First three days under the new 4-day mandate and the math is even worse than I expected.

We made it almost six years without a mandate. Then HR announced “Operating Model 2026” two months ago. Last week was week one.

31 miles each way through Atlanta traffic. Best case 50 minutes. Worst case 95. Parking $24 a day. Lobby coffee $5.75 and tastes like nothing. Cafe lunch $14 on a cheap day, $19 if you want something that looks like a kitchen made it.

Three days in I have spent $204 I would not have spent. Driven 186 miles. Have not been able to focus during a single deep-work block because my floor has open seating and a treadmill desk someone is always on.

My manager is in Dallas. My two project partners are in Madrid. The only person I knew before this is on a different team and we eat lunch in silence because we are both on Slack with our actual teammates.

Have not made dinner since Monday. Have not gone to the gym since Monday. The cat looked at me Wednesday night with what I am choosing to interpret as confusion.

I have been remote almost six years and I geuninely don’t know how I did this in my twenties.

Started a list of remote-first companies. It is shorter than I want it to be.