I feel like a ghost in the office I helped build.
By @oscarlately · Work
I've been at my company for almost 25 years. We used to be a family, but now everything is done through chat apps and project management software. My new manager thinks I'm difficult for wanting to have a real conversation instead of just getting a thumbs-up emoji.
The full story
I started working here when we were a scrappy little company in a tiny office. We all knew each other's families, we had potlucks, we celebrated birthdays with a cake in the breakroom that someone's wife or husband had baked. It was a community. Over the years we grew, and I grew with it, eventually leading a team of my own. Then about five years ago, things started to change. And especially after 2020, the whole culture shifted. It’s all about 'asynchronous communication' and 'workflow optimization' now. People don't talk, they send Slack messages. No one walks over to your desk to ask a question; they create a ticket in a system. I lead a small design team, and my new boss, who is a decade younger than my own son, manages our entire department from a different city he’s never even visited. Last week, we were working on a big project and I could see one of the junior designers was really struggling. She was making the same mistake over and over. I sent her a message asking if she wanted to hop on a quick call to talk it through. Five minutes later, my manager messages me directly: 'Let's keep project feedback documented in the official channel. It's more efficient and maintains a single source of truth.' I was floored. I wasn't undermining him, I was trying to mentor a young employee! The way I've always done it. By talking to them. I feel like my experience is seen as a liability, not an asset. All the social glue that I believe held this place together for decades has been dissolved in favor of 'productivity' that feels utterly soulless. I’m not just being nostalgic for the 'good old days'; I genuinely believe we're losing something vital, that our work is becoming weaker and our people more disposable because we've forgotten how to be, well, people. Am I just an old dinosaur who needs to get with the program, or is this new way of working as hollow as it feels?
How people voted
- Bad Move — 33% (19 votes)
- Needs Context — 35% (20 votes)
- Reasonable — 32% (18 votes)
Readers are split: “Needs Context” leads with 35% — 57 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@karaliterally — time to retire.
@kindahungry — you should start demanding a quick call for every slack message
@brynnsorta — bruh
@lanetbh — Have you tried scheduling a 1-on-1 with him to explain your perspective?
@anywayyy — Real mentorship happens face-to-face, not in a ticket.
Keep reading
- I took a pay cut so my coworker could keep his job.
- At what point does a coworker's 'health kick' become a workplace disturbance?
- My coworkers made a group chat without me to complain about me.
- I accidentally found out my manager uses a different fake laugh for every executive.
- Every time I go to the office coffee bar someone tries to pay for my drink.