BackThe bloopers CEOs made at home during lockdown
From breaking spectacles to messing up DIY haircuts to trying to fix gadgets, CEOs have found themselves in awkward situations quite a few times during the lockdown
PremiumNEW DELHI : If there’s one person glad the lockdown hasn’t been lifted completely and offices aren’t back to 100% attendance, it’s Rajat Khurana. The 45-year-old India managing director of sportswear brand Asics ordered a trimmer just before the lockdown, anticipating that barbers would be closed for a while. Unfortunately, he didn’t read the manual. “I did not check the setting, and the trimmer went wild. Now I’m bald on one side of my head," he laughs.
The lockdown has been hard on most people with salary cuts, job losses and bosses demanding far too much from a workforce stuck at home. But for some, small, simple disruptions have had a far greater impact on their lives in lockdown than the spread of the coronavirus. From breaking spectacles to messing up DIY haircuts to trying to fix gadgets, CEOs have found themselves in awkward situations quite a few times during the lockdown.
Sharat Dhall’s reputation as an engineer has taken a beating during the lockdown. The COO of PolicyBazaar decided to repair the refrigerator at when it stopped working. “I just could not get it going after assuring them that I could fix it. I don’t think my family will ever agree to let me fix anything ever again," says Dhall, 51, ruefully. “We had to call in a professional and it took a few days."
When the lockdown was extended for the third time, Anand Makhija, founder of TheCultureKo, was worried about his bevarage startup’s future and whether they’d have enough cash to ride out the downturn and the drop in demand. Then he broke his spectacles. The 22-year-old says that’s the worst thing to have happened to him during the lockdown, discounting all the work pressure. “I have very high power so I can’t read anything or even watch TV and I have a constant headache," he says. He’s ordered a pair online and is has been waiting for more than 20 days for it.
For Devesh Chhabria, co-founder, Superherotoystore.com, first his Playstation remote went bust, followed by the switchboard for the air conditioner. He had no other option but to try and fix it himself. “I opened up the remote, looked up YouTube videos and managed to fix it. With the switchboard I had to call up the electrician who was polite enough to get on a video call and guide me through the whole rewiring process," says Chhabria. “If it wasn’t for the lockdown, I would not have bothered to learn it."
Hair woes are a common complaint. Chandrika Pasricha, 46, founder and CEO, FlexingIt, confesses that a streak of white hair bothers her, but she couldn’t make her usual trip to the salon to have it dyed. “I decided to do it myself. I couldn’t find the usual shade, so I bought a light brown. But, I did something wrong so I have a lot of grey spots. Fortunately, we’re not having meetings so the only person who is making fun of it is my spouse," says Pasricha. In a week, she might feel brave enough to try again, she says.
For Khurana, the experiment gone wrong with the trimmer means he’s been taking all online meetings without video. “I have to wait till the hair grows back but after this article is out, at least my teams won’t ask me why the video is off," he says.
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