A man working from home fooled his co-workers during a live video conference by giving them the impression that he lives in a luxurious apartment.
Software engineer Andrew Eckel fooled his colleagues into thinking that he lives in a luxurious suite by using a large photo of a lavish bedroom as a background.
While COVID-19 has forced workers worldwide to work from the comfort of their homes, it has also given them a chance to pose like some inherent tycoon.
Andrew, who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, succeeded in pranking his associates but he revealed the reality after some time in an Imgur post.
“A lot of people aren’t really in the habit of making their beds every day, and I can’t be the only person who didn’t want to show a messy bedroom this week,” Andrew told Bored Panda.
Andrew, who is also a musician, added: “I thought the prank would appeal to a lot of people, but I’ve thought that about many projects in the past that never got much attention, like my music videos and a video effect I made that delays darker parts of the image.
“Within 10 minutes of making my Imgur post, it had a comment under it from Sarah, the co-founder of Imgur. That’s when I knew this one would be different.”
Revealing how the people in the comment section gave him even crazier ideas, he said: “My favorite comment on Imgur was a suggestion that I make a new backdrop, of a room that looks totally normal but is upside-down. It wouldn’t fool anyone; it would just look really funny. I think I’ll do that.”
Andrew works in a cancer research center and his job is mainly based on doing cost analysis and population modeling, something that can easily be performed remotely.
Speaking of how he’s used to mingling his interest in music with his job, he said: “In my shows, I sing, dance, do spoken word, play piano, and duet with a cellist (not all at once). And I’ve always enjoyed a good prank.”
Describing how his colleagues couldn’t just stop laughing after realizing that they have been fooled, he said: “I told them that before we all hung up I wanted to show them what I had ‘made’ over the weekend.
“They said sure, and I said, ‘It’s back here, by the window,’ pointing at the paper backdrop. Then I tapped on the paper and zoomed out the camera.
“They were laughing and laughing, especially when I moved the camera around the room to show them how flimsy the backdrop was that had fooled them all.”
Though Andrew successfully tricked his co-workers during the 90-minute meeting, his colleagues later revealed that they had got some genuine doubts since the very beginning of the video call.
“One coworker said she was wondering why I wasn’t using the nice office chair seen behind me,” said Andrew. “And another said she thought I lived in a Westin.
“The style of the fake room doesn’t really match my aesthetic, and a room with a sleek, curvy window like that wouldn’t be affordable in my area.
“I had purposely positioned my head to hide that window until late in the call.”
Andrew’s post on Imgur was greeted with hilarious comments and suggestions. A user recommended: “Should have kept it going and do a different backdrop every meeting.”
Someone joked: “Now you gotta fool them thinking there’s someone there living with you.”
“With the money you spent for the printer ink you could’ve gotten an actual luxury apartment,” said another.
Even though working from home during the coronavirus pandemic isn’t affecting Andrew, he admitted that he isn’t loving it. Andrew misses his colleagues and all the music shows he performed for them.
“The other big change is that all my shows are canceled,” he said.
“The impact there is more cultural than financial since I rarely make enough from a show to pay for the Lyft home. But every show is a chance to get my music to a wider audience, and they’re super fun, too!”
He further added: “One of my shows coming up was going to be on my mom’s birthday, and my parents were planning on driving out from upstate New York to attend. Now I’m not sure when I’ll see them next.
“I miss my friends too, and I’m going to try setting up ‘parties’ in Zoom with them. It’s too late to fool them with a backdrop, though. The cat is out of the bag.”
Andrew also clarified the mistake he had made while writing his post, saying: “In my original post, I said I printed the backdrop on six pages and taped them together.
“Out of the 160,000+ people who have viewed it so far, only one commenter pointed out what you can see if you just use your eyes. It is obviously nine pages.
“Oops! A lot more commenters said the fake apartment didn’t look luxurious at all, but a reverse image search tells me it’s in a building designed by Zaha Hadid.”
Replaced!