A man is using yet another a novelty Zoom background for a catch-up with friends today, in the hope it will detract from his demonstrable lack of personality.
Simon Williams, 35, has been attending a number of Zoom catch-ups over the last two weeks, mainly with groups of people relieved they don’t have to be seeing him in person.
However, each catch-up has presented Williams with an opportunity to demonstrate his ‘zany’ character through the medium of Zoom backgrounds, and opportunity Williams has been quick to exploit.
“Oh, I’ve done all the classics,” said Williams.
“The Alcatraz prison cell, the front bench at the House of Commons, the Big Brother chair, White House podium, the surface of Mars – you name it, I’ve Zoomed in front of it.
“My friends love it, I can tell. I mean, they don’t come right out and say “that’s hilarious Si!” because they’re a bit shy like that – but I can tell by the way that absolutely none of them uses their own background image that they’re so impressed by mine, they can’t bring themselves to try it.”
Simon’s friends said the Zoom backgrounds were doing a great job of communicating Simon’s personality, just not in quite the way he thought it was.
His schoolfriend Chris told us, “Simon’s OK in small doses, but I’m seeing him twice a week at the moment on various Zoom catch-ups, which is a bit much. It’s once every few months in the real world, which is manageable.
“It’s not that bad though, because we ask whoever organises the Zoom chat to mute him – it’s much better for the rest of us.
“God help us if he ever organises one himself.”