UK Energy Costs

[fuse]

I am about as far from a conspiracy theorist as you can get, but today I note that articles are starting to circulate about rising energy bills "killing the work from home dream", and I did take a minute to have a good old stroke of my beard.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I am about as far from a conspiracy theorist as you can get, but today I note that articles are starting to circulate about rising energy bills "killing the work from home dream", and I did take a minute to have a good old stroke of my beard.

I read one that listed 10 ways to save money this winter and 9 of them were 'go to the office'

[Golgo]

I am about as far from a conspiracy theorist as you can get, but today I note that articles are starting to circulate about rising energy bills "killing the work from home dream", and I did take a minute to have a good old stroke of my beard.

You could be onto something, if only rising petrol/diesel bills and public transport strikes hadn't killed the "commute to work dream"!

[cutmymilk]

I have no doubt us drivers are making up for the people working from home.

[Asura]

I am about as far from a conspiracy theorist as you can get, but today I note that articles are starting to circulate about rising energy bills "killing the work from home dream", and I did take a minute to have a good old stroke of my beard.

Nah I know exactly why that is, and it's not a conspiracy.

It's because there's a segment of the online workforce, with a focus on those who are very Reddit/Twitter-savvy (and thus drive "engagement") who will absolutely froth and the mouth over that story; complete keyboard warriors who pour vitriol on any suggestion that they should work in an office. It's completely transparent. That paper probably got more traffic today than in weeks.

(related, it's depressing just how many people in the country are so happy with WFH because they spend their entire working lives seemingly hating (1) their job, and seek to limit it as much as they can and (2) everyone they work with, to the point where they'd prefer to literally never see them in person again)

I mean if you think about it for even ten seconds, you'd see it's utter lunacy. Yes, the energy prices will increase WFH costs but they're still gonna be a fraction of the cost of a commute for most people (and if it was a car commute, fuel prices are so high anyway as to rubbish the very thought). There isn't a person with the mental faculties to string that article together who wouldn't have realised this. If the journo was standing in front of me and tried to say that, I would tell them they're a liar right to their face (note I say "tell them", not "call them", because the latter implies it's an opinion, whereas the former is what it is - objective fact).

It's literally a few of people in a room with a whiteboard trying to work out how to rile up people today. They've probably already got tomorrow's in the bag.

[wakka]

From that post, it kind of sounds like you've really got it in for people who like working from home if I'm honest. You're not one of those people with a white board trying to work out how to rile them up, are you?

For the record, not everyone who works from home hates their job and their coworkers. Some of us like to walk our dogs during the day, making lunches in our own kitchens at home, and spend less time on buses!

[Finsbury Girl]

This is what happens when 1) you run down coal fired generation without a replacement (no wind and solar are not reliable base generators) and 2) you ignore nuclear 3) incentivise the wrong type of generation and 4) ignore energy self reliance and sovereignty.

Germany especially paying the price. There will be many unfortunate deaths this upcoming winter due to policy makers poor decisions over the past 20 years.

It is primarily the upper and middle classes bleating about climate change and green energy, coal is bad blah blah. It is always the poor who pay the price but hey let them eat cake. They'll be happy sacrificing themselves to save the planet blissfully aware that China and India are building far more coal and gas fired plants than are being decommissioned in the West.

The mind well and truly boggles.

[Asura]

From that post, it kind of sounds like you've really got it in for people who like working from home if I'm honest. You're not one of those people with a white board trying to work out how to rile them up, are you?

For the record, not everyone who works from home hates their job and their coworkers. Some of us like to walk our dogs during the day, making lunches in our own kitchens at home, and spend less time on buses!

I appreciate it sounds like that, but no. I didn't mean to suggest everyone feels that way; many people just like working at home.

I just meant that there are many people for whom since WFH started (and in some cases potentially stopped, or was threatened with stopping) among those around me who have expressed those sentiments - they hate basically everyone they work with and find the job a lot easier when they don't have to deal with them.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I appreciate it sounds like that, but no. I didn't mean to suggest everyone feels that way; many people just like working at home.

I just meant that there are many people for whom since WFH started (and in some cases potentially stopped, or was threatened with stopping) among those around me who have expressed those sentiments - they hate basically everyone they work with and find the job a lot easier when they don't have to deal with them.

And that's a bad thing? If you can avoid people you don't like, keep your head down and just do your job that's got to be a plus right?

[Asura]

And that's a bad thing? If you can avoid people you don't like, keep your head down and just do your job that's got to be a plus right?

I think people may have got the wrong end of the stick here.

I'm saying that it's a sad fact of life that so many people have to work with a load of people they hate. I don't mean working with a load of people where "I wouldn't pick them as friends but they're okay to work with", I mean genuinely hate the sight of them and love WFH primarily because it minimises their contact.

If you hate your workplace then yes, there's nothing wrong with trying to minimise your contact with it. I'm just saying it actually saddens me that so many people are in that situation.

[Golgo]

And that's a bad thing? If you can avoid people you don't like, keep your head down and just do your job that's got to be a plus right?

David Riesman called it "false personalisation of the workplace" - the idea that your colleagues and bosses are your friends, hence the expectation that you need to be present having a chummy time and going out together. This can be beneficial in some circumstances but it can easily go sour and be a major emotional drain and even a kind of workplace tyranny. I like my colleagues (mostly) but I don't go to work to socialise and I find this distracting and often irritating, so a split situation with plenty of home working is fine for me

[Asura]

I like my colleagues (mostly)

To be clear, if you can say this, you're entirely not the sort of person I've been talking about.

I'm talking about people who, when talking about ending WFH, they say things like "I don't want to be in a room with those c***s. They're all c***s. All of them. Every single one."

I'm just saying I've known a lot of people who feel like this, and there's the suggestion others at their office feel the same way, and I find that depressing. I don't see why that's seen as so controversial?!

[Hirst]

For the record, I hate the job and can't stand many of my colleagues (a few of them are alright).

They changed the office to an open plan type a few years ago and I always said from day one that it would be a massive drawback to me - and it is. I simply cannot concentrate and do my job properly, because all I hear is every single stupid banal conversation within 200 yards. I'm trying to process data that has to be 100% perfect and I can't do it because I'm constantly being interrupted either directly or trying to blank out some loud idiot's conversation 8 desks away. It is my own personal hell.

[wakka]

I appreciate it sounds like that, but no. I didn't mean to suggest everyone feels that way; many people just like working at home.

I just meant that there are many people for whom since WFH started (and in some cases potentially stopped, or was threatened with stopping) among those around me who have expressed those sentiments - they hate basically everyone they work with and find the job a lot easier when they don't have to deal with them.

Fair enough! I obviously got the wrong end of the stick.

[Neon Ignition]

Unfun fact - From October the cost of going into the office will be cheaper than the energy costs I'd be paying in our house if I worked from home. That's before the next two quarterly rises too. We plan on avoiding WFH as much as possible during the winter.


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