# Having to go back to the office is not employer abuse, and certain entitled people should stop whining as such **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 8, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810 "2021-06-08T01:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/1 "2021-06-08T01:40:59Z")
I do not know what the general sentiment is here. In real life, with friends and family, I’ve found that most people are pretty reasonable about this topic, but my rant here is more in response to the sentiments I’ve been seeing a lot lately on Reddit. There are just so many posts and comments on Reddit complaining about having to go back to the office as if it’s abuse. They think that their resistance is to go back is a legitimate labor movement, which is just laughable. I’m not even one to side with corporations versus employees. In fact, it is usually otherwise the case. I have sharply criticized corporations for treating employees as disposable, layoffs, at-will dynamics, ridiculous hiring methods, poor benefits, various forms of discrimination, etc. And even when it comes to blue collar work, I’ll criticize things like corporations not keeping their employees adequately safe from hazardous materials or other violations of ethical labor practices. I’m saying this because, however, there are certain people that think one must _always_ side with the employees and never the corporations no matter the issue or how unreasonable the request. Otherwise, you’re a Boomer. That’s the sentiment on Reddit. And this is an area where I do not side with the employees, but with the corporations instead. I can understand being called back to work 5 days a week in the office might be a bit too rigid, but many employees are whining so heavily on just partially being called back (3 days in the office and 2 days working from home), for example, Apple. I say this from the perspective of someone who is pretty prissy actually, hates being uncomfortable, and has recently entered a very cushy, stable, and high-paying career path in the office. I think these people are incredibly entitled, whiny, and spoiled. There are guys out there busting their ass in construction and low-wage service jobs where they get very minimal break. They have to always be on their feet and aren’t able to make themselves comfortable at work at all. They have very little flexibility. In fact, I noticed this during college when I transitioned from working as a bagger in a grocery store to working part-time in an office for an internship program - immediately how luxurious working in an office was. It was like a completely different level of treatment. You can make yourself super comfortable at your desk, you get to sit in a comfy chair, it’s climate-controlled, you have the break room at your full convenience, and you have so much flexibility in when you get things done. There is so much downtime and not at all the situation whereas in blue collar or service jobs, you have to constantly be working if you’re not on break or else you get yelled at. Working in an office is so luxurious, and working 40 hours a week in such an environment is not unreasonable at all. Such working conditions are excellent and not at all abusive. I think it is exceptionally spoiled beyond my comprehension how much people, on Reddit at least, complain about office jobs when it’s probably the best working conditions one will see, and even that, in First World countries. Forget about whatever is going on in Third World countries. Yet, we have people making well into six figures acting as if they’re being treated unfairly by coming back to the office, and not only that, but their complaints are so petty. Boo fucking hoo, that you have to smell a coworker’s fish in the microwave for a minute. Oh poor you, you had to endure a minute of mildly annoying conversation a coworker made by the watercooler. Oh the worst that your manager checked on you once in the day to make sure you were on track and if you needed help with anything. Like I said, I’m quite prissy myself I will admit, but this is on a completely different level of not being able to tolerate mild discomfort or inconvenience. Yet, they act like it’s the worst thing in the world if these things happen, and it’s these sorts of reasons they primarily give for not wanting to go back. I think many of these people are just asocial or something. I’m not even the most extroverted. In fact, in many cases, I’m often quite busy with my things and want to be left alone, but none of the above complaints even occurred to me as something to whine about in the context of not going back to the office. There are people actually suffering out there, having to work near minimum wage multiple jobs with no health insurance and they actually physically have to constantly work no matter their discomfort level. So forgive me, if I feel like telling some software developer making $150,000 with excellent benefits to shut the fuck up and stop being a pussy when he complains about how awful office jobs are. It’s just an exceptional level of classism and entitlement that I’d never imagined I would see become mainstream as it has today. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/2 "2021-06-08T01:46:58Z")
As a blue collar worker, I second this rant. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/3 "2021-06-08T01:48:57Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > Working in an office is so luxurious, and working 40 hours a week in such an environment is not unreasonable at all. Such working conditions are excellent and not at all abusive. I think it is exceptionally spoiled beyond my comprehension how much people, on Reddit at least, complain about office jobs when it’s probably the best working conditions one will see, and even that, in First World countries. Reading the o.p. just keeps making me flash back to _Trading Places_: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gAq3jjc-Wv4/maxresdefault.jpg "Trading Places, We are Commodity Brokers") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAq3jjc-Wv4) My office does not look like that. Notwithstanding how “luxurious” the office environment may or may not be, the inconvenience of having to commute, pack a lunch or go out for a meal for lunch, arrange child care, et cetera are real complaints, especially for jobs for which there is no real need to be ‘on site’ for the entire workday. Even pre-pandemic, the majority of my meetings were by phone because of how dispersed our workforce and customer is, and working from home has proven far more convenient, particularly since I’m often on-call well into the evening or have to support meetings well before normal office hours. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/4 "2021-06-08T01:54:24Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > So forgive me, if I feel like telling some software developer making $150,000 with excellent benefits to shut the fuck up and stop being a pussy when he complains about how awful office jobs are. For sure! Are you gonna go do that, though? Because you seem to have come here to respond to posts you’ve seen on Reddit. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/5 "2021-06-08T01:55:45Z")
I think it really depends on why the company is insisting people come back to the office. Is it just a power move, because they never liked working from home in the first place, and they want it to stop, because they have to justify these billion dollar campuses by putting butts in chairs? Too bad, that’s not a good reason to be back in the office. Is it because many interactions are much easier if people can all be in a room together, and there just isn’t any replacement for face to face interactions, and they want to bring that back? Yeah, that’s a good reason to make people come into the office. Does the company have real (not made up to win an argument) data showing that working from home decreased productivity? That’s another good reason. ---
**Author:** ![CorpusNeptune](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corpusneptune/32/17561_2.png) [@CorpusNeptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CorpusNeptune)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/6 "2021-06-08T01:59:00Z")
“What? You’re telling me that I have to actually dress nice and drive to an office to work? That is so abusive! I should revolt!” -People, apparently ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/7 "2021-06-08T02:04:34Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > I think it is exceptionally spoiled beyond my comprehension how much people, on Reddit at least, complain about office jobs when it’s probably the best working conditions one will see, and even that, in First World countries. Forget about whatever is going on in Third World countries. I think most people realized that office jobs are at best the second best working conditions one will see and personally, I’d place it third or fourth on my list. I got out of the office job hell almost a decade ago and I wouldn’t go back for less than 7 figures. Getting a taste of something nice and then having to give it up is harder than never experiencing it at all. Are there worse jobs then having to go into an office and make 6 figures? Of course. Does that mean that getting a better job and then having to go back to a worse job isn’t a reason to bitch? Not at all. By the way the best jobs are light manual labor with lots of thinking like some kinds of farming or brewing/distilling/wine making. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/8 "2021-06-08T02:06:28Z")
Out of curiosity, where did you go to work after your last office job? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/9 "2021-06-08T02:08:58Z")
Working from home isn’t an option for me. But I wish those that can to keep doing it bc one thing I didn’t hate about this pandemic was the traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/10 "2021-06-08T02:09:41Z")
I work from home / on location with my clients as do my employees. We had a office but gave it up during COVID. It was an attempt to have us all in one location but we only used it for 4 months and it was so much better before or after the office. ETA: I didn’t answer your question I went from my last really office job to working from home when I started consulting. After a year I started a distillery and worked from there, then after two years I went back to working from home which I did until shortly before COVID. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/11 "2021-06-08T04:01:55Z")
… and the distillery? Still around? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/12 "2021-06-08T05:41:52Z")
Offices aren’t obsolete, they just need to evolve. As in for many jobs modern technology has made it so that people don’t need account for every moment of their time and location, as long as assigned tasks are done. The pandemic has just put that in sharp relief. ---
**Author:** ![Enjoy\_Slurm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enjoy_slurm/32/3937_2.png) [@Enjoy\_Slurm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enjoy_Slurm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/13 "2021-06-08T05:51:07Z")
> [@CorpusNeptune](#): > > “What? You’re telling me that I have to actually dress nice and drive to an office to work? That is so abusive! I should revolt!” > > -People, apparently “But then I won’t have anyone to micromanage and then every one will realize how useless and pointless I am and then I’ll be out of a job.” -Managers, apparently " ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/14 "2021-06-08T06:22:32Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > Working in an office is so luxurious, You were doing fine until this. Unless you’re used to living in a van down by the river, a cube farm is in no way “luxurious”. The one thing this pandemic has taught us spoiled children is that not only do we not need to be in the office to be productive, we also don’t need to fly around the country to meet the customers. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/15 "2021-06-08T06:37:11Z")
It has also taught managers that they can ask for their workers to do client conferences at 9:30pm, without the corresponding wisdom that if someone is working from home, they don’t mind doing so, since they probably had dinner with the spouse and spent time with their kids but office drones do. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/16 "2021-06-08T08:42:18Z")
As someone who has worked this entire pandemic as a night auditor, which includes interacting with guests, my reaction to “oh noes! Must return to the office!” is: boohoo. Cry me a river. I’m running into returning co-workers doing this and again…cry me a river. I understand that it is scary coming back but don’t wail about it to those who **were** here. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/17 "2021-06-08T08:50:23Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > As a blue collar worker, I second this rant. Third ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/18 "2021-06-08T10:11:47Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The one thing this pandemic has taught us spoiled children is that not only do we not need to be in the office to be productive, we also don’t need to fly around the country to meet the customers. Productivity and effectiveness are not measured in isolation, they are measured in comparison. If your competitor meets the customer face to face while you meet over a Zoom from your home office, are you still seen as equally effective from their standpoint? I’m very much an advocate for a partial return to the office, because I worked from home for a decade, and it ultimately did not work out for me. I can do it, but I like the office better, I feel more connected to the company and less isolated in the office. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/19 "2021-06-08T10:22:14Z")
So the blue collars advocating for the OP, is your thinking “if I have to suffer, so should you?” Bc that seems pretty god damned petty. Especially when you consider less people commuting to work is better for the environment. I say this as a blue collar worker myself. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810/20 "2021-06-08T10:23:47Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > I understand that it is scary coming back but don’t wail about it to those who **were** here. 18th century: Holier than Thou 21st century: Officier than Thou [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-to-go-back-to-the-office-is-not-employer-abuse-and-certain-entitled-people-should-stop-whining-as-such/943810.md?page=2)