I’ve bought a couple pairs of pants as I lose weight, but that’s about it. I already had plenty of comfortable clothing due to working 2-3 days from home pre-pandemic, with less video interaction than the pandemic has forced upon me. I have definitely gone and changed shirts before a meeting, and then changed again after the meeting since I have no desire to sit around in business casual.
Me too! Except a different winter.
And, I agree.
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I’m in socks and slippers right now.
Slippers, so as not to ruin the socks so fast.
Socks, so as not to stink up the slippers.
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I still wear t-shirts that are decades-old.
My business-casual-polo-shirts are probably 5-10 years old.
Except for the fact that I’m out growing my pants, those will probably last decades.
I haven’t purchased clothes in 5-10 years and probably won’t do so until retirement when I can just keep wearing all of the free t-shirts I get for participating in activities.
Is something wrong with me?
You guys are out there stimulating the economy and I’m still wearing late-1990s fashions.
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To each his own.
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hey, wanna come over 
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I see you’re still keeping your options open.
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just like my legs
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Just got the back to office email this week targeting 4/11 as the return for everyone. We are moving to a hybrid where they want you in the office at least 3 days a week. I told my boss that I would be closer to 2 days a week and he didn’t care, and I told my 3 reports that I don’t care how many days they go in (2 are not local, so I never would seem them anyway, so its all the same to me if they are office or home).
While I miss the chit chat and seeing people at an office, I do feel like I am more productive at home. I probably work at least an extra 1/2 hour most days since I now work during what were commute times. And I also don’t have the random run-ins in the hallways where you chat about inane things for 10-20 minutes.
Luckily our company (or at least my department) isn’t big on having the camera on so I have been working in t-shirts/hoodies and sweats/shorts for the last 2 years. It does sound like we are going back with a less formal dress code (“nice jeans” will be acceptable).
This is the part I don’t understand. In my last job, that was 100% WFH during the pandemic, we always had the camera on for internal meetings, but this is pretty much what everyone wore. External calls with stakeholders was situation dependent.
The zoom calls I have as a volunteer (for various actuarial associations) also have many people dressed like this. As far as I can tell, no one really cares.
Nobody here playing dress up. I.meet with our co-op student by video fairly frequently. 100% sweatshirts. I dont think they comb their hair, it’s generally really disheveled.
I’m always casual though not always sweatshirts. occasionally I’ll be in an internal video call right off the treadmill, still in workout gear.
Dressing up means nothing. Wear what you like and are comfortable in
Office is reopening the fitness center, removing the temperature check to enter the office, and lifting the mask mandate (since our site is CDC low) starting next week.
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I’m still not going back.
Well, I’m going back if my boss forces me to move where he is.
I agree with all of this. I really like remote work. I feel like my team gets more of me this way. In the office my boss would be gone for meetings all the time so I would have to catch them in between running from one to the next at their desk. Now when my employees need me and I am in a meeting, they just Teams chat and I can chat with them during the meeting.
Maybe your video camera needs to break. A piece of masking tape over it might do the trick. They’d eventually issue you an external webcam, but it could be hard to balance on your set up, and not aim at you reliably.
(We have few video chats. I don’t think I’d want to be on camera all day, either.)
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Being on camera for all meetings would definitely be exhausting. I think it’s good for certain meetings but certainly not as a rule.
This thread makes me realize just how much my personality is out of sync with most people. If people aren’t on camera, I find it exhausting to try to keep my attention on the meeting. People will get off camera if we are going through a slide deck, and that works — but if we are just having what is essentially a phone call without cameras then it can just be a MS Teams or email conversation.
Yeah, i actually feel the opposite of you. If I’m presenting a slide deck, i want to see some faces, because i want the nonverbal feedback on how my presentation is going. Do people look confused? Bored?
But if it’s two or three of us talking about how best to present these results i just found, or I’m reviewing someone’s modeling work, I’d just as soon be cameras-off.
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I’m not looking forward to a presentation I have to give next week. I’ll be one of two people remote, two senior coworkers will be on the client site (in another state), and I’ll need to present 15 minutes without seeing anyone’s reactions. Blegh.
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I’ll be going in 3 days and staying home 2 starting next quarter (teaching). Not sure on masking guidance yet. They are supposed to update their policy in a couple of weeks.
Will be nice to be back in the classroom but the hybrid model works well for some students.