Humiliated on first call with new team

52 replies

Freyaa9 · 04/11/2025 22:21

I’ve just moved roles internally and there was a teams call with my new colleagues earlier - about 15 in total.

My new manager asked everyone to take turns and introduce themselves, explain their role/work history and say something they are interested in outside of work. Standard stuff.

I said I’m really into the gym and someone asked what sort of thing I do so I explained I’ve gotten in to bodybuilding recently. Someone then asked if I take protein and I said I do supplement with it when needed. A different colleague then said that ‘they bet my arse sounds like a church organ’ to a load of laughter.

I felt so humiliated and didn’t know what to say other than to fake a laugh. I told my DH this evening and he says that’s really rude and the manager should have said something.

OP posts:

briq · 04/11/2025 22:30

It was an impolite (and odd) thing to say, but it's no reason for you to be humiliated. Whoever said it is the one who looks weird here, so I'd try to reframe it as an embarrassing moment for them more than for you, though I'm sure someone will come along to say that they think it's funny. Maybe the rest of the group shares a similarly juvenile sense of humour, if the laughter was genuine.

Unless this develops into a trend of behaviour (trying to make you uncomfortable), I'd try my best not to dwell on it.

Thepeopleversuswork · 04/11/2025 22:30

Someone you’d never met said that on a work Teams call in front of a load of colleagues? Wow.

That’s really unprofessional. It would really damage my perception of these people. Was the team you have moved from like this?

Tricky if you’re new and don’t want to rub people up the wrong way but I would have a quiet word with your manager and say you found it unacceptable. Start as you mean to go on, make it clear you don’t appreciate and won’t tolerate this.

And keep a note in case it happens again.

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