Morning Brew - 🥪 Cheesesteak

Here’s a wild thing to think about: Seventeen months into this pandemic, remote workers are starting and leaving jobs without having ever met their coworkers IRL. It’s the subject of a recent New York Times piece, “If You Never Met Your Co-Workers in Person, Did You Even Work There?”

Authors Kellen Browning and Erin Griffith looked a little deeper into statistics surrounding the Great Resignation and found that: “The phenomenon of job hoppers who have not physically met their colleagues illustrates how emotional and personal attachments to jobs may be fraying. That has contributed to an easy-come, easy-go attitude toward workplaces and created uncertainty among employers over how to retain people they barely know.”

The piece includes this anecdote from a woman whose sense of detachment influenced her decision to quit: 

“Ms. Gregorio, 53, who worked for the nonprofit in Virginia, said she had often struggled to gauge the tone of emails from people she had never met and constantly debated whether issues were big enough to merit Zoom calls. She said she would not miss most of her colleagues because she knew nothing about them.

“‘I know their names and that’s about it,’ she said.” 

With return-to-work dates getting pushed back to 2022, employers are indeed going to have to get creative to keep those engagement stats strong. But there’s always the option for workers to make their own meaningful work relationships through screens. Maliah here, and while doing a 6-month fellowship at Insider prior to joining Morning Brew, I experienced all of the challenges of remote work—including trying to connect with my team. I found myself stepping out of my comfort zone and scheduling virtual coffee chats with anyone who would meet with me. Over time, these meetings helped me feel like a major part of the staff, and I still keep in touch with many of my old coworkers to this day. 

The NYT piece ends by referencing some of the same steps I took to bond with teammates virtually: 

• Keep your camera on during meetings. 
• Join any optional social activities, like virtual lunches or Q&As. 
• Schedule virtual coffees with people you don’t work with regularly. 

Have you bonded with a coworker you’ve never met before? Hit reply and tell us your story.

Celebrate National Make Your Bed Day with these smart products and ideas. 

• Bring the luxe feel of a hotel bed home with a set of Brooklinen sheets, which get softer the more you wash them. 
• Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by your duvet cover. Now, take a deep breath and try the burrito method. 
• More than 14,000 reviewers give this pillow top marks thanks to a customizable fill that supports almost any sleeping position.
• Trade your bleach for a deodorizing sanitizer that’s safe to use on most fabrics, including delicate sheets.
• Give your linens a refresh between washes with a spritz from The Laundress. Pro tip: Use this fabric freshener on your clothing, luggage, and even in your car.
• Put an end to your battle with fitted sheets thanks to Bed Bands, which will keep taut fabric in place. 

Read: Brandy Melville has 99 problems—and a “one size fits most” label is one. This explosive Insider investigation into the teen fashion empire is our must-read story of the week. 

Listen: Alexa, hit shuffle on “pov ur the hot ex .” Featuring Miley, Avril, Taylor, and more, this Spotify playlist will remind you that he’s just another p i c t u r e t o b u r n.

Watch: 2021 in a nutshell: languishing. Psychologist and author Adam Grant has a new TED talk on how to stop feeling “meh” 24/7. 

Keepin’ time with a timeless look.

You don’t need a watch to tell you summer is nearly over—that wouldn’t be a very nice thing for a watch to say. But you do need a watch that tells you you’re one dapper son of a gun all year round.

This fall, elevate the stylings of your wrist and the rest of your look with a Zodiac watch.

Not only will a Zodiac watch tell you—and the world—how dapper you are, it’ll also tell you the time with Swiss-engineered precision in two different time zones at once. Simply set the rotating bezel marker and keep time in 24 major cities.

Crafted with high-grade materials like a polished stainless steel bezel and a brushed stainless steel bracelet, the Zodiac is a watch that just won’t quit.

Peruse and pick out your Zodiac watch right here.

Back to school. Back to college football season. Our Game Day memories are incomplete without our fave local sandwiches—slathered in mustard, mayo, LTO, you name it. We asked hundreds of Morning Brew readers, trusted locals, and alumni which local sandwich shops dominate the turkey club, the Reuben, the cheesesteak, and more. The results are here, in our guide to the 60 best college-town sandwich shops. 

Whet your appetite with three crowd-pleasers that made the cut: 

• Triple XXX Family Restaurant (Purdue): Loved by generations of Boilermakers, come for the Duane Purvis All American, a hamburger-and-peanut butter sandwich. Stay for mugs of house-brewed root beer. 
• Lay-Z-Shopper (University of Georgia): Stop by this convenience store by day, sandwich joint at night, in downtown Athens for a Stoner Sandwich or a 3am Cajun turkey. 
• Eagle’s Deli (Boston College): Beyond its cowboy burger and chipotle chicken sandwich, this BC spot prides itself on the Eagle’s Challenge: six pounds of ground beef, 24 pieces each of bacon and American cheese, and five pounds of fries. Oof.