PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER
I never thought I’d say, ‘I wanna go back to work.’
It’s nice that the company arranged working remotely from home by computer, but, I want to go to the break room for a mug of the world’s worst coffee, or ruin my diet with a donut or cake – ‘cause it’s always someone’s birthday. I miss the office gossip, politics, and resident weirdo. I miss the water-cooler sports discussions, even if I hate sports. I even miss breathe-on-you, Lecherous Lennie’s tales of barroom conquests – all the little things that used to irk me.
This “NEW NORMAL” is getting old, fast.
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Want to join the Friday Fictioneers fun?? Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story.
Archon's Den 
Fiction? This is the reality of so many. I still go into the office sans coffee klatch et al. It’s liberating up to a point. Good read.
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It’s only fiction for me. For many others, it’s a sad reality. 😦
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While teleworking has its benefits, I think my husband misses the social interaction as well. The bad coffee, not do much.
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Yeah. There’s more to ‘Work’ than just the work. Humans are social animals, and miss the interaction. Some people even ‘like’ to complain about what they don’t like. 😳
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Ah, the quilt-work of life – other people can be so entertaining. I wonder if the hub-hub will return. My daughter is working from home and has noted the slow down of project work. I wondered if she missed being in the office. “Good grief – no! they might see that I have nothing to do.”
A very topical story.
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I’m a great people-watcher too.
I’ve heard of office workers with enough free time to watch porn, or play online games. I never had a job where I was that un-busy. 🙂
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The “new norm”… yep… I miss a lot of things. Adjusting has not been easy.
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And just when we finally do get used to it, the vaccine will sweep through, and we’ll have to re-adjust to going back to the salt mines. Just imagine – not being able to work in our pajamas, or is your office protocol more lenient? 😉 😆
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I worked at the daycare at church. I was let go last March…dont see rehire anytime soon or at all. So selling crafts and such at flea market when/if reopens.
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Daughter is semi-invalid and sells her crafts strictly online. Her friend used to go to a series of flea/farmers’ markets each week, but had to stop when those were shut. She opened a little pop-up store in a small-town of 1200, but got told that it was declared non-essential, so she added chips , pop, gum and tobacco till it was 51%, to stay open. Good luck to you. 😀
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Our state requires that you have a biz license just to sell online, too. Grrrr… so d* frustrating. Most of my biz is word of mouth… but this past year has found too too many of those silenced. I am considering online and may be moving out of state just to be able to do that… would only be 30 miles commute so might be worth it.
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I bet you missed the Christmas office party too! Refreshingly different from everything else this week!
My story!
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At my first job, there were three of us young men hired after graduation. When the Christmas party loomed, the manager took us all aside, and told us. The party would include staff from a branch office on the other side of town. The bar would be free, but not to over-drink and make a fool of ourselves by something like making a pass at the owner’s wife. We all behaved acceptably, but a new clerk from the branch office committed some undisclosed sin, and soon “voluntarily” sought employment elsewhere. 😛
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Undisclosed sin! Not the liveliest party then!
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We young-uns at main branch didn’t see what happened, nor were we told what it was. It must have been exciting for someone! 😯
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I’ve been retired since 2018 so wasn’t working when covid hit, but this “solitary confinement” is getting to me and would consider working again as welcome relief from it. Very good and relevant story.
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I’m the designated driver who takes both the wife, and the daughter, to various medical appointments, so I get out a couple of times a week. The problem now is that I’m not allowed to accompany them into the offices, and have to sit and wait in the cold car. That’s one reason I got to read 37 books last year. 😯
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Oh my goodness, you’d think they’d have a cubby for you to wait in at least. 37 books is a lot!
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If they won’t let me sit, socially distanced, in a waiting room, they’re not going to stuff me into a broom closet. It’s a matter of legal liability. If I, or any one else, contracted COVID, they could be sued. Better I quietly freeze to death. I’ve learned to deal with it. It helps burn a few extra calories off. I run the car occasionally, to warm it, and take along a hot chocolate – or I can enter a Tim Horton’s coffee shop – masked – and buy one. 😀
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🙂
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Bathroom Conquests…hahahaha, I have a brother-in-law like that.
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Did your autocorrect change hook-up pubs into sit-down cubicles??! 😕
In any case, thanx for the visit. 😀
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Wait, what – huh – sorry, confused. Okay, never mind.
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I wrote of BAR rooms. You commented about bath rooms. It just seemed like the kind of transposition that Autocorrect is famous for. 😳
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Oh my goodness OR a really tired person, without their glasses, getting back into the blog-o-sphere after taking 2 years off while watching a horror movie and being interrupted by my teenagers. Hahahahaha And their uncle is famous for bathroom stories so my mind read that. Hahahahahahahah. Well, that is a funny story of how I met you. 🙂 Tee-hee. Do you do the Saturday challenge, as well?
https://lindaghill.com/2021/01/22/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2021-daily-prompt-jan-23rd/#respond
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Over the years, I’ve settled into a 3 per week, Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule of posting, Friday being Rochelle’s Flash Fiction…. if I can think of a theme. If not, I publish a post about word origins/usage – or tales of stupid criminals.
There are so many ‘Challenges,’3-word, 7-word, 33-word, 50-word, FF 100-word. I’m long on words, but often short on inspiration. It’s taken me since March/2014 to get to #246 – averaging 35/year. I’ll have a look, and may like and comment, but I doubt that I’ll contribute. Welcome back to blogging. I hope to see you around. 😀
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It’s amazing how different the annoying things seem when they’re gone.
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Yeah. Be careful what you wish for. Everything is relative. How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on. 😳
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I’ve been a self-employed freelance writer since 2014, so I didn’t really have to adjust much. Also, I have no desire to go out to bars or concerts anymore. However, I am a people watcher too, and I do sort of miss going out to malls and festivals.
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My pensions come from the UAW, and the Government. Only if they somehow go broke because of COVID , am I in financial trouble. If you’ve read much of my stuff, you’ll know that I’m something of a sociopathic loner, but like you, I used to like going to malls and festivals, Not to be with others, but to observe them – clothing (or lack of it), tattoos, hairdos…. were we ever that callow? 🙄
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Yes.
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This was so relevant to the times right now. The sentiments are echoed by many people. I think I’d rather call it our “New Now” instead of normal. Because I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want this to be our normal. I hope we can go back to the awful coffee and office birthdays!
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I’m retired, trying to stick to a diet, and never drank coffee, so this was all fiction to me. I promised myself that I would not do a Flash Fiction about COVID, but I’m not terribly creative, and this was all that came to mind.
Yes! Let’s hope – pray – wish – work so that this does not remain, and we get (most of) our old “Normal” back. 😀
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