Memory Monday: Crazy Technology

Ah yes, Memory Monday: The day when I remember things about old jobs.

During my contracted position, I experienced many fine things (like a first class flight experience with pretty OK Mexican food, working from home, etc.). One such "wow"-inducing thing was their conferencing center technology. Before you yawn and click away from this page, hear me out. This wasn't a teleconferencing sort of thing, where you sit around the phone and struggle to hear people on the other end; where several people always talk at the same time and it takes hours longer to get things done than it would have if you were in person; where you're playing games like duck duck goose with the people on your end to pass the time because the people on the other end can't see you. No, this was not like that. It was a video conferencing system. No, not something you hook up with a webcam on your computer and use with your long distance girl/boyfriend - this was SERIOUS. Video conferencing on steroids, if you will. Not to get all brand-y, but this was Cisco Telepresence - that coolness from the commercials:


In one such meeting where I experienced this delicious technology, there was a half circle table set up with 3 telepresence screens completing the circle across from us. It was so realistic that when one of the people on the other side asked for a pen, my boss reached out to hand her one. Trippy!

What's weird is that was my work from home job. My in-person jobs had the worst technology you could possibly think up. My most recent job was incredibly far behind (I cannot even begin to describe the slowness of the laptop and the nonexistence of its' battery life). Another job I had had teleconferencing systems from one brand, when another was their major client. So, when their major client called in, they heard "welcome to YOUR COMPETITOR'S conferencing system." Nice.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hope I get another work from home position so I can play with Cisco Telepresence again! At this point, I would take anything with some pay and health insurance, but a girl can dream.