From nighty to nine-to-five

Reporter Roshan Abrahams unpacks what going back to the office was like for her.

- Roshan Abrahams

Stepping back into the office after almost six years felt like being thrown into a parallel universe where everything was the same but also absolutely wrong. Like St

Going from working at home to working in an office again was a full-on culture shock. Suddenly, I had to iron clothes and take early showers. And spend 30 minutes deciding on a top and a bottom outfit, praying it will fit.

Meanwhile, my former work uniform (that holy, loyal nighty) lay abandoned, betrayed, whispering, “So this is how you treat me?”

Then came the emotional turbulence. Nostalgia? Panic? Existential dread? All of them doing cartwheels in my DNA, feeling like it was my first job as I swiped my access card at the new building's entrance.

I nodded at the security guards with the confidence of someone who definitely isn't using a stolen card, hoping no one notices. Next time I'll remember their names: Sipho and Ntando, the guardians of the gates, watchers of the suspicious employee returning from the wilderness.

Flashback to almost six years ago: three colleagues were working on ancient PCs with the energy of Windows 95, no laptops, no WiFi, nothing. Meanwhile, the rest of us were escaping home faster than Cyril could say “My fellow South Africans...”