I would argue that WeWork was a place where people who didn't have a traditional job paid to go to have the trappings of a traditional job. It was "performative" jobbing - you have a place, they have a coffee machine except also kombucha, there's an HR and an IT department except you pay them instead of the other way 'round, and unlike real work, no one ever tells you what to do. It was a place you could put on the business cards you yearned to hand out that hid the fact that you lived off your allowance while perfecting your Shark Tank pitch for cat underwear or some shit.

I would argue that WeWork culture was wholly and completely separate from "office culture", which is the disconnect I failed to observe earlier.

The "boozy return to office culture", as described in this WSJ article, is all about giving people a reason to put up with shitty office intrigue and a lack of autonomy. Combine that with "hot desking" and hybrid work and I think we're in a place where the whole "office routine" is being renegotiated. Companies are throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.