Man’s Hilarious Zoom Background Offers Moment Of Relief During Meeting About Impending Layoffs

THE world may be experiencing the worst pandemic in living memory while gearing up to weather an economic crash that makes 2008 look like Mardi Gras, but that hasn’t stopped Waterford man Hugh Dowdall from going that extra mile when it comes to amusing his soon-to-be ex-coworkers with a succession of utterly hilarious, not-at-all annoying Zoom backgrounds.

HR manager Dowdall has been keeping in touch with staff members of the currently-closed small business to keep them informed of the outlook facing the company, and not once throughout the whole thing has he failed to raise a smile with a seemingly never-ending array of funny images behind him.

From sitting on The Simpsons couch to standing on the top of a hill singing The Sound Of Music with Julie Andrews, Dowdall has momentarily removed the grim spectre of the sword of Damocles from each meeting, according to staff.

“We’re pretty sure we’re all getting let go, but Hugh looks like he’s on the bridge of the Enterprise – so there’s that, I suppose” said one disconsolate worker we talked to.

“See, he’s always been the ‘office jokester’, and we’ve always hated his nonsense. So when he comes out with these funny backgrounds, it’s a reminder that no matter what changes, the sun will rise, water is wet and Hugh is an absolute bell-end”.

Meanwhile, rumours persist that Dowdall may be prolonging the inevitable closure of the business just so he can show off his new backgrounds every day at meetings, with many employees actually just begging for it at this stage.