In the early days of working from home to
prevent spread of the COVID-19 disease,
some Massachusetts Institute of Technology
researchers talking strategy on a video chat
couldn’t help but get distracted by their team
leader’s kitchen cabinets.
“There was absolutely nothing special about
them except for the fact that they were in the
private home of someone senior to us,” said
researcher Kate Darling, who started gossiping
about the cabinetry in an online back channel.
It was a minor and welcome disruption, an
early sign of bigger hiccups that office workers,
educators and others around the world are
dealing with on the fly as the coronavirus