Revisiting a place after leaving it

Text A: an original contemporary practice extract.

I visited the print workshop six months after retiring. I expected the smell of ink to make the room feel unchanged. It did, until I noticed a new packing bench where my old desk had stood. A colleague asked whether I wanted to see the revised order system. I nearly explained how we used to do it, then asked her to show me first.

The system solved a problem I remembered discussing for years. I was pleased and a little disappointed that it had been solved without me. My colleague still asked about a customer I had known, and my answer was useful. I left understanding that the workshop could carry some of my knowledge while arranging its working day differently.

Text B: an original contemporary practice extract.

Three years after changing jobs, I returned to the theatre’s costume room. Familiar fabric smells greeted me, but the rails had been moved and every costume now carried a new label. The assistant explained the arrangement. I had arrived prepared to remember the room; I had not expected to need an introduction to it.

She asked if I recognised an unlabelled hat. I remembered the production and the way its brim had been altered. We added that information to the new record. I enjoyed being useful for a moment, then watched her find a jacket more quickly than I could have done under the old arrangement. The room had not forgotten its past. It was using that past within work that continued after I left.

Both texts describe the experiences of returning to former workplaces.

What similarities do the experiences of returning to former workplaces share in these extracts? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer.