Back in May, the company decided to close our 12th Ave. location due to its prohibitive cost and lack of use. This was a decision I supported – the extreme short notice was not particularly welcome, however. I literally had a day to pack up and leave, as that was just before I went to Alaska with mom.
Upon returning, we had acquired space with Work Nicer over in Ramsay, across the street from Dandy Brewing. Verrrrry dangerous, in my opinion. And the location wasn’t exactly ideal. While I have done the long haul out to the end of Inglewood when I was with Travel Alberta, that was pre-COVID and the change in my commuting desires made the Ramsay location (roughly the same distance) less desirable.
In short, I didn’t want to spend 90 minutes commuting one way (have I mentioned that Calgary Transit sucks? – it shouldn’t take 90 minutes to go a mere 12 kilometres). Driving was out of the question (driving through downtown during rush hour? You might as well tattoo “Permanent Asshole” on my forehead…) So what about biking? Apparently theft there was very high and bring the bike inside was a no-no.
Suffice to say, I went to that location twice. One of those times was to meet our new SVP Client Services for Calgary. The other was to have a very long conversation over 4 beers with a coworker (but that’s another rant).
In my opinion, we should have never gone to that location. It wasn’t beneficial. It served no real purpose. Most of us in the Calgary office – hilariously – don’t work with each other. We work with other cities. We’re effectively remote. (It’s also worth noting that with the ~60 Venture Play folks present at the start of merger, there’s only about 10 of us left.) The office space didn’t solve any collaborative effort that was present in Calgary.
But that space was always meant to be temporary, we wanted something more permanent. The search went on for other locations. Those of us in “leadership” pressed for a survey to get a better idea of where everyone was willing to go. In the end, regardless of input, we ended up choosing WeWork in downtown Calgary. A mild improvement from Work Nicer, but still a co-working space.
All that said, I actually support this move, partly for selfish reasons. First, I’m sick and tired of being in my basement. (That’s where my home office is.) More important, I’m sick of being at home all the time. It doesn’t feel as bad as during COVID (that really sucked), but being at home all the time isn’t great on one’s well-being. For me, going into an office is a focus shift: I’m going there for a reason and that’s a great mental break. (It also gets me away from the fridge. Which is a very, very good thing.)
Today was my first day in the new space. WeWork, if you’ve never seen one before, is basically a series of small offices that are rented/leased based on need: how much space is required? For us, it’s 8 desks (apparently, we could have had more in this space, but it would be cramped). We’re on the 18th floor of Stephen Avenue Place, looking south-east towards the Fairmont Palliser, overlooking Stephen Avenue and the former Hudson’s Bay. The sunrises here are brilliant.
Commuting (for me) is so much easier: walk/bus to C-Train, get off at 3rd St. and walk across the road. It’s the second shortest one I’ve had since moving to Calgary (I think, there’s probably room for debate). No other connection, no convoluted wandering through downtown buildings.
It’s also the first time I’ve been in a high-rise for an office, and the first time I’ve worked north of the railway tracks that bisect the downtown core from the “south side”, which is where I’ve previously worked. (I will caveat that, technically, Travel Alberta was north of the tracks, but it was far out of downtown, and I’m also excluding the University of Calgary as it’s well north of downtown, too). It seems, somehow, more grown up than my previous offices.
But, yes, I’m still wearing ugly shirts. I mean, c’mon, it’s me.
I wonder when the novelty of working in a WeWork space will wear off. It’s a bit weird, it feels like a labyrinth because of all the black metal-and-glass dividers, even though the floor is set up as a ring around the floor: offices on the outside of the ring have the windows, ones on the inside do not. It’s simple. But it still feels a bit weird.
Still, it’s good to get out. Even if winter is coming…
