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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Alan Sugar says put a suit on, put a dress on, put your makeup on

230 replies

Dontmakemegoback2office · 12/09/2020 10:30

Do your hair and get back into work..
All from the comfort of his own home. Mind blown.

www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/lord-sugar-says-public-must-put-on-a-suit-put-on-a-dress-and-get-back-to-work/

Lord Alan is of course just worried about all these office blocks that he owns and rents out through Amshold and Amsprop in places like Mayfair being empty and the losses he will now incur due to the fact that we have found a better way to live and work.

The world is changing. Either adapt or disappear.

P.s. we are working Alan, just not in your offices. Because we can do it well from home.

OP posts:
user1471538283 · 12/09/2020 13:59

As shame for him. He can just use some of his assets and any tax he has avoided paying to prop his businesses up. I work from home and my previous self in a suit and heels feels so alien now. We have a responsibility to keep ourselves well and financially stable not to prop up the big businesses. Funny how now things aren't great we are invaluable...

Averyyounggrandmaofsix · 12/09/2020 13:59

When he gets out of his flashy car and uses public transport he can give advice.
He was much nicer when he supported Labour.

RingtheBells · 12/09/2020 13:59

Are the people shopping in high streets wfh or furloughed though, DH wfh and just gets his food at home at break times, he wouldn't bother using his precious time traipsing down the high street.

Heyahun · 12/09/2020 14:01

Don’t even know anyone who still has to wear a suit to work 😂😂

Divebar · 12/09/2020 14:03

It depends how comfortable your set up is at home doesn’t it? If you’ve got a separate room then that’s a different experience than someone sitting in a bedroom in a shared house. At the moment I’m able to choose what I do so I’m doing a day or two in the office a week and I love it. Sadly the guy who ran a sandwich delivery place next to my office is now struggling - no offices to deliver to and my building half empty. All those delivery guys out of a job. I’m not particularly looking forward to winter and the fuel bills in my drafty house either.

Heffalooomia · 12/09/2020 14:08

Humans have the ability to be endlessly entrepreneurial and inventive, we adapt to the prevailing conditions and survive, the entrepreneurs who setup sandwich delivery businesses will be able to to read the zeitgeist and find a new niche for themselves

TatianaBis · 12/09/2020 14:09

I have fun and see people at home, there are lots of neighbours I can chat with.

Heffalooomia · 12/09/2020 14:11

The big dinosaurs with their huge organisations are not nifty and adaptable, they can only try and blackmail the rest of us into being life support systems
Why should we put ourselves at risk trying to keep dinosaurs alive?

Bbq1 · 12/09/2020 14:11

Well, yes. AS is money driven obviously as he wouldn't be a multi millionaire otherwise. I see his point to a degree but I'm not sure where I sit on this. A high percentage of office workers are commenting on how they are safer at home and can wfh just fine. Why were their jobs even office based in thr first place then? I work in a school job but due to the nature of my work there is zero sd and limited protection. I'm not overly concerned about catching Covid but I'd say people who work in an office would be a lot safer than school staff. I think if people can return to the workplace they should as it will really help the economy. Schools have done our part so parents can go back to work. Having said all that, if I could wfh, I probably would.

Sindragosan · 12/09/2020 14:13

Alan Sugar is a sexist arsehole who admitted to throwing women's CVs in the bin rather than risk maternity leave.

That being said, I've been doing a mix of WFH and in the office, and a lot of jobs do benefit from some personal contact with coworkers. Young people especially miss out on learning from more experienced colleagues and the networking opportunities with more senior management that would happen organically in person.

Its going to happen eventually, but pushing for people back in the office right before cold and flu season is madness.

QueenPaws · 12/09/2020 14:15

My desk is in my living room. WFH makes no difference to me really as I'm glued to a computer for the full day and can't move around/take breaks when I feel like it so i do exactly the same amount of work!
I don't mind it as I'm extremely vulnerable but it is isolating. I live alone and don't see anyone

Egghead68 · 12/09/2020 14:19

I’m in the same situation @QueenPaws.

I’m quite happy to do without all the office interruptions though and I meet up with others for lunchtime outdoor exercise regularly so I’m not isolated.

NotCommuting · 12/09/2020 14:20

@Averyyounggrandmaofsix

When he gets out of his flashy car and uses public transport he can give advice. He was much nicer when he supported Labour.
and even sat in his flashy car he's not struggling with the gridlocked traffic and stress of the lost time commuting, he has a chauffeur doing all the work while he sits in the back counting his profits and posting crap on twitter.
EasilyDeleted · 12/09/2020 14:21

Another one who thinks he can sod off. Even though I hate WFH and if my job went that way I'd be looking for another where I could work outside the home.

Egghead68 · 12/09/2020 14:21

the entrepreneurs who setup sandwich delivery businesses will be able to to read the zeitgeist and find a new niche for themselves

As indeed Pret are doing (out of town, deliveroo, evening meal deliveries etc)

Dontmakemegoback2office · 12/09/2020 14:22

Also so many jobs depend on office workers,

Jobs which may no longer be needed unfortunately. The economy will have to adapt and new businesses and jobs will have to go where they are needed.

You can’t artificially keep jobs in place that aren’t needed by forcing people to do things they neither want nor need to do.

OP posts:
DarkDarkNight · 12/09/2020 14:29

What a knob. If companies decide that working from home is viable in the long run then that is their decision to make. There are a lot of positives- a much better work/life balance for employees for one thing which Can only have a positive effect on mental health. I can’t summon up much sympathy for landlords who made a fortune renting out office space to be honest.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 12/09/2020 14:29

@everythingisginandroses

He's a greedy gobshite.
Greedy ARROGANT gobshite!
PatriciaPerch · 12/09/2020 14:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VinylDetective · 12/09/2020 14:33

@FreekStar

People might like working from home for obvious reasons. It's never going to be as productive as having people go to the office though.
Why on earth not? I’ve worked from home to do particularly complex tasks needing intense concentration for years. And you’re far more productive when you’re not tired out from a long commute before you even start.
elppaenip · 12/09/2020 14:38

When will Suralan start taking his own advice and start wearing a dress and make-up to the office?

Scotslass84 · 12/09/2020 14:42

Absolutely agree with you OP.

Alan Sugar can go and fuck himself. Why is it our job to prop up the city centre economy, the continuation of which has pushed us continually to commute like lemmings every day, paying through the nose for the privilege to line his pockets.

Adapt or die. That's the free capitalist market isn't it?
Here's their chance to do it.

Local businesses appear to have been thriving by many working at home.

nokidshere · 12/09/2020 14:47

It's not just Alan sugar and people like him who have their own agenda though is it. People are inherently selfish and don't care what is happening to the wider world as long as they are ok.

It's all very well saying 'I love whf' but that because it suits you. Employers are laughing all the way to the bank now they don't have extra costs of premises/heating/etc. Their staff are essentially looking after themselves, and using their own resources to do so. Meanwhile service based shops and restaurants etc are in danger of disappearing from our town centres and many people won't be able to work at all.

Many of my friends want to go back to work. Having your home and office in the same space is not conducive to good mental health for many people. Lots don't have the luxury of a separate space in which to work, or even a quiet space. Salaries will go down, pensions will be diminished, claims for mental health, back problems, stress will go up. Companies won't need their workforce to be in the uk and will outsource it to cheaper places.

It's all very well saying well I've done that, prefer this, so let's do it this way from now on, but you are eroding the opportunities for our young people and future generations. Our young already are at a disadvantage of not being able to afford to leave home because property and rent is extortionate, now they have to work at home on their bed or the kitchen table with their parents too.

People can't be free in their own homes, the non working have to tiptoe round the working so they can be efficient and professional, children have to 'be quiet' because mummy/daddy are on a zoom call or making a telephone call.

So yes, let's have a shift in work/life balance. Let's find a solution that allows more flexibility for those who want or need it. But let's not pretend that a shift to home working for all is, or ever will be, a good thing for our country as a whole.

nokidshere · 12/09/2020 14:49

Local businesses appear to have been thriving by many working at home.

Not in our town centre. It's like a ghost town. Shops and businesses closing, jobs lost.

Fungster · 12/09/2020 14:51

After a bit I stop feeling like I’m working from home and start feeling like I live at work. I like talking to people face to face. Socialising. Going for a quick drink after work sometimes.

I feel the same.

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