AIBU to HATE working in an office?

[HappyGirlNow]

With loads of other people.. I find it claustrophobic,irritating and depressing after lots of years of doing it.. I think although I'm confident and will be sociable when required I'm an introvert at heart and am finding it harder and harder to deal with being around people so much, all day, day in day out..

I just want to start my own business, work from home.. Although I'll have to deal with other people I'll be able to get away from them too!

Do other people feel like this?

Another thing I used to hate was simply not being allowed to leave the building. You were basically in prison for the day. Allowed out at lunchtime (though it was frowned upon, with most people working through) but was nowhere much to go as was on an industrial estate. View from the window was the car park and main road. Then they actually introduced a rule where you had to inform a colleague if you expected to be away from your desk for more than 5 minutes. And this was a professional job, not a call centre.
Still work in an office but you are allowed to nip out to the shop or to get a coffee if you want, and you don't have to estimate how long you're likely to be in the loo

yes, the feeling of imprisonment is awful. I feel like a caged animal. I hate having to sit there til 5pm, even though sometimes I don't have enough to do, or I'm feeling tired or whatever, just...staring. It feels unnatural somehow.

yabu if you hate it that much don't do it!

This has made me appreciate my job.

I have recently started ft work after 15 years of 2 days per week.

I go into the office for about an hour and then I go out on site visits (I'm a surveyor) and I work from home in the afternoons if I want to. I find this is a perfect mix. I get enough office banter - any more would drive me a bit nuts I think.

I think it depends totally on the people you have to work with every day. I once worked with a team of the most catty, backstabbing women, who had never left the playground mentally, it was the most demoralising 5 years of my life, knowing that every time you left your desk someone would be bitching about you.

On the other hand, I've also worked with a fantastic team, who all got on really well and spent 8 hours a day screaming with laughter. I now work in a very small office, so most of the time there's just me and one other woman here, we get on well so it's a pleasant place to come to a few times a week.

So YANBU if you're suffering a personality clash!

I agree, ArseElblow. I like working in an office but then again, looking at some of the descriptions here about what other people's colleagues are like, I totally understand why they hate it. It does depend on how you gell with your team.

Having worked in many different teams and organisations, you don't expect to get along with everyone. There will always be some people who get on your tits. But in most places I have worked, thankfully they were the minority and people knew them for what they were.

For my sort of work, I have to work in a team and be able to interact with senior management as well as mentor and motivate juniors and manage turnover . It would be very difficult to not work in an office environment.

In my first job out of university I had my own office (and secretary who had her own office guarding access to my office) which was brill as you could hide in there and wear slippers, listen to radio etc. Since then, the 1990s and 2000s meant working in various open plan offices. 2010 onwards started hot desking at multiple sites plus some working from home. Then working from home was banned and work became increasingly unbearable. Took voluntary redundancy in 2012. Since then have done some work from home but feel sometimes socially isolated. Have decided to take the plunge into some temporary contract work for a bit of a change. although it will be working in an office it will be 3 months working for the local prison!!!. it is very handy can walk to work yay and hours are flexible

I am keen to work in different work environments/sectors without the need to commit to a decade of working in the same place ever again!
looking forward to it but some trepidation about working in a prison environment/culture. guessing i will either love it or hate it....