Ummm, Price Collapse?

thank god, I got a project coming up.

 

I think you are spot on. While the labor market is tight life is good, but when the whole thing goes to shit management should know who was productive.

 

Fantastic post. Both are definitely true. The vast majority of people I know who are homeschooled are very well educated, but they are such because, as you say above, they do homeschool properly. Additionally, I'd say they're more well-balanced than most of their peers.

But I've also definitely known homeschoolers that made me wish they were educated in a public school system, and that's saying a LOT nowadays. LOL

 

Pre-Covid the company I work for was pulling folks into the office. They laid off a ton of support folks because they were no where near a main office. Everyone else...inside 30ish miles of an office...report in. Covid hits, everyone WFH. We had 200k+ folks online and functioning within 2 weeks. We set new productivity levels and reduced turn around time on projects. Management was thrilled. That year during review, they authorized a 1.5% merit (most got less, few got bonuses). Now, they are trying to get back to hybrid, but people aren't having it. The office is a ghost town. No idea how long it will last before they start forcing folks back in. They are spending millions a month for building maintenance that sits empty.

 

This real world example sums up my previous point very well.

 

Our group is actually shutting down offices in favor of the WFH option. With tech the way it is now, why do they have to gather up face to face?

 

I think some CEOs don't want leased office space going to waste. I also know that some ppl can work from home very well (my wife) and others do not (me).

 

It really just depends on the job for most people I think. Like an accountant should have no issues working from home, probably makes more sense since you wont be distracted at all, whereas myself, as a quality engineer, there is only so much paperwork or planning I can do, I just have to be in the factory where the metal meets the meat. When I was working from home 1 day a week last year, it was a joke, I can admit it. I spent maybe an hour working and the rest was playing games or playing with the kids.

My $20 mouse jiggler made it seem that I was at my desk all the time though, haha. Best investment ever.

 

https://youtu.be/R_rF4kcqLkI

 

I think the office space/rent was the thing that most management is dead set on bringing workers back in, that and some that are clearly non-productive at home.
Our whole team can be off-site and ready within an hour of notice, and maintain that way for two years, so it is not whether you can, but whether you want to or not.
I get it, for some management, they want to see a live body sitting in that chair to make themselves feel better about the whole control environment, as well as the cost of maintaining an office.
I agree, some needs to be in office (Warehouse, I mean, how are you gonna ship if you are home?) but most can be remote until the end of the world, which also gives us more time to work on our trucks....lol

 

You're definitely right that it depends on the person and the job.

Mouse jiggler? Is that sorta like setting up a macro to do some unattended task in an MMO?

 

Ha. I have seen both. Homeschooling these days is a FAR cry from what it used to be in the 90s. I remember meeting a buddy's cousin in the mid-90s who was homeschooled. His parents were perpetual victims who didn't trust anyone yet always complained about their hardships hoping for support. That kid couldn't even write his own name at 10 years old. In my experience, that is the exception.

Homeschooling is not easy. We looked into it for our kids. It's a full time job that you pay for, lol. Parents who choose it do so because they wholeheartedly believe it is better for their kids. Almost all homeschooling these days is done through co-ops and pods. There is no longer a socialization issue, unless you're just using the idea of homeschooling to keep your whole family away from society.

The biggest thing I notice about kids who are homeschooled is that they can look adults in the eye and speak to you on an equal level. They're generally very respectful, work hard, and have a better idea of how to manage their money. They're getting a jump on adulthood. There, NOW I've touted homeschooling, lol.

The question I'd be asking instead is, with the all-but-imminent economic correction looming on the horizon, why would they keep all their employees? I'm a very skeptical person by nature, and this would be a small red flag to me. Cuts are coming. First they clear out the offices, then they trim the fat. I'm not claiming that's definitely what is going to happen. Would love to be wrong.

 

Its a small USB dongle that plugs into your laptop and just moves your mouse ever few minutes so you never go idle or go to screen lock or anything. It basically just makes it look like you are at your laptop actively doing SOMETHING all the time.

 

And then when you forget to unplug it after 3 days, they know you're cheating haha

 

I'll be damned.

I am pretty sure I can just program my gaming mouse to do something similar.

 

That is the biggest challenge, or else they think you were churning and burning all night long haha

 

You might be able to, those gaming mice have alot of pretty cool features. If not, they are only like 10-20 bucks on Amazon depending on the brand you get.

 

HR did question me why I was sending out emails at 11:15PM on a Sunday night.
Uh, because I was trying to knock out a few emails with overseas that I know requires two sentences or less each, and would take me 5 mins total so I don't have to wait for them tomorrow when office "actually" opens....

 

Wow so your company actually monitors your activity that closely? That sucks......

 

Saw a funny video where a female used her vibrator to achieve the same result.

 

Not really, I think they were surprised why I got certain overseas communications done so well (I speak that language, duh...) and that's when they found out.
I am fine with it, because I like to kick that out of the way so I can sleep better...

 

HAHAHAHA i can see batteries getting pretty expensive after a while.

 

I enjoyed the office when I was in sales ... mainly because we had a fitness center next door, so there were always people to work out with and a regular crew of lunch hour cyclists and runners. Interacting with people throughout the day was great. We had the option of picking a day per week for WFH, which was cool - being a senior rep, I always chose a Friday or a Monday. It also didn't hurt that it was exactly 1mi door to door from home to office

Over time, that 400 acre / 3.7M sq ft site has become a ghost town as the company went through rounds of layoffs, divestitures, reorgs, etc. The sprawling campus is mainly a data center, and is now home to more prairie dogs than humans. Can't imagine what the annual carrying cost is to keep the lights on there. Was built back in '66.

My last tech sales job was WFH and I hated it ... mainly because it didn't live up to expectations and I wasn't into it.

So along with collapsing prices on all kinds of goods and services as demand goes off the cliff, there's going to be an even bigger commercial real estate glut as companies shed their properties/leases in favor of remote workforces in order to contain costs. Question is who's gonna buy all that office space??

 

I have seen alot of those office spaces converted to warehouses in my area. I bet they could use those giant open offices now for some kind of non profit homeless housing program. Sick of seeing the tent cities everywhere on the rare occasions when i drive to/through the big cities.

 

That’s a good question, and I’ve read some interesting articles about converting office buildings into apartments in the many areas where affordable housing is an issue.

 

I often wonder about the office space rental market myself. That has to be a pretty cut throat industry.

 

Yeah the site I speak of is the IBM campus in Boulder, CO. Entire area is unaffordable now and there are so many displaced people as a result. Perfect opportunity to convert some of that space to affordable units - IF they wanted to.

 

Sounds like the HP campus in Plano TX @Shuffler . When I worked on site, the company I was employed with rented out some of that from HP. Other companies did the same. You could tell it was a helluva place to be in its hey day.

 

Same - not all in, but a good chunk. yeah it was a terrifying period.
So are you waiting for a certain price point to hit and then sell, or just collect the crazy dividends for a while ?

Oxymoron - Owning Oil producing company stocks and also a Tundra.

 

Ohh trust me I hear you on that.
When I bought my house, we were approved for 500k. HELL NO. I don't even know how someone could afford that let alone how I could "afford" it.