They’re taking Zoom calls without headphones. They’re strolling over to your desk in sweaty gym clothes. And, yup, they’re microwaving fish again.
Were our co-workers always this annoying?
Back at the office, the quirks suddenly seem louder, grosser and harder than ever to confront. Our tolerance for other humans has grown thin. Working from home, when co-workers grated on us, we could screen their calls, mute their Zoom square or let out a low-level scream after tapping ‘leave meeting.’
Not only are we stuck with each other in the office, plenty of us also got weird during the WFH years.
“This is what happens when you cut people off socially,” says Tessa West, a New York University psychology professor who studies uncomfortable interactions. “We developed some habits that are nonnormative, that were totally fine in our houses. Now we’re having a hard time letting go.”
She’s observed colleagues in her workplace entering conference rooms without shoes and painting their nails at their desk. The line of what’s acceptable seems to have shifted—for some people, at least.
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