got the all-hands calendar invite on a tuesday. RTO announcement hit on thursday. effective date: three weeks out.
no room for discussion, no FAQ, just 'we believe in the energy of being together' and a PDF about the parking garage.
my commute is 1h45m each way. that's 14 hours a week i'm losing. i have two kids in daycare. the math just doesn't work.
i asked my manager if there was any flexibility for my situation specifically. he said he'd 'raise it.' i never heard back. i started applying that same thursday.
three months later i'm at a smaller company, fully remote, 22% pay bump. the announcement was the best thing that happened to my career this year. but i'm aware that's luck and not everyone lands soft. the two colleagues who stayed are miserable. one told me the office is half-empty on 'required' days anyway.