FATHER P. CLIP

Bringing hope, peace and unity to the good brethren of business supplies

The good Father debates whether anyone is really telling the truth about their preferred working environment

don’t believe

Ianyone anymore when they say they would rather be in the office than working from home. However, I also don’t believe anyone when they say they would rather be working from home than the office - I don’t think anyone knows themselves!

Being in the office means that we see our colleagues again, and get into more of a routine - but do we really want to see our colleagues again and get into more of a routine? Some people have tried going back to the office and have quickly remembered that the people they work with are a pain in the backside, and the mindnumbing traffic standstills play havoc with their mental wellbeing, but they don’t want to admit it.

Let’s face it, if we say we don’t like being in the office it’s an obvious slight towards the people there. Everyone wants to stay polite but, at the same time, they don’t want to fall straight back into an office routine where they might get stuck there forever again.

Therein lies the problem for office products dealers. People aren’t being honest. Every time you are told that an office is about to be fully-staffed you find that it isn’t. There have been a series of false alarms for us with our top companies - I’ve even taken to doing headcounts in the morning, hiding behind bushes with a number clicker. I was accosted last week because one of our customers didn’t have a suitable bush to hide behind and they thought I was checking what time they were coming in to work. That cost me a fortune in free tins of Quality Street!

Another problem with being an office supplies dealer during this pandemic is that we’ve spent so much time preaching to customers about the benefits of buying lots of PPE equipment that we dare not be seen in public without being fully suited-andbooted with visors, gloves and hand gel.

We’ve definitely made a rod for our own backs - but, to look on the bright side a bit, it should mean that office supplies dealers should be the healthiest bunch of people out there!