Back in the office stress

Really? Office conversation its called, human contact.Perhaps you have covid lockdown fatigue, where you have lost the art of interacting with fellow human beings.

A lot of people have got used to working from home. It must be hard to go back to the office.Even those of us who are retired and do voluntary work have found it hard to get back into it.it would drive me mad to be with people who talk about every boring detail of their lives,thank goodness I don't have to.

I do voluntary work which can be done equally well at home. I am not in a hurry to go back to the office as I want to avoid rush hour travel on the buses, and crowded places. My job involves working with individuals for about 1.5 hours, in a confined space which I am not prepared to do.
But I do miss the office chit chat, even though I rarely got involved. The more I chatted, the later I finished work, as it still needed to be done.

Never having worked in an office I have no idea what office job exists that allows people to talk about their personal lives when they’re actually working on some other task - how does that work? Doesn’t this disturb people’s ability to concentrate? Isn’t this what Knitting novice is complaining about or am I getting this wrong - is it the nature of the chit chat she is objecting to?

Also hate it, but for slightly different reason to the OP.

Today, I had my first day back in the office since March 2020. We are being "forced" back in by our practice manager, which goes against the corporate policy of "continue to work from home if possible". She has not given us a reason for her insistence that we return, other than to "reconnect and network with other teams". We are to go in one day a week each.

Today, I was on my own. No one else from my team.

I found that I have become hyper-sensitive to the noise from other people. Those around me weren't being particularly loud - I was just very very aware of it. I found it very distracting and found it very difficult to focus on my own tasks. I found that I couldn't help listening to everyone else's phone calls and conversations.

Also - although our team were asked to do LFTs the night before going in, I have no idea if anyone else in other teams had done them. I have no idea if anyone else has been double-jabbed.

All in all, it was a horrible day. I "reconnected and networked" with a total of four people, and exchanged short pleasantries with two other people I've never seen before and likely will never see again.

Our own team communicate extremely well via "Teams" messages and calls and a team WhatsApp group, and in fact, I have got to know several members of our section this way. People that, because of the layout of the office (and the punishing workload), I rarely got to talk to whilst in the office. No need for us to be in the office building at all.

Some of us who are long retired and who spend much of lockdown in silence or talking back to the radio/TV might welcome a bit of chit chat, however boring or mundane.

Sorry, Knitting, at the moment I don't have much sympathy! I've just got home from a very stressful and busy day in the office. It's an NHS team and I've been office bound throughout the pandemic. Some days I realise apart from 'hello', my colleagues and I have not had a chance to actually make small talk. I get what you're saying though, people talking about their new washing machine and some relative you're never likely to meet can be dull. Maybe you can pop some more interesting topics into the conversation, you never know, someone else might be thinking the same as you.

Reputations are built very quickly and tgen are impossible to shake off. If you want to be regarded as haughty or standoffish or not interested in others, then by all means carry on. If you want people to like you, to like working with you, to speak highly of you, to recommend you ....then you need to question that. Up to you ...but re read my first lines.

Oh, the office chatter and banter is what I really miss since being retired!

Callistemon, my mum did actually have the wooden loft hatch fall on her head when she went to the loo one night. Gave her a nasty bump, but she survived!

Callistemon

^ loft hatches, and the dangers of them falling down and killing someone,^
what was the general opinion? Do you think they could?

Ours would certainly knock you for a six if it swung down and hit you! You need to stand well clear! We also inherited a loft ladder which is now the source of our house move packing nightmare! So easy to slide boxes up there and forget all about them ... until now.

Our loft ladder swings upwards.
I can cope with going up but coming down again causes a mild panic.

How I would love a bit of staffroom banter. It's what I miss most since retiring. We used to have such a laugh.

Callistemon
Honestly, on many occasions it has crashed down and frightened us half to death, if a particularly tall person was standing there, I am certain they would have come to a sad end.

Sara1954

Callistemon
Honestly, on many occasions it has crashed down and frightened us half to death, if a particularly tall person was standing there, I am certain they would have come to a sad end.

Ours is like a window opening upwards, (not a window, of course, it's wood) but there is a frame which holds it in place so it can't come down.

That is scary, Sara1954.

What I would really like is a proper stairway up to the loft, I really dislike climbing up the ladder and freak out coming down again; I sit on the floor trying to summon up the courage for a while, don't like heights!

Well it must be something about us, because we have two, one original and one in an extension, and they both behave the same, I’ve had bolts put on one of them, but it’s not so easy with the other one.
I always warn people not to hang around under it.