I was working in desktop support at my last job in Chicago. My previous company had a WFH policy that said anyone can work from home as long as they want. The company was sold in December 2021.
The new CEO came in and started pushing for people to return to the office. My job went from going in as needed, to 1 day a week, 2 days, then 3 days. I was already risking going to the office on public trains where half of the people didn't wear masks properly, even though I got vaccinated and boosted. 90% of the time, there was a handful of people in the office. The CEO pushed for local people to come in Wednesdays, vaccination required. Suddenly the office had a lot more people in it and my coworkers and I would be running around dealing with issues.
I was traveling one week and working remotely, there was an all hands meeting. The CEO was speaking about “How it's good seeing everyone back in the office.” and “We're going to be making changes to the platform to include crypto technology.” Then when asked about WFH, he said some bullshit about “I don't believe in enforcing changes. I prefer empowering people to make better choices.” So the better choice is risking the pandemic to go sit in a loud office for 8-9 hours per day?
In the mean time, when these changes were being made, I was looking for 100% remote jobs. I had an interview before I was traveling and a 2nd the week of. I received a remote system engineer job offer for 58% more than my current and accepted it right away. I gave my notice the Monday after, much to my manager's dismay.
My second last week there, I was in the office 4 days, running around and cleaning up the last of my projects. The last week, I ended up testing positive for COVID and had to work remotely. During my exit interview. I gave huge praises to my team and managers for my department. When asked why I was leaving, I said the changes the CEO was making pushed me away and I didn't agree with them at all. I also didn't know where I caught COVID, if it was during my travel or my commute the week before.
I'm taking 2 weeks off in between jobs to recover and relax. Very excited for this new job and finally getting out of desktop support. The salary and benefits are a huge change in my life.