marcicat | workaday Wednesday

Like many who are working from home now, all my meetings have become video calls. Or rather -- calls, where everyone except me has their video turned off. (I like seeing the video! Sometimes I get very, very lucky and the cat sleeps nearby while a call is happening, and then I can watch her in the video window and it looks like I'm super focused!)

Here's what I don't totally understand about (specifically) my coworkers' reluctance to use video:

*I've seen them before. And our workplace is pretty casual, so I've seen them in t-shirts and hoodies. (In fact, a hoodie or fleece is my standard workplace and video call attire.)

*Since you can see your own video, you know exactly what's visible and what's not.

*Because everyone has things they need to provide info on in our meetings, it would genuinely be helpful to have video, since the visual cues would keep us from talking over each other so much.

But it's fine -- I wish they used video because it's interesting to see other peoples' work-spaces, but there's a certain amount of enjoyment in joking about them *not* using video too.

Here's my more general confusion about video calls:

*The big joke seems to be 'not wearing pants.' But -- it IS a joke, right? I mean, most people aren't out in the world like 'if only I didn't have to show up at work every day, so I could finally achieve my lifelong dream of not wearing pants.' Right? Pants have so many benefits! Pockets! Keeping your legs warm! And so much more! At first I was like, 'haha it's just a funny joke,' but now I am beginning to wonder.