u/StealthyRacket

C’mon folks, don’t eat a bowl of cereal during a teams call.

Yesterday morning when I joined a call, what do I see? Dude that looked like he just woke up, sitting at home in barely lit room, wearing a graphic tee, holding a bowl of cereal in front of his face and clanking the spoon while talking. Seriously, wtf?

Last week, joined the same call, someone else is chilling in a tank top in what looked like a messy room in their house.

Sure, you already know I’m going to loop RTO into this. Hell yeah! I’m mad like all the other folks RTO’d and because some of us who’ve been forced (back?) to an office actually took working from home professionally.

Don’t be a slob. If you’re wearing something you can’t or wouldn’t wear working in an office…. If you wouldn’t slurp your cereal in a cubicle around others…. put a background on if your home office is a mess.

We all know none of this should need to be said and sadly we’ve all probably encountered something similar that’s made us think wtf. I really hope our customers aren’t making the same observations.

This isn’t a mind your own business kind of thing. Some of us really want to have telework back, but seeing stuff like this only adds fuel to fire for telework stereotypes and worsens our probability.

If you take offense to this post, let’s be real, you’re probably a part of the problem.

201s, I’m curious, what is it that’s keeping you with VA?

Yes, we’re all here for the mission or I hope so. For me, it was the post-SSR golden handcuffs. However, I’m getting bites on private sector HR roles with equivalent pay and greater flexibility. With that being said, I’m planning my out.

Does anyone see a light at the end of the tunnel?

l’m almost to 10yrs with VA, 6yrs military, and I have about 25 years until I can retire. I have a family to take care of, and for my own sanity I can’t see myself doing this decades from now with people-pleasing leadership. RTO is absurd being the only person from VHA in the building. I have a hard time staying motivated when my leadership doesn’t even show any. I want to go somewhere that wants to succeed and is forward thinking.

What’s keeping you going?

Hear me out, if midterm candidates and even 2028 hopefuls run on a platform of leveraging technology, specifically in the workplace, they will win over a lot of folks.

It’s time to move on from Border Security, Immigration, and the War on Drugs. If the minority party gets it together and tells America they will work to bring Public and Private sectors up to par with leveraging technology in the workspace, they will get a lot of support, especially from younger generations and citizens all across the country whose lives have been turned upside down due to terrible RTO policies. There are tons of folks who also want a remote job who’ve never experienced it and it would vastly improve their lives.

It’s time for politicians to get old duffer corporate CEOs and government dinosaurs in line to accept telework isn’t the future, it’s 2026 and it’s the now. It should not be viewed as the past.

How can we band together to push this narrative out so it gets traction? How about the reporters and congressional aids that lurk around in this sub and the FedNews sub. Can y’all publish some opinions and push this to become a platform issue? C’mon folks, again, it’s 2026.

If your job cannot be completed remotely, I’m sorry. Perhaps candidates could simultaneously propose increased benefits for folks who cannot enjoy the same flexibilities as others. Benefits like increased time off or a slight pay raise. Something to even the playing field because there will be inevitable blue collar backlash against telework. AI in the workplace, yeah that’s a whole other issue - good and bad.

Hey all, I’m considering trying out Bronzebeard but I’m afraid I’ll lose all my progress if it’s in alpha. Anyone know what the roadmap looks like for it? I don’t get a lot of time to play so I want to make the most of it.