We Can Eat Out but Not Go to The Office?

 

At Chez Carlino, Friday dinner is takeout.

Since our humble hamlet is host to an impressive roster of 18 restaurants we have a wide selection of international cuisines – from Indian and Tex Mex to Greek and Korean. But on this past Friday the Mrs. and I decided to opt for dine-in.

On this night, our town’s version of “restaurant row” was frenetic. Nearly every establishment was sardined with hungry customers and waiting lines in some venues snaked into the parking lots. As a resident I was happy for the owners who, through no fault of their own have suffered greatly over the past 20 months or so.

But I sort of marveled at the hypocrisy of those dining at a restaurant often seated just feet away from other guests but remain hesitant to venture back to their respective offices. Most eateries have relaxed the former rules of COVID protocol – i.e., no masks, scant spacing between tables etc. By contrast many offices and companies have enacted far more stringent rules such as siting desks at least six feet apart, shutting off the water coolers and prohibiting the traditional morning gatherings by the coffee machine.

And yet many of those same restaurant regulars steadfastly refuse a return to the office despite those myriad precautions. Perhaps many of them have gotten used to donning jeans and T-shirts instead of button-down shirts and sport jackets and did not miss riding in crowded subways and commuter trains. But whatever the reason, I refuse to believe it’s all because of perceived health risks.

About 40 miles south of me in New York City many restaurants reportedly are functioning at peak capacity but conversely, according to a study of office space occupancy, the Big Apple’s percentage stood at below 28 percent.

Since the onset of the pandemic, there have been articles ad infinitum about how the traditional workspace has morphed into a hybrid of in-house and remote. And all indications and surveys state that it will likely stay that way for the near future and most likely permanently.

I know that many of folks in our CPA space have reconfigured their offices to accommodate those who want to continue to work from home.

This March will mark my 10^th anniversary of working remotely, so the COVID crisis really didn’t impact me in that respect although I would have preferred to meet with clients face to face as opposed to scheduling Zoom or Microsoft Teams calls.

I cheered the resurgence of the restaurant industry in terms of customer counts, and I’m hoping for a similar resurrection of the office.