Homecoming!

By Sherif Attar 

Oh, yes…that’s the title I thought for this comeback to the beloved Egyptian Gazette. It has been so many years since my last article on the paper’s Business Page (giving away my age!). Yes, so many years have passed since then and so many events and changes took place in the universe and affected the way we live and how we do business.

In the US, presidents kept changing after debates that turned into offensive-one-way-dialogues (Editor: oneway-dialogues?) Yes, a dialogue with so many interruptions is a simultaneous two monologues. Also, the US observed an increase in mass shootings in schools, business enterprises or dance clubs. Tension rises!

At home, TV commercials went wild, development projects overwhelmed, “Ever Given” lost it and spent a few nights in the Suez Canal, Facebook and its memes captured the main social media spirit and football craze rocketed sky-high with players’ value (as in how much), VAR (“Video Assistant Referee”, in case you have been living in a bubble!) and foul plays became the new norm (are we still talking football?).

But without doubt, the most influential change factor came with Covid 19: Lockdown, opening, lockdown again, face masks, face shield, accusations flying all over, suspiciously ineffective vaccinations, the loss of many lives and the huge question marks about what our future will look like.

Business went bananas! How are we going to run the daily work? How can we sell? Which customer is willing to spend any money now? How will we pay our own expenses?

But, amidst all that, it seems like we managed to device some positive thoughts and decision. Creativity was born again out of our pandemic crisis. On the positive side, we came across several actions proving that we, humans, are still capable of using our brains.

Artists started performing live “publicly” in front of their cameras for the masses, travel agents opened a new page selling packages to be used over 24 months, online marketing tripled with all sorts of products and services, let alone discounts unseen before. Work from home and flex hours, once a rare novelty, became the order of the day.

Nobody saw that coming. Still, business has managed to struggle to maintain its existence. Indeed, all those beautiful solutions and many others are implemented with varying degrees of success.

One question remains buzzing in my head. What is next? Whenever we are done with this nightmare, will we be able to go back to our old life? You answer this one for me. Mine is: Very bleak!

Humans are creatures of habits. Will we be able to break all these new imposed traditions? Will we feel safe if we take off our masks? Can we go back to shake hands, hug, or kiss? How about hot dog stands and street ice cream sellers in public parks? Can business return to its old formula? How are we going to address the future, and what will we be telling our kids? Is our “past” going to be a fairy tale that our newborn will never believe? Have we just been added to Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Santa Claus, Link or Mario? Will that be our destiny once the famous sign hit the screen “Game Over”?