this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
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This is the real reason for companies wanting people back to the office.

All this talk about collaboration and team spirit is just the publicly given reason for wanting people back to the office.

The real reason is that now the owners of the buildings are losing money.

Cry me a river.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

So, I've thought about it and we have a housing shortage and an excess of offices. Seems like a solid solution. Takes a lot of work to make an office into a home, but it's more profitable than leaving them empty.

But no, that would help people, and the cruelty is the point.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yep, Ive been saying this for years now as well.

We have giant mostly empty office buildings which could be converted into mostly apartments, with even make shift permitted commercial zones for basically street vendor / convention booth style shops every 10 floors.

Instead it apparently makes more sense to not do this because it makes more sense to keep them empty, heated and lit 24/7, as basically a way to prop up the retail property market.

Capitalism is a farce, and it has already doomed us all: we have now breached the 1.5 C warming barrier, even more rapidly than most of the worst case scenarios predicted. Permafrost in Siberia and Northern Canada is already thawing and releasing methane.

Enjoy the collapse of human civilization in your own lifetime as people and governments continue to squabble and combat each other over scarcer and scarcer resources as our entire way of life becomes too expensive to maintain.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Converting offices is expensive and complicated. Zoning laws also makes it even harder.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is true, there are hurdles and there people actively working to overcome them and succeeding.

Would you like to know more? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=office+to+residential

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

So maybe we focus on solutions instead of problems.

With respect. :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's a solid solution only if someone ponies up the money to pay for the incredible effort it takes to convert an office building into residences. Waving your hands in the air and telling someone else to pay for it is not a good argument.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Are you watching me? How did you know I was waving my hands in the air?