In the following weeks, we will be following the adventures of Tom. After the lockdown he was one of the first to be able to come back to the office.
Day 1: back to Marketing!
After being locked up for a few months now, I am finally going back to the office. I am asking myself a lot of questions, like: How many colleagues will be present, and more importantly will there be food at the marketing department?!
On Tuesday 18th of May, I would finally find out. I arrived at the office at 8:45 and there was only one person present: Lisa. I asked her what was happening here, and she told me that only a few people were allowed back at the office. I was highly disappointed as I was hoping to see my colleagues back. The vivid environment of the marketing department was gone, it has now become a quiet place with almost no social interactions. At 11:00 I was expecting the question “what are we eating today?”, but alas no one asked. For the first time, I had to eat what I brought to work, which of course, was an awful experience. The expeditions to the supermarkets or to the sandwich bar around the corner were great moments. I really miss those now. Normally, our manager would already have made a very bad joke, but now it was 13:00, and still, no one had made one. I never thought I would miss those jokes. Another thing that I miss are the photos of Sirkö, my colleague’s dog. Although I never saw this cute little fluffy ball I really miss seeing his pictures. It is now 16:00, and I was expecting the plastic noise of the countless biscuit packagings of my digital marketing colleague. But again, nothing but the sound of silence.
Even though my first day back at work wasn’t as it used to be, I am still very grateful for the fact that I was able to come back to the office. Social interactions may not be the same, but the marketing team still finds ways to create a pleasant environment (but digitally). I am looking forward to the day that everything goes back to “normal”. Next week I will be exploring the monitoring department, so stay tuned!
