Atlanta office ghost towns wait and wait and wait for workers’ to return (credit, house)

[brownhornet]

Don't get me wrong, I definitely had some people at the office that I was cool with. We still communicate outside of work though. But the rest? Man.. I had to prep myself mentally before I walked in there everyday. Covid really made me realize just how much I did not like a traditional job having to sit in an office for 8 hours. It certainly didn't help that the first thing they did was figure out a way to protect themselves from covid lawsuits in setting up a system where you have to sign a waiver just to get onto the property. And it was NOWHERE near safe on the inside because people were in cubicles and management were those "it's just the flu" types so they never took it seriously from the start. The thought of putting my life in those folks hands?? Nope. They didn't even care about themselves.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

My position is now permanently work from home. I will never go back to the office again. A lot of people, seemingly those with kids, that work with me are the main ones that miss the office. And I get it, really it was their break to get away from home. Same as all of the folks continually trying to rush the schools back open before they should be... people tired of not being able to get rid of their kids for some "me" time. Aside from those though, my days transformed from waking up, getting dressed, sitting in traffic, going into an office and being fake happy around a bunch of people I didn't particularly like and a manager that I wanted to punch in the face every time I saw him to.. rolling out of the bed, taking a nice walk around the neighborhood, telling Alexa to make my coffee, and sitting down at my desk that's built half way for gaming/streaming (which I also started due to the pandemic) and half way for my work station. I get to work at my own pace and not having a bored manager constantly circling us to see what we're working on is lovely. My blood pressure dropped and i'm able to focus on cooking more since I start most of my meals early and just put em in the slow cooker and let it do what it does. I also started my own business so for now, the gig is just to prop me up financially anyways.

Congratulations, brownhornet!! Way to go!

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

Don't get me wrong, I definitely had some people at the office that I was cool with. We still communicate outside of work though. But the rest? Man.. I had to prep myself mentally before I walked in there everyday. Covid really made me realize just how much I did not like a traditional job having to sit in an office for 8 hours. It certainly didn't help that the first thing they did was figure out a way to protect themselves from covid lawsuits in setting up a system where you have to sign a waiver just to get onto the property. And it was NOWHERE near safe on the inside because people were in cubicles and management were those "it's just the flu" types so they never took it seriously from the start. The thought of putting my life in those folks hands?? Nope. They didn't even care about themselves.

Wow, what jerks. No wonder you felt the way you did!

So glad you're away from that mess, sounds like 1970 as well.

[Humanista]

Originally Posted by markjames68

Doggy day care, sure. But I can’t see the need for day care going away.

Imagine trying to get work done when your infant or toddler keeps on interrupting you. It’d just be like “bring your kid to work day” but every day.

Once the kids become tweens or teens I agree, you won’t need after care, but younger children can’t effectively be watched by a parent who is trying to focus and work.

My pups have been going to Doggy Daycare since March 2020 when I started WFH and they are not the only ones. I know the boarding business wasn't as great for doggy daycares this year, but day care seems to be relatively strong.

I send the pups so that they get exercise and socialize and they have been going all their lives. Also, I am on video calls all day long sometimes and it helps not having the pups bark at traffic outside, the UPS persona, walkers, etc. My company probably won't entertain a return to the office until 3Q, but regardless, the pups will be going to daycare...

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

There's also the fact, you have about 40 million people that are only still in their places because of the rent moratorium. They keep extending it but my guess is landlords will not recover most of that money.. if any of it. And then, what do the renters do if they stop extending it? Either way, there definitely will be no "going back to" afterwards. There will be a new normal.

Well, that's one thing I'm getting at... the eviction moratorium is doing is preventing a collapse in rent. A lot of landlords don't seem to understand this, that in the short term it's keeping them afloat, because they still can collect the pre-COVID rent rates from those who can still pay. If some had gotten their way and had all of the people evicted that couldn't pay rent, there would have been a collapse in rent that would have cascaded across the whole economy. Right now, that's not happening, but when those restrictions are lifted, it may yet.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by Humanista

My pups have been going to Doggy Daycare since March 2020 when I started WFH and they are not the only ones. I know the boarding business wasn't as great for doggy daycares this year, but day care seems to be relatively strong.

I send the pups so that they get exercise and socialize and they have been going all their lives. Also, I am on video calls all day long sometimes and it helps not having the pups bark at traffic outside, the UPS persona, walkers, etc. My company probably won't entertain a return to the office until 3Q, but regardless, the pups will be going to daycare...

They’re great for dogs who like to socialize. BTW, take a look at Krisp.ai for muting background noise on video calls. They have a free tier so if you’re on a critical call you don’t have to worry about dogs barking.

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

Right. I work for a company that built a nice new HQ in Sept of 2019. If they go back permanently like 2 days/wk, that's still too little to justify ever opening the cafeteria again for instance. What company can swallow their pride after investing that kind of money and say "we don't need the cafeteria we just built....ever again."

This cuts 2 ways, think of the 8 to 10 people needed to run the cafeteria each day? These jobs are never coming back, along with the several security people employed by the company.

There are a lot of facility jobs which will also be going away.

[markjames68]

Originally Posted by bellhead

This cuts 2 ways, think of the 8 to 10 people needed to run the cafeteria each day? These jobs are never coming back, along with the several security people employed by the company.

There are a lot of facility jobs which will also be going away.

And also if you factor in a potential $15 an hour Federal minimum wage they really, really will be going away.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by markjames68

And also if you factor in a potential $15 an hour Federal minimum wage they really, really will be going away.

Hadnt really thought of that but all things considering, this could be pretty likely now.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by markjames68

And also if you factor in a potential $15 an hour Federal minimum wage they really, really will be going away.

Originally Posted by brownhornet

Hadnt really thought of that but all things considering, this could be pretty likely now.

I'll bet my life savings that a $15/hr federal minimum wage isn't going to happen under the current administration.

Much ado about nothing.