Covid Cruise Director

Being the owner of an enterprise version of a Zoom account has some real currency in this age of Covid.  For better or worse, I can keep us all together on our family happy hours well past the 40 minute session allowed in the free version.

Which makes me the ideal candidate to be the McFamily Covid Cruise Director.  These are the parties I was born to host….feed your damn selves, dress for comfort and then get out the moment I hit the “end” button.  I say again….maybe I have been quarantined since 2016. 

Here are a few things I have learned as de facto Cruise Director:

• Go ahead and plan for that entire first happy hour to be all about getting zoom to work.  “Which button is the camera” “what do you mean the camera is aimed over my head? But I can see YOU just fine”….  That first one can be more nappy than happy.  But persevere! 
• It is surprisingly easy to get a virtual happy hour on people’s calendars in this age of Covid.  Remember back in January when you had to look out 4 months to find a night to have dinner with friends?  Now you ask 12 people on Saturday morning if they’re available at 5 pm for a happy hour and after a brief pause to figure out when they’re going to change out of their pajamas, you get 100% accepts.
• Do NOT be afraid to wield that mute button.  No one benefits from having to listen to someone’s potato-chip-eating winning the Zoom microphone wars.
• You can “accidentally” forget to invite a family member no more than half the time before they find out from someone[’s blog] how often these things are happening
• If you are worried about conversation lagging, I recommend creating a list of additional topics to have at the ready for awkward pauses (I learned this from my hairdresser): 
• Vacation plans
• Any good restaurants you’ve tried lately
• Sports
• $^&@! This is harder than it looks.  I think we all better brush up on key yardwork trends as it is quickly going to become our only shared common language that doesn’t involve Covid (well mostly shared….sorry apartment dwellers)

And don’t forget…as cruise director, you get to decide when the party is over.  ~ Your meeting has ended.  Good bye. ~