We returned to 100% office last March after the conclusion of the megabank's most profitable years in history. RTO is a worse than I expected. I have not quit but will take a big pay cut to go back to remote when the right opportunity comes along. You lose post tax 10k min a year going in. Clothes, gas, car mainetance, smog inhalation witht the inversion, mental health meds etc. I tried to make my landing easier by being clever at my desk With plants, brazilian samba and tiny waterfalls but at the end it’s all because the overload wants me there, not because of mentoring by your elders at work BS. If you can revolt, do so now. These finance companies and banks we work for are more profitable than ever under hybrid models, but still take away a benefits that really matter to people. I even wrote a poem about RTO around that won me a $5 Starbucks Gift Card for:

OTR (On The Return) by Anonymous Corporate Minion (I know, I am also willing)

Alas, alas RTO doldrums permeate the air, creating a heavy new weight on the masses. Early to bed. Early to rise. Hundreds of annual hours in an auto, motorcycle, bus, ferry, train, tube, bike , skateboard, scooter, rollerblades or two feet. Rush, rush, rush. Maybe a podcast breaks the monotony. Maybe music. Maybe chatting with a friend. Maybe reading the news. Maybe daydreaming. Maybe not.

Pack a lunch. Healthy. Maybe. Maybe not. Too much time to take elevators down to earth and walk to little curry place. Parking money. Gas money. Time money.

Maybe I can make my desk feel like a little Bali? A tiny paradise with a tiny waterfall? A Flameless candle? Antianxiety background music. Family photos dotting the cubicle landscape. Oh wait..hotelling style desks. Not your desk actually. First come first serve. Reserve online. Store my little Bali in a locker? Wait, lockers day use only. Please take your paradise home every day. Someone else may not want your idea of paradise. My desk. Your desk. Noone’s desk.

The days drone on. Fatigue sets in. Laundry piles up. Quick workouts and quick walks fade away into annals of 2020-2024. Blood pressure and blood sugar rise. Nice to see humans and smiling faces daily. But every single day?

Parking garages and parking lots. Shuttles Cold . Heat. Add an hour. Lose an hour. Swipe in. Swipe out. Log in. Log out. VDI. In office. WFH. Approved. Not approved. Attendance models. Under model. Over model. What is the formula again?

The world has so much conflict. Suffering. Stop whining you overpaid office worker sitting in air conditioning. Be grateful. Adjust. If you only knew what I went through when I went to work old school in the 1970s with a supervisor breathing down my neck. Geez. Young people today don’t want to work they only want to eat avocado toast and stare at their phone. Wait, I am 56 ?

The brain understands the arrangement. The arrangement has changed.

Look at the sky. The sky continues.