Joys of Commuting

[rvwnsd]

On 12/9/2022 at 11:36 PM, BeamerBikes said:

Followed by a mile long walk to your downtown building where you have to cross the river wind tunnel TWICE! 

Coworkers would wonder why I'd spend the money for a monthly parking pass.

That's why you live in the city or in Evanston and take the Blue or Red Line, which has subway stops adjacent to the Pedway. You can also take several shuttle buses from the train stations to the Loop and Magnificent Mile, Streeterville, River North, and Illinois Center.

Oh, and for the wimpy types there are taxis.

[BeamerBikes]

59 minutes ago, rvwnsd said:

That's why you live in the city or in Evanston and take the Blue or Red Line, which has subway stops adjacent to the Pedway. You can also take several shuttle buses from the train stations to the Loop and Magnificent Mile, Streeterville, River North, and Illinois Center.

Oh, and for the wimpy types there are taxis.

Eh the shuttle busses weren't an option for my building during that time.  Union Station to IBM now AMA building at 330 N Wabash just on the edge of reasonable walk in your 20s everyday.  The water taxi in the summer was a nice option though. 

Moving into the city was seriously considered during that time period.  Ended up subleasing a couple places to make my commute reasonable during busier work/school times.

Edited December 16, 2022 by BeamerBikes
Adding details

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 12/9/2022 at 10:31 AM, Charlie said:

Climate change: I don't remember ever experiencing temperatures below freezing in London.

Maybe you always spent those cold nights with a young man and stayed warm 😁

[Marc in Calif]

14 hours ago, arnemgreeves said:

I’ve been for many years in south east England and I’ve recalled it being subzero numerous times.

The point is about temperatures in London itself. And you actually did say "every year." 

Southeast England has both hills and valleys as well as areas farther from water. Such places typically have lower temperatures than the city itself. 

[Marc in Calif]

6 hours ago, arnemgreeves said:

It's funny you get so hyper, over a mere disagreement.

What you call a "mere disagreement" is a case of historical facts vs. personal feelings and anecdotes.

If you're so sensitive about being corrected, I think you might get really bitter and angry on these forums. 

[+ ThroatCummer]

There is an employee of mine who voluntarily comes into the office daily, five days a week. We'll call him Bob.

Bob has a 60 to 75 minute commute, in a car. Half in traffic and half on open road. By every measure, a commute that many just hate or consider a waste of time. 

When COVID hit, we most almost all our office space. Part of our business is physical inventory that needs to be received and re-shipped back out to locations across the USA. So there was always a need for 10-15% of our workers to come into the office and be part of that logistics, operations, and receiving/shipping.  However, about 85% of our workforce easily transitioned to work from home. 

Bob is one of the many here who has a job he can do 100% remote. But Bob just decided to keep coming in the office. As the Founder/CEO, I always showed up each day not only to support everyone else who was physically here on the regular, but also to be a presence to those who chose to come in one or two days a week. I also like my office setup (tech wise; multiple huge screens; big office TV always on CNBC; comfortable desk and chair; etc) and really just get more done here than at home. 

Early on in the pandemic, I often talked with Bob and was like "hey, you know you can stay home. You're great at your job and don't really have to be here, right? lol" and his reply was simple, he just enjoyed being out of the house.  As I got to know him really well over the past two years (simply because he was just always in my face daily), we kept on having lunch together, and talking more and more. When there was a big problem to solve, Bob didn't delay and hold everything up to wait and organize a Zoom . He stood in the doorway to my office and asked if he could sit down on the couch for a few minutes. I got to know him not only as my employee but as a genuine person and someone I consider a friend now today. 

Come to find out, he had a wife of twenty years at home and three girls. He loves his wife and has a great family and loves his girls more than anything. He also puts 110% into his work and job when here is here in the office. So that one hour a day, each way, he gets "Bob time" to be completely alone and at peace with himself. He listens to audiobooks on various subjects. He actually loves cars and genuinely loves to drive. 

Last summer, I promoted Bob to be our Chief Operating Officer. He completely lacked the experience. The position is his bosses bosses boss -- two people who went remote 100% and one of which moved out of state at the first chance they had. However, Bob's face-time with me every day, combined with his willingness to learn, meant I didn't have to promote someone else who was "out of sight out of mind" and didn't have to hire externally and have someone new go through a year-long learning curve. I could mentor and develop Bob in a way that you just can't over Zoom. 

Bob is awesome.

There are a two main lessons here: 

1) Everyone has a unique requirement when it comes to personal time. What is good for someone may not be good for the next person. Someone may hate going to the gym while others love it. Bob not only likes his commute, he finds value in it from many angles:  He gets to mentally separate his work and home life. He can be completely present at home and completely present at work with a true defining line between each. He gets personal development time for himself for two hours a day and lots of fresh air. Finally, he gets that kiss from his wife and the excitement of "Hi Daddy!!!!!!" from each of his three kids when he walks through the door each evening. 

2) There will never be a true substitute for personal interaction and genuine face time. Bob skipped like three rungs on the corporate ladder and currently makes 4x his salary at the same company in less than three years -- which is completely unheard of. He's also killing it every day, Home runs left and right all over the place. Others are pissed, and one resigned. Me trying to explain why this happened to others who might have been skipped over for this promotion -- and to HR --  has resulted in at least one lawsuit for discrimination. But the answer is very simple: He showed up every day. 

That's all. Take what you want from the story. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by ThroatCummer

[Marc in Calif]

5 minutes ago, arnemgreeves said:

I know facts that London has seen freezing temperatures. 

But that's not what you originally wrote, is it? Saying "has seen" is quite a bit different from "surely happens every year."

I suggest that you and Shirley get a room together to iron things out. 😁

[+ ThroatCummer]

25 minutes ago, arnemgreeves said:

How did the lawsuit unfold, if I may ask?

It's a really fucking sore subject with me. Even though things are anonymous on here and I could go into details, I'd rather not talk about it.  All I can tell you is that we are in the process of settling and paying them. Taking things to trial and fighting them aren't actually a thing. You always settle because it'll cost 10x to 50x more to fight and the bad PR along the way is never worth it.

We had to settle a "TCPA" lawsuit earlier this year from a customer who sued us over text messaging.  You know how get that "REPLY STOP" at the end of every text that isn't personal in nature? Well they decided not to reply stop and sued us even though we kept texting. We are 100% not at fault, but we settled anyway because see the first point: You always settle.

Ugh, enough about the lawsuits topic. 😡  Sorry, it just strikes a nerve with me. 

"You can measure your success by the number of times you are being sued" - My Chief Legal Officer. lol  

Edited December 17, 2022 by ThroatCummer

[+ Coolwave35]

1 hour ago, Marc in Calif said:

If you're so sensitive about being corrected, I think you might get really bitter and angry on these forums. 

Bullshit doesn’t fly here. It’s why I love participating on these forums! 

[cany10011]

On 12/17/2022 at 2:24 PM, ThroatCummer said:

There is an employee of mine who voluntarily comes into the office daily, five days a week. We'll call him Bob.

Bob has a 60 to 75 minute commute, in a car. Half in traffic and half on open road. By every measure, a commute that many just hate or consider a waste of time. 

When COVID hit, we most almost all our office space. Part of our business is physical inventory that needs to be received and re-shipped back out to locations across the USA. So there was always a need for 10-15% of our workers to come into the office and be part of that logistics, operations, and receiving/shipping.  However, about 85% of our workforce easily transitioned to work from home. 

Bob is one of the many here who has a job he can do 100% remote. But Bob just decided to keep coming in the office. As the Founder/CEO, I always showed up each day not only to support everyone else who was physically here on the regular, but also to be a presence to those who chose to come in one or two days a week. I also like my office setup (tech wise; multiple huge screens; big office TV always on CNBC; comfortable desk and chair; etc) and really just get more done here than at home. 

Early on in the pandemic, I often talked with Bob and was like "hey, you know you can stay home. You're great at your job and don't really have to be here, right? lol" and his reply was simple, he just enjoyed being out of the house.  As I got to know him really well over the past two years (simply because he was just always in my face daily), we kept on having lunch together, and talking more and more. When there was a big problem to solve, Bob didn't delay and hold everything up to wait and organize a Zoom . He stood in the doorway to my office and asked if he could sit down on the couch for a few minutes. I got to know him not only as my employee but as a genuine person and someone I consider a friend now today. 

Come to find out, he had a wife of twenty years at home and three girls. He loves his wife and has a great family and loves his girls more than anything. He also puts 110% into his work and job when here is here in the office. So that one hour a day, each way, he gets "Bob time" to be completely alone and at peace with himself. He listens to audiobooks on various subjects. He actually loves cars and genuinely loves to drive. 

Last summer, I promoted Bob to be our Chief Operating Officer. He completely lacked the experience. The position is his bosses bosses boss -- two people who went remote 100% and one of which moved out of state at the first chance they had. However, Bob's face-time with me every day, combined with his willingness to learn, meant I didn't have to promote someone else who was "out of sight out of mind" and didn't have to hire externally and have someone new go through a year-long learning curve. I could mentor and develop Bob in a way that you just can't over Zoom. 

Bob is awesome.

There are a two main lessons here: 

1) Everyone has a unique requirement when it comes to personal time. What is good for someone may not be good for the next person. Someone may hate going to the gym while others love it. Bob not only likes his commute, he finds value in it from many angles:  He gets to mentally separate his work and home life. He can be completely present at home and completely present at work with a true defining line between each. He gets personal development time for himself for two hours a day and lots of fresh air. Finally, he gets that kiss from his wife and the excitement of "Hi Daddy!!!!!!" from each of his three kids when he walks through the door each evening. 

2) There will never be a true substitute for personal interaction and genuine face time. Bob skipped like three rungs on the corporate ladder and currently makes 4x his salary at the same company in less than three years -- which is completely unheard of. He's also killing it every day, Home runs left and right all over the place. Others are pissed, and one resigned. Me trying to explain why this happened to others who might have been skipped over for this promotion -- and to HR --  has resulted in at least one lawsuit for discrimination. But the answer is very simple: He showed up every day. 

That's all. Take what you want from the story. 

 

 

 

 

I have many married work colleagues who prefer to travel to the office just to have alone time from their spousal units and child care responsibilities. Many as you have indicated also enjoy audiobooks and listening to the BBC. Those 60+ minutes commute time is worth the money spent on gas and wear and tear on their cars. For me, I prefer the flexibility of choosing the days I to go into the office.