A lot of the RTO push is just that many people like owning slaves. RTO is as close as they can get to that in this era. A lot of people with a bit of power are sociopaths because power attracts their brand of mental illness, and those types would all own slaves if they could.

Being able to control lives, to force people into long commutes, to lord over them like they are in charge of medieval barony, to regulate their going and coming — that is the RTO-pushing wannabe-slaveowners’ stuff of dreams. It is the only thing that excites them, that vivifies their lives. You can tell by how lustfully they talk about RTO.

There’s nothing anyone can do to ever get me back in an office again. You want the best, I’m working wherever the fuck I wish to. You want some chowdearheaded doof who can’t distinguish an MTU from a CPU, go ahead and hire your slave type. I’m sure your network and prod environment will stay up very reliably then.