Virginia State Employees Not Eager To Return To Offices

 

On May 5^th, Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin updated the telework policy for all state employees. The change would have had them begin working in-person full-time by July 5, which Youngkin’s office stressed would still provide “options for and supports the use of telework where appropriate.” Youngkin said that bringing many employees back to the office would help “balance the demands of government services with the needs of our public servants.”

How did the illustrious public servants react to Youngkin’s updated policy? Well, according to Richmond’s WRIC-TV, well over 300 of them have resigned since the change was announced.

              How quickly times change. How fast expectations—and standards—can change/fall. In the blink of an eye, sloth sets in.

              Prior to the pandemic, most people didn’t give any thought to working from home, at least not on a regular basis, and certainly not all of the time. And people typically wore a suit, dress-- or at least a shirt and pants—during working hours. Now, many of us work from home, on the couch, in our pajamas. Some, like CNN’s legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, cannot even abstain from rubbing one out during a work zoom call.

              How times have changed. Suck it up, people. Is it really that hard to go back to your cushy, climate-controlled offices and your ergonomic leather swivel chairs? To your free coffee and donut breaks? Where twice a week or so you stop work for an hour to celebrate somebody’s birthday, anniversary, promotion, or retirement?

              I mean, you are not being asked to join the Lewis & Clark Expedition, cross the Rocky Mountains on foot and traverse the Oregon Trail-- hoping to somehow escape death at the hands of Indigenous people, wild animals, exhaustion, starvation, or disease. 

              Neither are you being asked to potentially sacrifice your life while fighting to establish independence, abolish slavery, or free peoples from the totalitarian grip of Fascism or Communism.

              So, sit up, put on your pants, and get back to work. Go back to the office if necessary. This is America.

              Don’t embarrass those who came before you and gifted you your ease.

              And have another donut if you wish.