WeWork is Broken
Returning to the office, but what happens when the office disappears?
Image description: WeWork branded coffee mug, broken, left by the sink.
My girlfriend, Stacey, would be surprised (and delighted) to know that I was not responsible for breaking this particular coffee mug.
She recently told me that she expects at least one thing to be broken while she goes away (which she does often). “Well, Fuck You!” I think I said (which I most certainly didn’t). Fair enough. I never started that punk band “Accident Prone” after drawing many anarchy “circle A” logos, complete with a charged-up punk with a broken leg braced up and in full leather. Let me tell you about my stage broken leg sometime. I guess I did end up in the ‘cast’ (more like a Moon Boot for an entire year, the closest I will ever be to an astronaut, too).
WeWork filed for Bankruptcy.
On November 6, 2023, WeWork Inc. commenced a strategic reorganization process in the U.S. and Canada to rationalize its lease portfolio and position the company for sustainable, long-term growth for the benefit of all stakeholders. During this process, WeWork spaces remain open and operational, and there will be no change to how the Company operates for its members. They have negotiated lease extensions and more with landlords as they figure this out.
Let’s go back to September. I was unexpectedly notified that my monthly desk access (24 hours) would be stripped back to 6 AM - Midnight. Instead of just me specifically, this is company-wide. I was seriously bummed out about this, as I am someone who uses this as a place to drop my bag or other things to pick up later, sometimes after midnight. I searched the city for alternatives, but the WeWork deal I have is still the best one, and the one time after midnight that I did try my access card, it worked. So, no harm or foul. The lovely community manager read my online feedback, and we met. She assured me they loved having me here. She also assured me this was more of a security concern, as recent incidents in New York spawned the move.
This WeWork is my home, and I am one of the many familiar faces the staff often sees roll in the door (mostly after 10 AM on any given day). Not only do I have a distraction-free workspace, with my personal cushion lap desk and other amenities like sound booths for podcasts and Zooms, phone booths, and, of course, all the coffee you can drink. Sometimes, there are even energy drinks and non-alcoholic beers in the fridge. It’s just lovely. It is nicer than any offices I’ve ever worked in. I am including Sal’s spare bedroom and the time I had a 2001: A Space Odyssey building to myself after the pandemic as The LargeNational Concert Promoter I was working for basically let me stay there rent-free through the pandemic until I finally got the boot. It was great while it lasted, which was too long.
Image Description: Four WeWorkers occupying common area desk space near the kitchen, with laptops and devices open, at 135 W 41st St, New York, NY 10036 in October of 2023.
I speculate, however, that the access hour change was partially a financial decision based on the company’s upcoming November Chapter 11. By the way, New York WeWork offices saved my bacon in October of this year when I was at New York Comic Con and had to wrap up a few non-vacation work things (and needed ‘free’ coffee).
I work from home, but Stacey and I have an arrangement that she gets to spend her days off Clay-free in the house to take care of whatever she needs to, in a distraction-free environment! Rather than an exile, I see this as a John Hodgman-type rule about giving your partner space (she is her own human being in her own right). I always dreamed of having a work-from-home job, and while we are still working on a shared studio space (she uses it) in our house, after having an entire building to lonesome for so long, I have gotten used to it. I even slept there one night in a snowstorm.
Image description: Gary Lockwood as astronaut Frank Poole exercising while his crew hibernates from the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
Before, during, and especially after the pandemic, I crave just being around other people. I am social and friendly, but what is strange about working in a co-working space is that you aren’t surrounded by people working towards the same goal as you would when working for a company that shares a roof. Accounting and Marketing are separate departments, but you work toward the same bottom line. I guess what I mean is—you have common things to bitch about.
“what is strange about working in a co-working space is that you aren’t surrounded by people working on the same things as you”
As a freelancer, you are your own marketing, accounting, sales, design, and social media team all in one! As I consider my bridge job options between anchor contracts (I am writing this because it is too cold to do Uber Eats on my bike tonight), I also consider what I would be doing if I weren’t here at my office.
At WeWork, I’ve met and talked with plenty of people. On Halloween, I met another Star Trek Captain, and I usually indulge in whatever happy hour snacks are laid out. Small talk, chat. They did have an ‘introduce yourself’ kind of night, and I obnoxiously did that, and some people might recognize me or know my name from that day. I mostly do a lot of nods and ‘heyhowareya’ type things near the copy machine as we ‘bread and butter’ navigate past each other down narrow hallways.
Image description: The Author is Captain Pike, and WeWork member Jess is Captain Janeway on Halloween in costume at WeWork in Central Square Cambridge. October 2023.
These people aren’t my work friends, but something else without definition. I wish I had someone else that shared my type of work or was even working on one of my projects to complain about, ‘oh yeah, it would be nice if Client A knew what they wanted’ or ‘did you hear about Asshole A is not at Company Y any more?’ ‘That’s crazy’! water cooler type talk. We’re an archipelago of islands. Atolls surrounded by the coral of our fight or flight defenses, an armor for Slack messages and DMs. A loosely affiliated European Union, with our own Brexit from the corporate world to keep us occupied.
While desiring more personal connections (be it with the math professor who tutors over Zoom in the whiteboard room or the guy who is my age who writes code, maybe for video games, or perhaps he likes to play them here between code writing sessions), I do feel a unique energy that, let’s face it, other people can, and certainly do, provide.
When my depression hits hard, I need to be around people. This is an odd way to do it, but now that I reflect on it, most of my therapy sessions in the past year have happened here at WeWork in a phone booth—I’m the Clark Kent of mental health.
Being a corporation, WeWork send out messaging and offered a hub of updates and a message from the CEO.
The most important thing to know is that WeWork spaces are open and operational – and we look forward to serving you as we always have.
There’s a lot in the weeds to get into their messaging, but largely, nothing has changed here yet.
WeWork is here to stay. Our spaces are open and operational, and our team is here to serve you. Throughout this process, WeWork spaces will continue to be operated to the highest standard.
Our members are our top priority. We recognize the trust you place in us by choosing to work within our community. We remain fully committed to provide our spaces and services to you and ensure your business continuity.
Your membership agreement will not be impacted by this process. Your membership agreement remains active and we will continue to honor our obligations under your agreement.
As always, we will continue to communicate with you. While we continue the necessary process of working with our landlords to improve our lease portfolio, we plan to remain in the vast majority of our buildings and are committed to communicating with members first and early should we foresee potential changes.
I appreciate the transparency, but the knot in my stomach, like my far-from-now Death Day, looms. It's just another stick to add on to my ‘inevitability of change’ funeral pyre.
What happens when I leave this co-working space for the last time? Sure, the market has competitors, but I toured them, and they aren’t providing nearly as good a product as WeWork. It’s the Coke, and the rest are RC Cola. I even liked that WeWork movie. I’m not deranged; I know it’s only a place with slightly- better-than-IKEA furniture that has solved a crucial part of the post-pandemic hybrid-work loneliness by repurposing underused office space.
The truth is, I love routine, the place is clean, and there’s not a cat (I’m just allergic, sorry, Sal and Devo!), and I am not doing laps around the building to get my steps in all alone, in a structure that no one seems to care about anymore, like some The Last Of Us subplot.
What makes WeWork something great? The answer is simple.
The people. As I just looked up, someone here is teaching a woman to two-step.
Dancing.
Now, how about that?
Please let me know your thoughts if you are a also a freelancer using a co-working space or hybrid worker. Do you feel better around people?
Very wellllll said, and an interesting perspective on an office that isn't really your office and co-workers that aren't really your co-wokrers. In a previous life, I was asked to leave an office space that I had inhabited for almost twenty years, and was going to be moved to a small desk in a workspace that was essentially a "hotel space." For that and a few other reasons, I decided to quit and find something else. A sense of space, and your comfortability in it is important, so if you are comfortable there, and get free coffee, then stay there until your ID card no longer works. And as someone who has visited you at WeWork on a few occasions, I did feel a cool vibe somewhere between belonging and "no one is going to bother me." And the bathrooms were very clean! I hope for your sake, and the sake of your "co-workers," the doors stay open.