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How to stop hating work? (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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For background on this topic without getting too specific, I'm an engineer and I typically work in an office. I'm younger and haven't been in the work force for long but working in office spaces is driving me insane.

Now I understand that work isn't supposed to be super fun, but I'd like to at least be able to tolerate it. So far I've spent a couple years in offices and it's been miserable. I enjoy what I do as far as engineering. I like the topics, I like the productive parts of what I do. But I cannot stand office spaces. They're uncomfortable and depressing environments for me.

I feel like spending time working from home would be ideal, but I'd like to hear people's thoughts and if anyone else has had this experience. Is it something you just get used to?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Things I like about working in an office:

I liked my coworkers
I liked going for random breaks to go walk somewhere or have lunch and get away from the desk

Things that sucked:

Constant noise and distractions
Small talk with people that I just don't want to spend the mental energy talking to
1.5 hours worth of commute time that just eats away at my day

I've been remote working since Covid first landed. I will happily trade all the things I liked about working in an office to never have to deal with the parts I don't like. If I can help it, I'll always choose remote work. I get so much done here at home in both work and home stuff. Oh I forgot to do laundry over the weekend, no biggie. Oh I need to marinate something, boom 10 minute break. Finished all my planned work for the day? Going to knock off early and go play a game or watch a show.

Remote work has transformed my life and I'll never go back to the office.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It's interesting because I don't mind some of those things. My commutes haven't been bad, they're 30 minutes out of my day and I enjoy the drive time. The small talk is minimal. And with noise I just put in earbuds.

My problem is more the uncomfy chair and desk setup, the lighting, the AC temp, just the general environment is not a productive one for me. Those things inhibit my work. Even just using the bathroom and having to tuck my shirt back in so I can walk back to my desk annoys me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The bathroom was pretty bad at our old building. We had 4 floors with a couple hundred people on each floor, but the men's room was just 2 urinals and 2 stalls for each floor. So if you needed that stall you often ended up having to go to multiple floors to find a bathroom stall that wasn't already occupied.

The lack of privacy in general too. We had short cubicles with your monitors facing outward so anyone could see what you were looking at at any given time. If I wanted to take a 10 minute break to look at some reddit (beehaw now) I'd often feel like I'm going to get caught and spoken to.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I feel the same. My back is always to the open room and it gives me anxiety about taking short breaks

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