What are you thinking about?

[swoosh]

I’m taking my talents to belgium and marrying olympian speed skater hanne desmet

[Heimdallr]

5 hours ago, JohnChimpo said:

I read that Jared Allen, Keith Bulluck, Michael Roos, and Marc Bulger have a curling team. Did they come anywhere near qualifying for the Olympics?

No. They didn't even qualify for the qualifying event. 

They are a decent beginner team, but they need 10-20 more years of experience before they'd be an actually competitive team. 

I could see Jared Allen being a decent lead (just for sweeping power) if he really spent a few years practicing nothing else, and had 3 real curlers to carry him, but you can't have a full team of rookies.

[Heimdallr]

edit: double post

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

I gotta post this somewhere and get it off my chest. 

I feel like this whole "never go back to the office! work from home forever!" movement is a complete sham lead by people who are awful workers/employees who also hate being around other people.

Here's my personal experience with this. Prior to the pandemic my company, which is a small little wing of a rather large corporation, had a great office culture similar to a startup. Brand new office, everything was wide open, giant cubicles, fully stocked food/drink fridges, weekly costco runs to stock us up on everything we could need. Break rooms, game rooms, ping pong tables - it was honestly great. The people were great, the office vibe was great, overall the culture was great!

Then the pandemic hit, and everything shifted remote. Of course, because we are software developers by nature, our jobs can be done completely remote. Now, two years later, many people in our office have moved away or are WFH full-time and never plan to come back into the office. When I do go in, there's maybe 3 people including myself there (in an office that supports 250+ people). It's a ghost town. No food, no drinks, just an empty office.

The culture we used to have is completely gone, and now this company and this job is just another job where you're on zoom calls for 4+ hours/day and never have to interact with any of your coworkers. Everything is impersonal and just so...bland? Depressing? Idk what to call it.

I'm in the process of training/mentoring a new hire and so we're both in the office just so he can shadow me, but damn do I feel bad that he doesn't get to experience the office culture we used to have. Instead, we're just both working in what feels like an abandoned building.

Which brings me back to this whole idea that working from home is this tremendous experience that should be the new thing, and I couldn't disagree with it more. I do see the benefits - I don't have to drive, I rarely have to get dressed at all, I spend a ton of time with my dogs, and I don't have to be around other people. However, I cannot count how many times I've seen people say or post articles saying "People who WFH are so much more productive!" and I just call complete 100% bull on that. When I'm at home, I have tons of distractions and no reason to be productive at all if I don't need to be, but when I'm in the office and it's just my cube and my computer, even if nobody else is there there's no distractions or anything keeping me from working - which I actually like.

WFH was great for the first like 2-3 months, and ever since then it's become really monotonous, boring, and lifeless. I've lost nearly all passion for my work and my job because there's just like no motivation or excitement in getting up, walking across the hall and sitting by myself at my desk for 8 hours/day doing zoom calls for other human interaction.

is this is really what people want to do forever?

[MWil23]

2 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

I gotta post this somewhere and get it off my chest. 

I feel like this whole "never go back to the office! work from home forever!" movement is a complete sham lead by people who are awful workers/employees who also hate being around other people.

Here's my personal experience with this. Prior to the pandemic my company, which is a small little wing of a rather large corporation, had a great office culture similar to a startup. Brand new office, everything was wide open, giant cubicles, fully stocked food/drink fridges, weekly costco runs to stock us up on everything we could need. Break rooms, game rooms, ping pong tables - it was honestly great. The people were great, the office vibe was great, overall the culture was great!

Then the pandemic hit, and everything shifted remote. Of course, because we are software developers by nature, our jobs can be done completely remote. Now, two years later, many people in our office have moved away or are WFH full-time and never plan to come back into the office. When I do go in, there's maybe 3 people including myself there (in an office that supports 250+ people). It's a ghost town. No food, no drinks, just an empty office.

The culture we used to have is completely gone, and now this company and this job is just another job where you're on zoom calls for 4+ hours/day and never have to interact with any of your coworkers. Everything is impersonal and just so...bland? Depressing? Idk what to call it.

I'm in the process of training/mentoring a new hire and so we're both in the office just so he can shadow me, but damn do I feel bad that he doesn't get to experience the office culture we used to have. Instead, we're just both working in what feels like an abandoned building.

Which brings me back to this whole idea that working from home is this tremendous experience that should be the new thing, and I couldn't disagree with it more. I do see the benefits - I don't have to drive, I rarely have to get dressed at all, I spend a ton of time with my dogs, and I don't have to be around other people. However, I cannot count how many times I've seen people say or post articles saying "People who WFH are so much more productive!" and I just call complete 100% bull on that. When I'm at home, I have tons of distractions and no reason to be productive at all if I don't need to be, but when I'm in the office and it's just my cube and my computer, even if nobody else is there there's no distractions or anything keeping me from working - which I actually like.

WFH was great for the first like 2-3 months, and ever since then it's become really monotonous, boring, and lifeless. I've lost nearly all passion for my work and my job because there's just like no motivation or excitement in getting up, walking across the hall and sitting by myself at my desk for 8 hours/day doing zoom calls for other human interaction.

is this is really what people want to do forever?

[Deadpulse]

Personally I think a hybrid model would be my preferred way to go. I do think productivity suffers WFH, at least in my industry, but not necessarily because of people being lazy or distracted at home but more because it is MUCH harder to coordinate with people when they  aren't in the same place as you.  I also think a 1 or 2 WFH work week would be a step in the direction of the proven 4 day work week model. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 minute ago, Deadpulse said:

Personally I think a hybrid model would be my preferred way to go. I do think productivity suffers WFH, at least in my industry, but not necessarily because of people being lazy or distracted at home but more because it is MUCH harder to coordinate with people when they  aren't in the same place as you.  I also think a 1 or 2 WFH work week would be a step in the direction of the proven 4 day work week model. 

My company is doing a hybrid model, but nobody wants to work in an office so that's where we are. I love the idea of 4-day work weeks with built in WFH days if you want, but I feel like losing the office model is going to kill productivity completely for various reasons one way or another. Like you said, it's so hard to coordinate with people. Like we have a zoom call every day for a standup meeting but after that it's just like "well I hope this person is doing what they're supposed to be doing..." until the next standup when we talk to them again.

[Matts4313]

14 hours ago, swoosh said:

I’m taking my talents to belgium and marrying olympian speed skater hanne desmet

This chick has one of those weird faces that looks like she could be 22 or 42 depending on how she did her hair/make up.

[Matts4313]

4 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

My company is doing a hybrid model, but nobody wants to work in an office so that's where we are. I love the idea of 4-day work weeks with built in WFH days if you want, but I feel like losing the office model is going to kill productivity completely for various reasons one way or another. Like you said, it's so hard to coordinate with people. Like we have a zoom call every day for a standup meeting but after that it's just like "well I hope this person is doing what they're supposed to be doing..." until the next standup when we talk to them again.

Ive done no research into this, but one of my clients is a district manager for a major tech company. He told me within his division, the cost have gone down and profits up since WFH. They just decided to lease out like 20,000ft of office space that had been previously used for cubicles due to them intending never to bring the guys back in office. 

 

Just giving a devils advocate POV. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Matts4313

[Deadpulse]

1 minute ago, Matts4313 said:

Ive done no research into this, but one of my clients is a district manager for a major tech company. He told me within his division, the cost have gone down and profits up since WFH. They just decided to lease out like 20,000ft of office space that had been previously used for cubicles due to them intending never to bring the guys back in office. 

 

Just giving a devils advocate POV. 

Profits up just because costs are down or is Revenue actually increasing in conjunction? 

I'd be curious to see if those cut costs continue to outweigh not being in person long term. When turnover hits a point where you have never met your manager or coworkers in person, your motivation to work and work hard is cut simply to your own dedication to your company. The idea of a team working together goes a LONG way in terms of productivity and QUALITY of work. 

[Matts4313]

21 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

Everything is impersonal and just so...bland? Depressing? Idk what to call it.

This part I agree with. I still own an office and my admin is there 9-5. But in terms of me going in - - its like once or twice a month. And being stuck at home IS depressing from time to time. Ill wake up an realize I havent cleaned the dishes or interacted with another human in days and just feel like a lazy POS. Whereas a couple years ago it was suit and ties, meeting with clients/wholesellers/co workers daily. Happy hours and lunches. An actual social life within the work place. 

 

If it wasnt going to the gym and rando dates, I would lose all social graces completely at this point. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Matts4313

[Matts4313]

1 minute ago, Deadpulse said:

Profits up just because costs are down or is Revenue actually increasing in conjunction? 

I'd be curious to see if those cut costs continue to outweigh not being in person long term. When turnover hits a point where you have never met your manager or coworkers in person, your motivation to work and work hard is cut simply to your own dedication to your company. The idea of a team working together goes a LONG way in terms of productivity and QUALITY of work. 

I didnt get into specifics, he was basically just bragging that Corona led to a fat bonus because his division was slaying it since all his employees started working from home. 

He did mention the daily zoom meetings and that each employee had to visit in-person with him at least once a week (he is still in office)... but outside of that he basically was in love with the new structure. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

28 minutes ago, Matts4313 said:

Ive done no research into this, but one of my clients is a district manager for a major tech company. He told me within his division, the cost have gone down and profits up since WFH. They just decided to lease out like 20,000ft of office space that had been previously used for cubicles due to them intending never to bring the guys back in office. 

 

Just giving a devils advocate POV. 

My company just had a record year in terms of profits and EBITDA, but I mean of course just within our little section the costs have gone way down because of the WFH thing so yeah it makes sense. We also have less employees than ever while having more work than ever.

Also, according to my W-2, despite getting a raise and bonus this past year my gross income went down about $6,000 so LMFAO to that.

23 minutes ago, Matts4313 said:

This part I agree with. I still own an office and my admin is there 9-5. But in terms of me going in - - its like once or twice a month. And being stuck at home IS depressing from time to time. Ill wake up an realize I havent cleaned the dishes or interacted with another human in days and just feel like a lazy POS. Whereas a couple years ago it was suit and ties, meeting with clients/wholesellers/co workers daily. Happy hours and lunches. An actual social life within the work place. 

 

If it wasnt going to the gym and rando dates, I would lose all social graces completely at this point. 

Yeah that's how I feel. I basically don't leave my house, like ever, in the winter because there's no sports going on, it's cold/dark all the time and yeah also the whole COVID thing. Like, I love going to the office simply because it gets me out of my own home nowadays lol I don't have to deal with my dogs for 8 hours and I just get to be in my own space away from home.

Edited February 8, 2022 by AFlaccoSeagulls

[D82]

I can’t wait to hopefully have a WFH job. Being able to work remotely would be awesome, enabling me to go to dog shows more often and actually be around my friends. 

Since moving to Texas, I literally have no friends locally. I don’t associate with anyone from work, most of my college classes are online, and the one that is in person…there’s really no socializing so no chance to get to know someone and build a relationship(s). 

It’s been a bummer. So having a job where I can work anywhere and get to more dog shows while getting paid? Sign me up.

[BullsandBroncos]

Man I love WFH. It enabled me to move to the oceanfront instead of being slightly north of Austin, which was fun about 5-8 years ago but has turned into a dump. 
 

South Padre is heaven and nobody knows about it or people just don't want to drive there from other parts of Texas.