Is Office Foosball a Covid Casualty?

October, 5th, 2021

Categories: Articles, Blog Tags: whipgroup

By Wesley W. Whitmyer, Jr.

There was a time when the foosball table was a raucous gathering spot each day in our office at 5pm. Since March 2020, no one has touched the foosball table. More or less we are all back to work but no one plays foosball. The 5pm roar marking the “end” of a good days’ work is no more.

Do the handles transmit virus? Is it fear of spittle? Or are we just too focused on our post-Covid WFH life? We still make coffee and regularly have lunch with colleagues. Foosball just didn’t make the cut when we came back to work.

That’s a shame. We all need a bit of fun, but Covid seems to have sucked the joy out of everyone it didn’t kill. Will foosball ever return to our office lives?

It’s all pretty strange. Maybe the WFH mentality has merged with our virtual, online lives choking out all possibility for in-person fun in the physical world.

We are willing (or required?) to work in person — at least a few days a week — but are we unwilling to put similar energy into in-person social relationships? It’ll be sad and unhealthy if we aren’t.

Our office recently held a social gathering outdoors at a nearby restaurant. While some were initially mixed about attending, the next day every single person was positive about the experience. They realized, I think, that something important and meaningful in their work and their lives had been missing.

Let’s all reclaim it. To the foosball tables.

 

WHIPgroup is leading counsel for U.S. and international technology companies. We specialize in patent and trademark law. Our attorneys do both prosecution and litigation, providing a unique, wholistic perspective for solving business and legal problems.

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