Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

The Great Resignation? The Great what-do-we-call-it? How about the embarrassing realization that we have been grossly inefficient in much of what we have been doing the last 20 years?

We are in the midst of the Great Resignation. Record numbers of us are quitting our jobs and moving on to something better. At least we hope it is “better” in one way or another. Otherwise, why are we going to so much trouble?

Simple, “I don’t want to spend my day commuting. I can do my job from home.” Some persons are doing two “full-time jobs” from home.

Uh, wait. Let’s move away from fantasy and back to reality. Many of us have office jobs. We go to the office; we work, and we return home. Repeat daily.

And now, we have all these fancy pants folks telling us that they can do all the work from home in three or four hours instead of in eight “at the office.” And the embarrassing thing is, they are not stretching the truth. They can do it all from home in half the time and not commute.

Now comes the great embarrassment.

1. No one had to build all those expensive office buildings
2. No one had to hire all those managers to ensure people were motivated and working
3. No one had to live in an expensive urban center
4. And, the embarrassment that hits all us “workers,” no one had to spend all that time commuting

We are all embarrassed at how inefficient we all were. Why did we all waste so much time and money? Why did we all fail to realize that the tools for greater efficiency and greater productivity were right in front of us? Why did we all do these foolish things for so long?

Quick, find a scapegoat! Find someone to blame for all this. Gosh, this is embarrassing.