
By Edward*, Professional Meeting Attender (sometimes physically, mostly spiritually)
There was a time before the era of banana bread, panic-sourdough, and suspicious mask tans when a “stand-up meeting” meant just that. You stood. Up. Around a whiteboard. Possibly holding a marker you didn’t really know how to use, nodding sagely at a diagram that looked suspiciously like a game of Pictionary gone wrong.
It was a daily ritual. A slightly tepid firestorm of action points, blockers, and Geoff from accounts forgetting why we even met in the first place. It lasted just long enough for everyone to pretend they were busy, but not so long that we got caught admitting we were making it up as we went along. And somehow, despite it all, ideas flowed. Connections sparked. Projects took off. It was like “The Office” but with slightly fewer weird stares and more passive-aggressive Post-it notes.
Then came The Great Disruption.
Suddenly, our stand-ups were on Zoom. Now, instead of clustering around a whiteboard, we were all beamed into each other’s lives like nosy aunties. Meetings now featured Rick’s laundry room, Debbie’s dog (who was apparently also a product owner), and someone—possibly Nick—whose wife didn’t understand how virtual backgrounds work. To be fair, none of us will forget that meeting.
And let’s not forget the rise of The Headset Hero. Every stand-up had one: mic fully committed to echoing their soul into the void, eyes shifting like they were defusing a bomb, and the inevitable, “Sorry, could you repeat that? I was buffering.” Buffering? It’s 2025, not a dial-up funeral. We all saw your cursor jump between your three other remote jobs. You’re not fooling anyone, Dave. Or should I say… “Kevin.”
Then came the “Return to the Office” sort of.
Now, we’ve all forgotten how legs work. We still call it a stand-up, but we’re slouched in chairs that definitely don’t meet health and safety. Inexplicably, we sit in the same office, next to the same people, but still talk to them via Zoom. Because it’s “easier.” And Derrick? Derrick’s in a pod. Not a productivity pod. Not even a peas-in-a-pod pod. Just a soundproof chamber of solitude because Paul, who sits behind him, emits feedback strong enough to down a satellite every time he clears his throat.
Meanwhile, Gareth from procurement moved 0.003 miles outside the official “mandatory return radius,” and now apparently exists in a legal grey area somewhere between “WFH rebel” and “digital ghost.” He hasn’t been seen since December. Occasionally a Slack message appears. Possibly automated. Possibly sent by a hamster. No one’s sure.
And let’s not ignore the stand-up paradox: why do we now have two teams doing the same stand-up—one remote, one in-office—and everyone’s still confused? Why are we waving at screens when the actual human being is two desks down? Why is Kevin the only one who knows what’s going on, and how did he become the Minister of Meeting Attendance without anyone noticing?
Honestly, the BBC couldn’t write this. But if they did, it would star a flustered middle manager, a smug work-from-homer in a kimono, and an intern who accidentally screen shares their desktop filled with nothing but “Draft Presentation FINAL (2).pptx.”
So what’s the moral?
Maybe it’s this: the post-COVID office isn’t broken—it’s just been rewritten by a drunk sitcom writer who’s still convinced we all live in 2005. And frankly, I’m here for it.
Just don’t ask me to stand up.
I’ve already committed to the slouch.