Two packets of oatmeal
Muse #425 - strange things happen in life
The world of work is changing in these strange times. Both my wife and I were asked to clear our desks at work so that these workspaces could be converted into on-demand workspaces. Well, I did not have a problem with that due to the fact I started a new engagement last year and I was never allocated a desk space. Divine.
My wife Priya had last gone into office in Feb of 2020 and that is more than 2 years ago. She had worked in two office buildings downtown where she had left stuff behind. So, we both took time off from work and she booked some time and permission to go into those buildings to collect her belongings and clear her workspaces.
After putting effort into getting access into the buildings through a required QR code app - which took an hour or more on the phone to figure out and a process to install the company app store and associated access app, we were finally ready for the long 70 km drive to Toronto to clear up the stuff. Priya was expecting to find jackets, perhaps shoes, and other accessories at work.
What happened, in reality, was there was nothing much to pick up. The drawers were already emptied mostly and she found a couple of packets of half-eaten biscuits, some half-eaten old chocolates, and two packets of instant breakfast oatmeal - the only salvageable item from that trip. The rest all made the garbage bins. A final sayonara to the eerily empty offices and a host of memories of the years worked there were the only other takeaways.
The moral of the story was that after more than two years any item left behind did not matter. It was time to move on. And certainly not worth the effort of taking a vacation day each, plus the prep efforts to get inside.
But hey, we got to bond all day long Thursday and that alone made it worth the while. And the two packets of oatmeal, you will know soon. I hope to survive them when I try them out.