For the office-working Bavarian population these days it is a matter of leaving the home office and carefully approaching the orphaned desk. And now there are questions like: Is there still toothpaste in the corner of your mouth? And where is the boss?
Outside, the thermometer climbs to 25 degrees. Inside, the return to normal begins with letters and a touch of quiet night. “Merry Christmas”, it says in a card, illustrated with a snow-covered chapel. In another, time is wished for the New Year to enjoy the finer things in life.
Enjoy: It’s easier again since Corona pulls something on the belt and makes more possible. For the office-working Bavarian population these days this means leaving the home office and carefully approaching the orphaned desk. And the mail that has been piling up there since last autumn, including the Christmas cards. Contemplative words about the debut, how appropriate. Seldom has a return felt like this after the New Year, after a start into better times.
But anyone who reaches for the letters to the press reports of the last few weeks could get the impression that the bosses are most pleased not to stroll through empty corridors anymore. Apparently some are genuinely concerned about their employees. So in the sense that they also work hard from home – instead of lying lazily on the sofa. Accordingly, employers’ associations, among others, welcomed the expiry of the statutory home office requirement. That this was only introduced in the high phase of the last Corona wave, when reports of crowded offices piling up and many began to doubt the will of the economy – well, that was certainly an unfortunate coincidence.
Sure, not all bosses are like that. Many do not care about the home office question, the main thing is that the work is done. Nevertheless, one must appeal to all of them as a whole to support their reintegration into the company with understanding in the coming weeks. Together, the pandemic and home office have destroyed routines that are difficult to relearn. So, when do I have to leave the house to be on time at work? Is there still toothpaste hanging in the corner of your mouth? And am I even wearing pants? Good for those who really think about everything after such a long time – and are not disappointed when it is a quiet night in the office: because the Christmas mail is there, but not the boss.