It really baffles me how that is the case (I understand the tongue in cheek). I have been working remotely for just shy of 10 years. That capability was a primary reason for going into programming in the first place.

I find it so old fashioned how by default, they expect me to stand in the rain for 2 hours a day to travel to the centre of a city to sit at a desk and log into the internet for 38 out of 40 hours a week.

That is a real life equivalent of a code smell.