I had to make my first trip into my office on June 2. It had been planned for awhile to coincide with when our mail room and tax processing team would have a large batch of tax returns that needed by signature and mailed out. But it happened to fall right after a weekend of protests following the death of George Floyd, so the Loop was barricaded. Usually to get to my office is about a 3-5 minute drive from the expressway. This day all of the drawbridges into the Loop were raised (and heavy trucks also blocked them) to control traffic flow so I had to drive past my usual bridge and just keep going into the detoured traffic flow. The one that was down where traffic was directed had a security checkpoint. I had to show my driver's license and say that I was headed to my office and its location. The reason for the precautions was that many of the looters from the prior days were coming in from out of town. It took me an extra 30 minutes to get to my building. And then I'd already been warned our parking garage was locked so I had to park on the street outside the building. However, streets were totally deserted of people, so I wasn't worried about having my car out all day. It was an eerie combination police presence to get into the city combined with empty streets and an empty office building once I arrived.
The building had been outfitting with mask wearing signs on the doors and social distancing markers in the elevators, but I didn't see anyone except the 3 people working on my mailing. I thought I'd feel very nostalgic about being back in the office but I did not. It was so weird to see where everyone had been working one day and then were not. Water bottles on desks; sweaters on the backs of chairs; dressy shoes under desks. Just like time stopped and the people left. Though apparently the cleaning crew is in regularly because the plants had been watered and were alive. I did what I was there to do and left.
