I can’t believe it’s already been over a year since we were all in the office together. I remember the last day in the office like it was yesterday. For lunch, I had fish that I microwaved in the office kitchen. Leftover fish reheated in a microwave specifically located in the office kitchen that I share with all of you, my coworkers, is one of my favorite meals of all time. Old microwaved fish just doesn’t taste the same when I’m not sharing the absolutely rank aroma of this frequent meal with everyone I spend eight hours a day with. Of course, there were a lot of things wrong with the world in the past year, but this was definitely the worst part about it.
What is the point of having a job, really, if I can’t subject everyone I work with to deal with the afternoon odors of the nasty lunches I eat? What about the ones I forgot about and let sit to rot away in the back of the shared office fridge? Sure, I have let food go bad in my own home this past year (a ton of food to be precise), but the feeling just isn’t the same—I can no longer say, “Wow, it sure stinks in the fridge! I wonder whose lunch went bad?” and having the receptionist clean it up while I feigned ignorance.
With things going back to normal, it’s only a matter of time until management is going to make us come back to the office, and only a matter of time until we can just throw “social distancing guidelines” out the window. Be certain that when we’re all back in the office I’m going to go right back to standing as close as I possibly can (without getting another write-up to HR) to everyone I talk to. I’m going to be so close that you’re going to be able to smell the coffee and onion combo in my breath as I say things like, “How is it already Friday? This week sure has flown by!”
It’s these kinds of things that really make life worth living. Having to work from home gave me a new opportunity to spend more quality time with my family, but that just doesn’t feel quite as good as hanging out with you all, my coworkers, who are contractually obligated to share a space with me. You guys are more of a family to me than my own family, if I’m going to be honest. Going back to the office, I will finally be able to be my true self again. And by true self, I really mean being an absolute menace in an enclosed space for 40 hours a week.
Nothing makes me feel more alive than doing the daily grind with a fantastic team of people who all love me as much as I love them. The late nights, the micromanaging, the obligatory happy hours—this is what being a human being is all about. Soon, we’ll all be together in the office once again making memories and smelling the foulest smells coming from the fish I just microwaved in the office kitchen.