Cats, Computers, & Working From Home Fails

Whether you love it or hate it, working from home is the new normal. But as we welcome people virtually into our dusty living rooms filled with unused gym equipment and jealous cats, there's a lot of room for the professional masks we put on to slip in unexpected ways.

This Slogging thread by Akasha Rose, Amy Tom, David Smooke and Justin Roberti occurred in slogging's official #future-of-work channel, and has been edited for readability.

What is your funniest (or most cringe-worthy) working from the home moment? Have you had to tell anyone that you are "not a cat"?

I don’t think I’ve had a truly cringeworthy moment yet. I’ve been frozen in the middle of a blink or animated conversation on Zoom for sure… many times. 😂 BUT on a side-note I’m obsessed with the cat lawyer. “I’m not a cat” is exactly what a lawyer pretending to be a cat would say

That video had me absolutely paralysed with laughter whenever I recalled it for the next six days. I was actually in a lawyer's office when I first saw it and was in spasms showing all the staff.
What kind of world do we live in now if an esteemed lawyer has to convince people he really isn't a cat? It was like something out of a Miyazaki film, Howls Moving Castle maybe. My own "cat" moment was recently when my cat was walking over my keyboard when the mic was off, only to step on the mouse and click it right when it was positioned over the mic icon, switching the mic back on just as I was saying "Oh not the cat's butt" very loudly to an audience of about 50 people who didn't know me thankfully.

Only 10M views! that video deserves more! It's a national treasure in my book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxlPGPupdd8 I bet 394th District Court of Texas could get some major cash if they listed that video for sale as an NFT! I do also wonder how much they've already made from it via licensing it the BBCs and CNNs of the world ..

It wasn't too cringy but I did recently do something that would make you shocked to learn I run a technology company... I was just starting to speak at Mozilla Love the Internet Hackathon, and as to not be distracted I x-ed the Hopin discussion, made my slides full screen and dove right in. Couple minutes in, I see my phone vibrating, it's the organizer calling. "You're on mute." Sure enough, the chat is like "he's muted, "still muted and he doesnt know," and "Now he's just taking phone calls..." I had clicked share video and not share audio although I thought the button said share video and audio. I just started from the beginning and did the thing again.

I had a cringeworthy moment yesterday -- a prominent billionaire crypto investor/VC was on a Zoom call early for a podcast I produce. His usual assistant was on vacation, Calendly didn't update when we agreed to push it back 30 minutes, so I had to fill 20 minutes and keep him on the line or I was afraid the podcast wouldn't happen.

I had to fill 20 minutes so I jumped on to say hi because I've corresponded with him for at least 3 years.

It's been a long time WFH so I really would have preferred to shave before this video call, my hair is large and unmanageable, but I did manage to throw on a nice shirt.

I said hi and explained we kind of "know" each other (he did not remember me at all) and he looked at me and said, "So, what are we doing here?" Like a guest that would like to not have his time wasted, so I thought "OK, we are doing an interview now."

And I kind of choked.

So I started with "So... what's up with Dogecoin?" Like for that moment my muse had left me and I just had nothing.

He responded, "I don't know... it's got a dog. People like dogs. Dogs are cute."

He was that level of interviewee where you can essentially do no wrong because he will launch into what he talks about pretty much no matter where you start.

It was fine, the host got on and we did the podcast. He even gave me some thoughts on Dogecoin beyond the dog. But... i was seriously not prepared and for a very long second I was feeling it.

Some day I will make an NFT of this moment

When is the interview out?

Akasha Rose TBH i didn't think i had anything I could use. But I got some comments on BTC and that turned out to be useful:

https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/21/05/21126509/bitcoin-gets-a-carbon-black-eye-from-musk-but-draper-stands-by-price-predictions

What is it with cats and zoom calls, anyway? As soon as I start having a zoom call on my laptop, the cat thinks it is a personal invitation to sit on my lap. Or shoulder. Or back of the chair. And of course, it's not just any cat, it's the fluffiest cat there is. I put him in the other room but he literally climbs up the door with his claws hanging from it and howling, smacking his body against the door panels. Having him on the laptop or my head is actually far less distracting than his pitiful mews. A friend sent me this meme as the only solution.