Two Fridays ago - Friday May 7 - the minor boss and the big boss got their knickers in a twist about this "working off-site" thing. It all started with my in/out message to the whole group about working at the cafe (in/out messages being standard practice in our group). Then a couple of people replied-to-all about wanting me to bring them stuff from the cafe, and someone even mentioned maybe joining me there.

Not long after this chain of exchanges, the minor boss sent out a very sternly worded message to his team (the "ops" team) that all members were expected to work at the office unless there was a very specific reason that they needed to be away. The tone of the message made me immediately think of the word "gestapo".

Not long after, a longer message from the big boss said that he'd been very concerned about the plethora of in/out messages saying that people were going to be working elsewhere, and emphasizing that especially in the coming months, it was going to be very important for people to work in their offices. If they needed to be elsewhere, they were to ask for permission as far in advance as possible. He cc'd this message to our organization's CFO.

Reaction within our group ranged from being outright insulted to being taken aback or surprised. But many people I talked to did not take kindly to the message, and again, the word "gestapo" came to mind. I had a few side conversations with people there over email and instant messaging, and we made plenty of snide remarks about just how insulting the big boss's message was.

I was not present at out weekly "donuts" meeting the next week, but heard later that the topic had come up, and the big boss had honed right in on my message about working at the cafe, and how he really didn't appreciate the idea of people joining me, and even wasn't very happy about me bringing people stuff from the cafe. However, I was told that people quickly disabused him of any notions that anyone was serious about going down to the cafe, and asked what in the world was wrong with my bringing people pastries if I were stopping there anyway?

So I'm told that he back-pedaled and blustered a bit, and that they worked the issue through. On my first day back in the office, Wednesday, the boss stopped by and personally explained to me why he wanted people to be around (it had to do with people being available in case things came up at meetings, or whenever). I pointed out to him that sometimes, people were not going to know "in advance" that they had to work elsewhere. I'd heard more than one person say, in addition to my own experience, that sometimes the office was not a good place to get things done, and that people would opt to work at home in those cases. He replied that people should talk to him about workplace issues. But I pointed out that many times, these were isolated incidents, and were not systemic problems. And in these cases, people need the flexibility to just take off and go somewhere where they can get their work done.

After all this, we noticed a number of in/out messages from the boss saying that he would be working, of all places, at home! As a matter of fact, since we've all worked for him, we've grown accustomed to him being in the office only sporadically. When he's not sick or at a meeting elsewhere, he is often working at home! People have been quick to see the irony in this. For my part, it certainly removes a great deal of credibility from his argument, and I have continued to operate as normal, except that now I do not send in/out messages.