Return to In-Person Work: A Tale Told Using GIFS from Hocus Pocus

After over 18 months of remote work, a lot of us who had the privilege of being able to work from home have recently had to return to the office. I am one of those people and here’s how I feel about all this hocus pocus (see what I did there?!).

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When the date of return was announced, there was a lot of what I call “false/forced positivity” around it. My institution wanted us staff to be excited about putting our health at risk but this is how I actually felt:

My face every time another email came through talking about a “return back to normal”:

I would vent to my friends and got more and more worked up:

Mainly because now I have to actually wear pants again??:

I also haven’t been around people for over 8 hours, so I actually have to make sure I don’t smell halfway through the day by dousing myself in perfume:

And because real life doesn’t have Zoom filters, I have to work some type of magic to make myself look presentable:

Let’s not even mention the public transportation:

Because there are still butt wipes who don’t wear masks on the metro despite the plethora of signs:

Before I even walk out of the station, I can sense college students EVERYWHERE:

And then I walk into my window-less, freezing office where I’ll spend the next 8 hours, though I’m far less excited about it than Winnie:

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Of course, I am incredibly grateful, privileged and lucky to have had a job throughout the pandemic and to still have one now. But a little venting every once in a while can be healthy 😉