First Impressions
By WorDazza
@WorDazza (15830)
Manchester, England
August 28, 2023 3:51pm CST
Prior to starting my (not very) new job last Monday I had been freelancing for the company for over 2 years. During this time I worked totally from home, never once setting foot in the company offices which are some 120 miles from my home in Manchester.
We use Microsoft Teams for meetings and technical discussions and although I conversed on a daily basis with other team members I hadn't a clue what many of them looked like as we rarely use video. Consequently, as I do with characters in a book, I had formed an impression in my head as to what they looked like.
Last Thursday I visited the office to pick up my new laptop and finally met a lot of the people who had been merely disembodied voices for the last 2 years.
And guess what? Not a single one of them looked anything like I imagined although discretion forbids me from saying whether or not I was disappointed!
I suppose I shouldn't complain. Mrs. WorDazza's work colleagues thought I was a strapping 6 footer based solely on hearing me on the phone. Imagine their disappointment when they met me and I turned out to be a less than statuesque 5 feet 6.
Although my boyish good looks, intelligence, wit, charm, modesty and the fact I'm a total delight to be around tend to make up for my lack of inches.
Have any of my fellow myLotters been disappointed or maybe even pleasantly surprised when they've finally met someone after only hearing their voice?
11 people like this
8 responses
@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
29 Aug 23
Many times. So I gather you'll still be working from home and not commuting. I'd heard of Van Morrison but don't recall ever seeing a photo of him but he was in the wax museum in Dublin. He seemed VERY short and not a bit like what I'd imagined.
1 person likes this
@WorDazza (15830)
• Manchester, England
29 Aug 23
Funnily enough I was shocked when I saw a photo of Van Morrison. I think I was expecting someone more in the Jim Morrison mould for some reason.
I'll be working from home pretty much exclusively. I might be needed in the office every now and then but they are aware I won't be gracing them with my presence too often. That, and only working 30 hours per week were the conditions I placed on accepting the role permanently.
Aside from the lengthy commute time (about 2.5 hours each way) the only way to make it feasible to get there and back in a day is to use a toll road which charges £8.60 each way. Adding that to petrol costs and you would be looking at upwards of £50 per day to commute.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472114)
• Switzerland
29 Aug 23
I also tend to imagine people when I hear their voices on the phone and more than once I have been deceived.
I will never forget when (many years ago), the secretary of a client of my husband arrived to describe me listening to my voice. I had never met his Boss.
1 person likes this
@Raine38 (12391)
• United States
29 Aug 23
I don't think that's ever happened to me at work, even though we have remote colleagues and I myself will, at times, work remotely, we always have our videos on during meetings. But I did experience this when I was younger and was testing the dating pool. I would go on blind dates, and only have to go off of a phone call. Sometimes the guy's voice will sound so deep I imagined him to be so tall, but then that is not the case in real life. Then again, everyone is taller than me. 
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (20046)
• United States
29 Aug 23
Like Fiacre Banks, I have done that with book characters.
1 person likes this
@merrybelle2021 (1393)
• Philippines
29 Aug 23
I've always been mistaken for my mother since age 13 when I answer the landline. 
For me, a short/average height person with a big voice is just as startling as a big/tall person with a small/high-pitched voice. 
For me, a short/average height person with a big voice is just as startling as a big/tall person with a small/high-pitched voice. 1 person likes this
@WorDazza (15830)
• Manchester, England
29 Aug 23
That's when I knew I was an actual adult. When I answered the phone and the caller assumed I was my father!
I then realised I could have some fun when cold callers would ask if I was Mr. xxxx. I would say yes (technically I was) and then let them go through all of their sales pitch then tell them they'd have to speak to my father as he was the homeowner/account holder etc and he wasn't in right now 
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (80748)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
28 Aug 23
I think most of the myLoters who have met have been happy to finally meet, WIll you still be working from home?
1 person likes this
@WorDazza (15830)
• Manchester, England
28 Aug 23
I think about 99% of my time will be spent working from home. I don't fancy a round trip of nearly 250 miles too often.
There may be times when I absolutely have to be in the office but I won't be volunteering to be there too often.
1 person likes this
