Because of the lockdowns brought about by the coronavirus crisis, Cara Fields and her husband have found themselves having to work from home.
But along with carrying on with making a living, they’re also taking care of their kids who are attending classes virtually. It’s certainly a challenge that millions of other Americans are also facing.
Cara is the Marketing Chief of Staff at Elanco, an animal health company based in Indiana. She says that any work-life balance that may have existed pre-coronavirus has pretty much disappeared.
Looking to put a cheer in this situation, Cara’s husband came up with a way to elicit some laughter while Cara was working. And best of all, even Cara’s colleagues have come to love them!
What happens is that occasionally, while Cara is on a work-related Zoom call, her husband would photobomb the call in the background while wearing a silly costume.
Cara shared pics of her husband’s antics on LinkedIn and they went viral. “He has always loved wearing ridiculous things in public to embarrass me,” Cara said. “So when I converted our dining room into an office where my camera faced the dining room table, he saw a virtual opportunity to embarrass me during the pandemic.”
Cara’s husband started by just wearing things he owned like his cowboy hat or hunting gear. But he quickly upped the ante. “Friends started mailing him Halloween costumes. I’m told that more costumes are in transit!” the woman said.
Even Cara’s colleagues have come to love his good-natured trolling. “My colleagues love this. It’s so strange to see a team of people laughing while you’re presenting, and then realizing something ridiculous is going on behind you.”
“They almost always see him before I do,” Cara said. “It has definitely helped people remember to stop and laugh during these times.”
The pandemic has certainly forced people to take a closer look at working from home than ever before.point 322 |
Early during the coronavirus outbreak, a poll found that a lot of people preferred to work remotely.point 84 | According to Gallup, about 50 percent of Americans would prefer working remotely “as much as possible” even after restrictions are lifted while 40 percent preferred to come back to the original workplace.point 261 | 1
The online survey covered 2,276 randomly selected adults and was conducted from March 14 to April 2.
Replaced!