Amazon Woman is on vacay this week so when she pinged us on chat this morning, I figgered something was up. And something was indeed up and it is kinda big…

What is up is that the Planet Ann Arbor Cubelandia building facility is going to close. Note that this does NOT mean that jobs are going away (see the PS though). What it means is that everyone who ever schleps in to the office (or used to pre-COVID) will be telecommuting “forever” (again, see the PS).

I almost always (pre-COVID) schlepped in to the office but telecommuted when the weather was bad or if I wanted to hang out in the yooperland for a bit. There were others who worked in the office a couple/few days a week or whatever. We have always had a few full-time telecommuters, people who live in Chicago or wherever, for example. Plus there’s India.

I am still processing this sudden announcement. Once upon a time when I had my Childhood Job and young children, I yearned to telecommute. We weren’t “there” yet either in terms of technology or management support. When I began this job (my Adult Job), I could telecommute but my Work Ethic took me in to the office every day. I grew to enjoy commuting to and being AT Cubelandia. Telecommuting during the pandemic has been fine except on the days when “people” are doing the dern taxes for the third time, etc.

All of the details are not in yet but we are one among something like nine buildings in which employees will transition to full-time telecommuting. The positives for the company include not having to pay rent. This should also have a positive effect on the environment since people aren’t driving. A positive for me is that I can work from the yooperland pretty much whenever I want to although 1) that has always been true and 2) I *love* the Planet Ann Arbor too.

Things I will miss? The ponds and nature preserves at Avis Farms. The 8-mile slow road Zen Commute (and the ability to stay home when it snows). FARMER JOHN’S LUNCHROOM PRODUCE STAND!!!

Anyway, onward into the future.

P.S. Disclaimer: I work for an “at-will” Corporate America type company. Anything can happen at any time. I have survived many RIFs butchya never know when they’re gonna come for you. For any reason. That’s just part of the terrain. If it happens to me, I will be upset when it happens but I will also be okay. I’ve been treated well these last 13 years and as someone on FB asked today, “Have you considered retiring?”. No. Not yet. But I certainly could.

P.P.S. Click and click again to embiggen the spider web.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2020 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.