This guy was commuting three hours per day?! Yeah, no wonder his quality of life improved after he stopped doing that. Unfortunately, I don’t think his experience is going to be very generalizable because most people don’t have a commute length that extreme.
I have a personal theory that a lot of complaints about working in-person go away when you remove very long commutes, in particular by car.
A bit like how most complaints about pull requests go away if you make it a priority to get them done as fast as possible.
My personal theory is that a lot of advocacy for working in-person goes away when you remove:
- People that financially benefit from office culture (office land lords, restaurants near office buildings, janitorial services, etc.)
- Social vampires that view the office as the best place to gossip and share their boring personal lives with a captive audience
- Managers and executives with poor leadership skills and low self esteem
There are other aspects of working remote that go beyond the extra time gained from not commuting. Like not getting interrupted with useless conversations, or distracted by the noise when you need to concentrate or being more comfortable in your own space.
Also what’s the point of going to work in the office if you are just going to have a bunch of meetings online anyway?
Yeah, my commute was 10 minutes by car or 15 by bike. Working from home saves me very little time and money. I even have to wake up earlier to make sure I get coffee, since I can no longer get a cup at work.
It takes you more than 10 minutes to make a cup of shitty office coffee at home?
Your job is so strict that you can’t afford to step away from your computer for the 10 minutes it takes you to start a coffee pot, go back to work, and then step away again to get the coffee when it’s ready?
Yes, and yes.
Takes about 15 to brew a pot. And my employer requires me to “punch out” for even bathroom brakes. (Not unpaid, but status: restroom)
