Never had a job that was outdoors. Not for lack of trying. At a younger age, I wanted to work for the National Park Service and attended universities by the sea. But, all my jobs had some connection/view of the outdoors
Coffee shop: Big plate windows to the street and shop sat over Trumansburg Creek.
Warehouse jobs: These were ancient warehouses often unheated and definitely not air conditioned. Animals would pour in through broken windows and torrents of water during hard rains
School job: Always away from my desk for something. Searching grounds for litter. Bringing in deliveries and tossing garbage. Working the dismissal line.
But, in my new job, I am, indeed, at a desk. A nice desk in a nice office for sure but its a desk job. Seasonality is lost on me. Leaving at the end of the day is disconnected from the start. Its darker. Colder or warmer. And its sudden and stark like transitions in a video game.
I miss that excuse to be outside and feel some connection to the elements. Co workers will say its too cold in the office and I recall standing in an empty parking lot waiting for the distinct broken bumper of the green Nissan signifying the last parent was here for their kid. Its cold over by the conference room but cold usually meant staring into other co-workers eyes when that was you could see. The rest bundled under hats and parka hoods. Often this was loading a truck, the metal walls humming back the chill. On better, yet still freezing days, its the loose wisps of hair of a work crush dangling over her eyes.
Working at a school, fall meant new bulletin boards. At the warehouse, it was leaves stuck to the sky light windows so that spotty shadows dropped onto the cement. At the shop it was leaf shaped raspberry cookies and new drinks to sell. At the office job, it depends on the prowess of the HR team signing people up for the costume contest.
