2020 has been a testing year, with the pandemic changing the way lots of us have had to work. Coupled with homeschooling and pets, it has made for some interesting situations for the Polka Dot Data team! Read on for some of the best (and worst) things that have happened to us while we try to adapt to this new way of life!
1. Several people on your call having an Alexa in the room and they all listen (for once) to the call for Christmas music and start playing in multiple houses, usually at full volume!
2. Cats! When the cat walks across your keyboard while you’re trying to send an important message!
3. Or, even worse, the cat jumps onto power button mid call and successfully manages to turn the computer off, leaving everyone (not least the cat) confused as to what on earth just happened!
4. Children making you wear Antlers in mid summer and then jumping up and down in the background whilst you are on a zoom call with a client. Although jumping up and down and weird headgear is better than a full on fist fight during a call – looking at you, Kate’s kids!
5. Audio not working on a call but everyone lip reads you swear… and not one of the good ones!
6. When you jokingly say to a client “you do like to make things difficult for us don’t you” and then zoom ends the call!
7. Thinking your Zoom was on mute when it wasn’t…eating crisps, swearing, having a conversation with your spouse or shouting at the dogs… all things that you may not have wanted other people to hear!
8. When your children decided your glasses looked better on them than you so you couldn’t read the screen properly.
9. Having to have Numberblocks on for the child that insists on sitting on your lap all day – and being thankful that you remembered to bring the second screen home from the office so that at least you can still see your work!
10. Discovering people’s weird home eating habits, such as eating a bacon sandwich by eating all the way around the outside and finishing by eating the middle. Who even eats sandwiches like this?! As for PB&J on toast…. Where is that P45…?
11. When your headset mic doesn’t work so you lift the mic up and your client tells you that you look like a teletubby!
12. When you forget that you are working in your dressing gown when joining a video call – giving everyone a glimpse of the floral fleece monstrosity that would never normally see the light of day but is SO WARM!
Overall, we would just like to say thank you to all of our clients for being so understanding and for joining in and laughing about any of these things that have happened whilst working with you! We feel very grateful and lucky to have such a nice bunch of clients to work with. Let’s remember the fun and the laughs of 2020, rather than all the trials and tribulations! We have all been on one hell of a journey, and thank you for being part of it this year and helping us keep going!