occurred at work.

  • Have to deal with random coworkers coming to my desk/cornering me at the urinal and blabbing incessantly about their divorce/kids/wife's boyfriend/vet bill, this was a regular occurrence in person and has happened exactly once via teams since work from home started.

  • Don’t have to breathe jet exhaust that inevitably makes its way into our building through the cracks around the doors that you can pass multiple pieces of paper through.

  • Can be here to sign for packages.

  • Can eat healthier because I have an entire kitchen at my disposal during my half-hour lunch.

  • Am far more likely to work overtime when needed as I’m saving an hour commuting!

  • Don’t need to spend tens of seconds inspecting the toilet seat and/or constructing an elaborate ring of squares to ease my mind if I need to poop.

  • Don’t have to wear business casual.

  • Don’t have a desk and chair forced upon me, instead, I have the freedom to pick a desk and chair that I like, that fits my needs.