Disastrous Teams meeting - is it as bad as I think?

Sorry OP but that sounds like an amazing teams meeting 😂

Someone down the pub told me they started a job, got naked, smeared Nutella on their privates & dog was licking it off. All on Teams accidentally as it was the lunch hour & forget the camera was on. So, no, you’re all good.

Sorry but sat on the couch for a work meeting is unprofessional - you should always be sat in a room with a closed door at a desk for confidentiality purposes , particularly if someone else is in the house. This way the dog can’t join you and any noise your DH is making will be minimised. Also good practise to keep your mic on mute if you aren’t speaking to minimise any impromptu interruptions such as DH singing ! I suspect your colleagues will find it amusing but don’t be surprised if there are some comments. Unfortunately not a good luck professionally and certainly not for week 1.

I’m sorry OP but the Rule Brittania bit made me howl 😂 life happens - if your colleagues are decent they’ll know that we’re all humans, not robot cyborgs.

Absolutely!

Something similar has probably happened to them too.

😂 sorry OP that really made me laugh.

I foster dogs and if it helps I was sat on the sofa in a teams call with a customer when an 18 month old labrador lept on my head, I shouted ‘fucking he’ll Jack’ and ended up shutting my laptop. Thankfully everyone found it funny.

Im sure it’ll be fine, maybe speak to whoever was chairing the call and apologise for the disruption to their meeting

Honestly it's fine.
My friends colleague was on teams and her husband walked in completely naked and swinging his willy round like a helicopter blade

Indeed. My post was not intended to advocate for such a laissez faire approach to meetings. More that the OP inspired the recollection.

When I worked for a big consulting firm we weren't allowed to WFH (pre-COVID) if we didn't have a proper set up of desk, chair, monitor, keyboard etc. we also had regular 'data health' online courses we had to complete to make sure we were set up properly and using the equipment correctly. Nowadays it seems a lot of companies just don't care. If you spend a lot of hours in front of a laptop you're setting yourself up for a lot of unnecessary aches and pains and strains if you don't sit properly supported and with equipment at the right height.

I voted that you’re being unreasonable, but you’re not really, I’m sure anybody would be pretty mortified if that happened in their first week in a job. I voted unreasonable as it really won’t matter and you should stop worrying so please don’t lose any sleep over it!

Admittedly, I had been in my job for a few years when Covid hit and we were on a teams call when my lovely cat jumped on my lap and then decided to piss all over me and I had to lift him off with it spraying everywhere and my colleagues laughing their heads off!!!

All of this… I would never take an important Teams call on the sofa 😅

I once realised mid call my cat released his prized robin that he had snuck in. The bird, flew straight for the window i was sat at. Straight in my face, with little warning. So little warning I didnt really realise what was happening as my chair tipped back and went bum over boobs,and half roly-polyed off the top of the chair mid meeting with our SLT.

If you laugh it offer and provide good outputs im sure it will just become a tale of legend

It really depends on the people on the call. These things happen and I would think / hope that they wouldn’t really do anything about it as a one time , maybe laugh realise we’re all human.

But I would try to about this happening again if I were you. People working from home should still be as committed as those in the office and really , when you’re working , you should be in a space where you can’t be interrupted like that.

My cat used to love sticking her arse to
the camera when I was on teams.

Yes, or with HR 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would find it funny nd the team I worked with would have done too but we were in a charity/academic setting that was pretty laid back

Yes but we are 5 years on … plenty of time to sort a proper work space!

Why are you sat on couch for an important teams meeting? Should you not be at a desk … trying to make a good impression?
Yeah pretty embarrassing one week in and not a professional look tbh!
I would question your commitment to the job if I was your manager!! Maybe better off working from the office in future!

If its any consolation, i was in a Teams meeting once where an attendees dog started humping the sofa cushions in the background of the meeting. They didnt realise and there was that awkward moment where im sure everyone was thinking, "do i say something? No, someone else will say something" in the meantime dogs getting his jollies against the cushions 🤣No rule Brittania though!

You lost me at “I’m sat on the couch”. If it’s an important meeting you should be sat at a desk or table. Not on the couch.

This is very unprofessional. I work from home but would never take a meeting day on my couch. I have space for a desk but if I didnt , I would sit up straight at a table.

Totally not ideal. You are a professional-time to act like one. I sacked someone for this sort of thing. In my industry working from home is a privilege and taken very seriously. Next time prepare for your meeting like the pro you are.

seriously unprofessional. I can't see you being a long term prospect.

Some people love dogs in work meetings. I will tolerate them, but I don't want to be wasting meeting time cooing over other people's dogs nor waiting for them while they sort them out.

Because we are an entirely remote and international work force, we actively take time for more informal and personal chats so we don't feel isolated and get to know our colleagues.