Coffee Badging and Never Getting Sick

So, we have a new phenomenon thanks to Return to Office: “Coffeebadging”

As the wiki article indicates:

(Coffeebadging) is the practice of employees clocking in for a brief period at the office, typically long enough to grab a coffee, before departing to work from elsewhere. This is done to fulfill office attendance requirements by hybrid and remote workers which arose following the return to in-person work following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honestly, the team I’m on is doing pretty well. Seems like most people keep about 6 hours in the office at least. I’m a fart who does a full 8, maybe more, because I despise driving home for 45 to 60 minutes then doing more work.

Topic the second: Getting Sick

Time was we had a bit of…slack…at work. There was enough overhead that if Bob got sick, Sue could take up the work and there was continuity. We insisted on cross-training to sufficiency. Sue might not be exper as Bob at a task, but she was more then capable of doing it. Let’s take that in 2025:

“Oh, Bob’s OOTO. He’s sick.”

(PM/TPM/Manager) “Have you called him?”

“He’s…sick. He’s off work today.”

“Well, let me know what he has to say by EOD.”

This is the shitty straw that breaks the camel’s back for many. It’s not the grind, the burnout…it’s the “I can’t do anything about _______” and the company still expects me to perform.

Obligatory: Boo-hoo corporate employee. You’re paid to sit in an office and think and type. I WEEP for you /s. Yeah, I get that too.
But, there was a time where “work-life balance” was so much the norm it didn’t have a term.