A lot of folks got a very concrete reminder of how little regard management has for their judgement, even if not laid off or fired.

It wasn't "have access to new AI tools and use them as appropriate", it was "use these tools, they can do your job better than you can and you are an idiot if you think otherwise".

I don't think I've had enthusiasm for any job I've had for at least 20 years. They're just how I avoid being homeless.

Fuck you. Split out fully remote from hybrid. As someone who was fully remote "unofficially" from 2020-2024, then had my job threatened like everyone else with mandatory rto - yeah, I don't feel valued.

Sitting in a car for 40 minutes each way when I could be taking that zoom/teams call from the comfort of my home office while drinking a good coffee in comfortable clothes was infuriating before gas cost more than $100/gal. (No, there isn't public transit available for my commute, or I'd take that.)

Adding AI makes it even more insulting.

So you're saying AI is so powerful, it'll replace my job - the same job that requires me in the office 4 days a week. What are you going to do, buy robots to replace us developers?!

The I'm tired boss meme is real. Hard to stay enthusiastic when regardless of how much we work we never catch up.

Remote workers... because their managers don't know how to manage, and can't set expectations or communicate achievement. That used to be covered by coworker chats at lunch, apparently.