After a long period of shock, boredom and disbelief, let’s welcome the next phase of COVID-19 coping: “the new normal.” The new normal means that the pandemic has been around long enough for us to start realizing things about the situation. Perhaps we’re even ready to see the quirky and positive things that the very unfunny and deadly virus has brought with it. Case in point: all the Zoom anecdotes we can handle.
Now that we’ve gotten to know Zoom up close and personal, we have finally settled into an uncomfortable, messy and endlessly entertaining WFH routine. The boss who turned herself into a potato is behind us. The tweet saying now’s the time to find out what meeting could be an email is, too. So is Zoom Bingo, a game that clarifies how predictable work culture is, be it in an office or in a virtual space; at some point, no matter what, someone will make a lame commuting joke. But now maybe it’s time for a new game, one that has a silver lining. Let’s call it “Fun and surprising things I found out about my colleagues now that I have to stare at their houses and loved ones.”
There’s no doubt that the combination of staying home and being visible during conference calls is much more intimate than the average office environment. Interiors, disobedient family members (hello, working parents) and creative projects are on display. The alternative — putting up a tongue-in-cheek background (a spaceship! A Harry Potter scenario!) — is just plain weird and suggests you’re hiding a stack of dirty laundry or worse. But surely, interesting discoveries and endearing realizations about people we’d previously known very little about is a pleasant perk of such forced exhibitionism?
Regan Baker, the founder of Regan Baker Design, thinks so. Specializing in interior design, she has been enjoying discovering the skills her teammates, and especially their significant others, are exhibiting at home. One general contractor turned out to be a “legit artist,” displaying his pieces as Zoom backgrounds. “A colleague, because she has a 2-year-old, has to move around to take calls throughout their house. I’ve seen different scenes almost every day, and I keep discovering how cohesive their home is and learning how handy her husband is!” she says. “During today’s call, he was installing climbing holds in a tall part of their home so they don’t lose their climbing skills during COVID-19. She had to ask him to quit drilling.”
Creative husbands are almost as entertaining as mischievous kids who tamper with their parents’ facade of seriousness. Ari Takata-Vasquez, executive director of the Oakland Indie Alliance, recently found herself giggling at the screen: “I was on a call with a nonprofit executive director and all of a sudden there was a little fairy popping through in the corner. At first, it startled me, and then I couldn’t stop laughing. Then there was the Golden Gate Bridge, and then all of a sudden a 2-year-old’s sneaky smile.”
For some, Zooming with colleagues leads to discoveries about a shared passion — collecting being a huge hit. Depending on the collection, generation-gap moments ensue. Emily Smith, a vice president at the PR firm Double Forte PR, with offices in San Francisco and New York City, occasionally has to work from her home garage. Behind her, a large collection of Pearl Jam posters greets co-workers every conference call, perplexing the borderline Millennials in the team. “It’s extensive,” Smith says of the collection. “Sadly, the younger staff members are like, Pearl Jam? What’s that?” On her end, Smith was pleasantly surprised when a CEO who recently relocated to Wisconsin showcased a similarly massive collection of cheese-shaped hats during a Zoom meeting. “That was a quirky discovery,” she says. “That, and the fact one of my junior staff members has a very eclectic jacket selection.”
Being exposed to a colleague’s home can banish a stereotype or simply shine a fresh light on someone you think you know. Rimma Boshernitsan, founder and CEO of Dialogue, an experiential platform and strategy advisory serving the Fortune 500, sees that colleagues and collaborators are, in fact, eager to be rediscovered in such a way.
“People are really trying to be human and show more parts of themselves and their homes, telling you about what’s behind them,” she says. Through colleagues’ guided tours of their spaces, she found that one of them is hugely into crystals. “I would’ve never known that this person would be interested in crystals, which are on the crunchier side of California, not your typical dude stuff,” she says. Another colleague’s bedside decoration of a dried flower led to an intimate conversation about its meaning.
The music that a meeting host puts on in the Zoom “waiting room” can be a cool clue, too.
“One colleague really likes Prince, another one, of all things, was really into Spice Girls — it’s something my daughter is really into!” says Boshernitsan. How about that for a silver lining?
Flora Tsapovsky is a freelance writer. Email culture@sfchronicle.com
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April 18, 2020 at 01:40AM
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Zoom meetings show colleagues the real you. Yes, that’s a good thing - San Francisco Chronicle
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