The mark of genius in a man is the extent to which he agrees with you

ANDY KESSLER: Back to the Office in 2022: We crave contact with co-workers, but we’ve lost our tolerance for life’s inconveniences.

I hate to break it to you, but with last week’s news that booster shots reduce the severity of the Omicron variant and the success of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s new antiviral pill, it’s back to the office in 2022 for most of us. But are we again vulnerable to a host of diseases, plus many inconveniences we’ve long forgotten? Life moves pretty fast. I don’t know if most folks are ready.

Let’s face it, after more than 20 months of the roll-out-of-bed commute, many have zero tolerance for traffic—remember rubbernecking delays? Or wearing pants, let alone clean clothes. Or drinking industrial-grade office coffee mellowed by nondairy creamers. Your body will reject that like week-old fish.

It’s the broom for Zoom. Welcome back to conference rooms and crowded in-person meetings, including that marketing associate who subtly coughs while you’re talking, and you always fall for it and exhibit common decency and pause only to be interrupted by the cougher and have the meeting hijacked. Yeah, bet you don’t miss that. . . .

Normal life is going to take some adjustment. You’ve probably lost immunity to those loudmouths at gatherings who go on about themselves, their important careers, their gifted children—with the word “gifted” spoken in a slight whisper. And to that guy who replies “indeed” no matter what you say.

What else is coming back that our brains aren’t prepared for? Long lines. Reservations required. Higher prices. Crowded subways. Smelly gyms. Stock-market downturns. Close talkers. Then add “no workers” and “supply-chain disruptions” to the list of excuses for bad service. Sadly, there’s no vaccine for any of these problems. Hopefully just reading about them here helps your mind and body produce enough social antibodies to make re-entry easier.

We built immunity to those nasty things over decades and put up with them for a reason. We work in offices because we need to look people in the eye and gauge their sincerity or conviction. We go to meetings because body language often communicates better than words. We visit clients and build rapport to close deals—always be closing. We put up with oddball co-workers because we crave camaraderie. I’m still friends with folks I worked with decades ago, many who would beat me up in meetings, ripping apart my arguments with what seemed like an ice pick. Still, they made me better.

Working in offices enhances our ability to learn. It isn’t only that serendipitous ideas spark around water coolers or chance encounters; real learning comes through osmosis. Patterns and experiences seep into our brains from working with and watching others over long stretches. Anyone who entered the working world over Zoom or Slack has been robbed of that ability to learn.