'Tales from the Pandemic Days’ provides a timely and focused examination of how firms, particularly SMEs, responded to the vicissitudes of the COVID-19 pandemic. It nicely combines overall economic implications with firm-specific issues. Human resource and technological issues are rightly identified as the central ingredient in resolving firm performance. Throughout, though, the nexus of these two ingredients to success are highlighted – they do not stand alone. This point is made in multiple contexts and with pointed examples of how to best proceed. Perhaps the pandemic inspired changes and adaptations elucidated in ‘Business, Economy, and Society: Tales from the Pandemic Days’ were coming regardless. Nonetheless, human resource management practice and technology adaptation are here and now. The questions asked and answered are which, what and how. As well documented, the answers are conditional on the nature of the business going forward, not looking back.