As I sit here at my laptop in my “spare” room, my usual peace and quiet is invaded by angle-grinders, cement mixers and electric saws being used by the contractors building a new entrance gate for one of my neighbours. I retreat downstairs to the kitchen table. The back door to the garden is open, as is our habit, to allow the dog unlimited access to the great outdoors. (In truth, it’s constantly open to save us having to keep opening and closing it!). Having set up my laptop and switched the kettle on, I sit at the kitchen table and allow myself a self-indulgent smile. I check my emails and proceed to start drafting an article, wallowing once again in new-found peace and quiet. I can even hear the birds singing from the garden. All is well in my little world! Just about to turn my mind to creating another informative product launch for my client, lo and behold I hear pneumatic drills from the main road. Unfortunately, I am not blessed with an East Wing to flee to, so I make a coffee, call a rather bemused looking dog in from the garden, close the door and turn on the radio.
I’m telling you this little story as it got me thinking about how “normal” standards of business behaviour have taken a battering since the start of the pandemic. At the beginning of the year, home-working professionals would have taken measures to mask the fact they were indeed working from home. Now it seems there’s no shame in a call to the bank being answered by a customer service advisor whose voice is drown-out by a wailing baby or an over-zealous delivery driver hammering on a front door with the latest consignment of Amazon* goodies! (*other online shopping channels are available). So, despite all these years we’ve all been building up our professional personas, to paraphrase Rag’n’Bone Man, we are all only human after all!