By Tony Samson
STAYCATION was a clever marketing strategy for hotels to fill up rooms over lean days like weekends which business travelers seldom book. It meant staying a weekend in a nearby luxe hotel, requiring a short car trip (free basement parking) at the same time enjoying fresh bed sheets, fluffy towels, a swimming pool, and free breakfast buffet. And this is offered as a package with hefty discounts for a family staying in the city and having a vacation. This is not to be confused with the shorter stay for a couple where the fluffy towels also come in handy along with a preference for in-room dining — no breakfast required.
Can staying at home even on a work day and going to the office downstairs in pajamas be the new meaning of staycation?
Even those retired from work, including those “between jobs,” had a schedule involving getting out of the house. This may even have been a daily routine with a digital calendar slicing up the day’s to-do list into hours, lest they be forgotten — check out the new jazz pub in Timog. These activities filled up the hours which included commute time. Often did we airily dismiss this boring routine and envied start-up entrepreneurs in the fin tech space looking for angels and whose run of the day was more freewheeling but longer.
Of course, staying home and making a tour of corners and checking the aquarium for bubbles and what’s still there in the attic can be something of a routine too, especially in a household where division of labor is enshrined. (You can’t just lie around the house and read about stoicism.) Home work (two words) is a routine for the homemaker.
Breaks from routine are also scheduled. Isn’t this what vacations are for? There was a time when such breaks were an option. Not these days. But vacations were welcome disruptions of routine. They were stress-relievers when the office rut (from the same root word) got too repetitive or pressured. The very novelty of a new place to visit like Milan or Davao offered a break from routine, especially with the option of customized tours, and lots of unscheduled activities like shopping and trying out restaurants.
Still, the person used to routine and having something definite to do with a schedule to follow during the day seems at a loss when the calendar is blank. Isn’t this the biggest fear of someone retired from work? Second only to the loss of revenues, or their lack of regularity. Dipping into savings can be stressful.
We are supposed to be creatures of habit. Routine provides a certain structure to life, like three meals a day. Even the scheduled change of scenery going from home to office and the commute time this involves can be comforting. A full calendar seems to define the value of a person. And staying home, even when this entails working on a computer or phone and attending virtual meetings is a new routine that takes getting used to.
Routine is not really something we embrace. It can be stultifying too. So, maybe staying at home at this time has become, even if only temporarily, the new normal in terms of work habits. What is missing are the little breaks from routine. The coffee chats, the meetings outside the office, the training sessions, and dropping in on colleagues, these are not possible when forced to stay home.
Maybe the next wave of medical attention will involve psychiatric therapy. The findings posted on social media may not be as compelling as the present updates on the contagion spread. Still, the sense of alienation and the interruption of the circadian sleep patterns will be pronounced. When asked what exercise was preferred, do “climbing the walls” and “tearing out my hair” qualify?
Who would have thought that anyone would miss traffic jams with motorcycles weaving in and out between the stuck cars, of people lining up for their rides? People were going somewhere. Economists arguing lost productivity and man hours from commute time are also quick to point out the increase in car sales and the boom in SMEs. They point out that heavy traffic is an indicator of economic growth. Hmmmm.
The empty streets with checkpoints along the way are eerie. True, the skies are bluer… and so are those under them.
Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.
