The Revenge Season!

“I’ve come out of my grave

For my revenge upon death

For the little revenge men call life”

-?????????Oscar Williams

As the endless stream of happy posts of people joyfully “Returning to Work” fills my social media timeline, it totally puzzles me “why?”. The same world that begged for WFH when large corporations with massive land parcels in unreachable locations aka office spaces, had them commute half their lives… today is delighted to be back.

Oh yeah! I would love to talk to a few psychologists on what this phenomena of loving what you hated means. For some it could be just a welcome change of scene, and for others it could be what they’ve always been hungry for—human contact for the gregarious. For some others it could be escapism—am so reminded of a statement by a senior exec in a leadership call from my past who said “I’m tired of being a good husband”. Slipping away was so much fun! For someone who’d take red-eye to get back home to the warmth of my four walls and be ready for the next morning's chores, while colleagues loved to party the night out after a conference and head home the next day... it always seemed strange.

It’s that season for revenge. From revenge shopping to revenge vacations, revenge return-to-work is the new phenomena. Whilst it’s music to the control freak’s ear—who never trusted a remote worker, for the others who’ve found their groove in remote performance this is a jolt. Just when they thought the world was all set for a reset – as we commuted less, crowded less and polluted less... but connected more!... here come the marauding hordes. Of people who love that place called work but a little less that thing called work. Why else would Friday's be so delectable?! When “work” became a verb of not "where you go" but "what you do", the syntax goes back to its grave as the ghost of “work” in its primal form returns to avenge.

Def Leppard’s “Love and Hate Collide” rings into my ear. Guess the emotion’s same!

Love to see it how long it lasts!