I had never heard of Zoom before the pandemic. I would very seldom do a video chat back then. Zoom, for those of you who don’t live on the Internet like me, is a free (or paid with extra perks, if you wish) service that makes it easy to meet up by video with one or more persons on your computer, phone or tablet.
Almost always, each person is sitting down, most often in front of a computer. They are visible from about the chest up.
These days, in a habit developed during the pandemic, I spend more time visiting with friends and business associates via Zoom than I do in person. We hold our RVtravel.com staff meetings every Tuesday via Zoom. Normally, about 10 of us will gather — 10 talking heads, as they say in TV lingo.
I realized today that I have no idea what all these people look like from the chest down. I don’t know if they are 5 feet tall or 6 feet. I don’t know what they look like from behind. I believe all my video acquaintances have legs, but I don’t know for sure.
I don’t know if they wear perfume or cologne or if they have good breath or bad breath.
The good part about Zoom chat is you can meet any time of any day, and if there’s a group of you, you can be scattered around the world. It’s incredible, if you think about it. The bad part is everyone you visit with is two dimensional.
I sometimes think it might be awkward to one day actually meet someone in real life that I know well from video chats. Has this ever happened to you?
Read more from Chuck’s Roadside journal here and here.
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Remember when we used to do business by phone such as dealing with customer service across the country? Then when we met the person at a national conference we were so shocked because the rep looked nothing like we imagined from the voice we had been hearing. At least with Zoom we know what the person looks like!😊
Yes, it did happen to me. I had followed a couple through their YouTube videos for a few years and we had corresponded via email a few times. A few years passed and we “met” on a video call of some type in February or March 2017. More years passed and a few more email exchanges. Surprisingly they visited our Boondockers Welcome site for two or three nights in May or June 2022. It was a bit surreal to actually see them in person. They were as nice (nicer?) in-person than their videos and they were always nice in their videos. DW amd I both enjoyed their visit immensely. 🙂
That’s cool, Neal! Here’s another sort of similar scenario. I’ve never seen my dental hygienist’s face, even though I go in to get my teeth cleaned twice a year. She started working there just after masks became mandatory, so I’m sure I won’t recognize her without her mask on. 😷😅 Have a great day! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com