What’s the worst thing you’ve witnessed in a Teams/Zoom meeting?

[purpleroses2]

I am ultra paranoid about online meetings, as I’ve witnessed a few mishaps:

1. A woman took a personal phone call and didn’t realise a colleague had left their mic on. She started slagging the whole team off and we could hear every word.
2. A man left his mic on and went to the toilet
3. Not me personally - but a friend was in a meeting where a woman left her cam on by accident and she had just got out of the shower. She then got dressed in full view of everyone on the meeting.

I wouldn’t dare do any of those things even near my laptop, just incase of an accident occurring.

I just absolutely cried laughing at the potato, thank you! 🤣

She wasn't on mute and her husband came home and asked what was for dinner. I can't remember what she said but he said "not that shit again" and then they had a full blown argument over repetitive dinners and the division of household tasks.

In lockdown, when Zoom was new, the kids altered my settings to an ‘amusing’ background.
I popped up in the meeting with external stakeholders… Headlining the pyramid stage at Glastonbury. 🤦‍♀️

This thread is reminding me of that guy who went on a video call with the BBC (can't remember the context) from his home office, only to have his little girl run in, then a baby happily trundles in on a walker, then his wife (or someone) comes racing in after them. So funny 😄

Ohhhh nooooo! When did he realise?

One of my colleagues was in a meeting where everyone had their cameras on except one person. There was nothing untoward in the meeting itself, but co-pilot transcription was turned on, and captured the camera off colleague asking for ‘two pints please, thanks” (we assumed it wasn’t milk)

This just made me actually laugh out loud 😂 🤣 😆

OMG, so many random things in my last job. Main one that springs to mind is a male colleague who, on hot days, would appear in meetings wearing just pants and sitting in an armchair. And there was another colleague who only stayed a few weeks who would be in every meeting in a dressing gown with seemingly nothing underneath.

We all worked from home btw

A senior manager organised a weekly meeting for a project she was running. For reasons nobody could understand, she arranged it for a time when she’d be doing the school run, meaning someone else had to lead every meeting. Occasionally she’d log on to the meeting at some point from a coffee shop and leave her microphone on meaning the meeting would be interrupted by loud music and general cafe noise. Someone else would have to mute her so that the meeting she was supposed to run could continue. So ridiculous.

This has reminded me of a colleague who was only with us briefly (later parted ways by mutual agreement, as it were). I was running our weekly Teams call and he joined slightly late by phone, camera on to reveal him topless and rather shiny (baby oil?), sitting in a deckchair in his garden. One of those things that cannot be unseen. He quickly turned his camera off but it was too late.

I am also the one who will hunt down and mute those who join online training or large meetings with their mics on, subjecting everyone to their private conversations or the sound of their lunch despite organisers saying “please mute yourselves” at the start. Drives me mad, so distracting.

Does copilot pick up stuff the attendees wouldn't then? 😯 Would you have actually heard him ask for pints?

Now I'm worried about what Ive said thinking I was on mute on meetings being transcribed.

Stated new job during covid where quite a bit of the training was on teams. We had to be on camera and in uniform for the training. It was monitored and we had to show each morning we were in uniform. One colleague was in his kitchen in his uniform. At the break he stood up to make some toast and he was only in the top half of his uniform, wearing striped pj bottoms. It did not go down well as managers noticed 😂

Some of these are shocking, and hilarious 😂 ive not experienced anything funny/strange, just the usual of people blabbing away not realising they're on mute. Oh, and plenty of cats/cat bumholes (usually mine 🙈)

I do quite like it when people dont have blur or backgrounds on though. There was a woman who was the most professional and straight laced person ever. Black suit, no personality but the room she worked in was full of cuddly toys and sparkly Disney tat. It wasnt a child's room, it was who she was outside of work.

Then you get people with really messy rooms and stuff piled everywhere or those people who have a fake room and pretend it's their actual living room or bedroom.

A woman who had a coughing fit for about 15 minutes in front of the screen.

Why she never thought to mute her mic and camera or remove the headset or close her laptop or even get up to get a glass of water is beyond me.

She just went on loudly coughing, this raucous cough, at the screen with her tongue out and her tonsils on full view for what seemed to be forever to a background chorus of her colleagues all saying 'Are you alright?'

She wasn't even the CEO! It went on for so long some of us wondered if she was doing it on purpose or liked the attention...lol.

Why would you not mute?

Because she was too busy trying not to die by the sounds of it? Have you never had such a coughing fit that you just cant think? Wondering if she was on mute while coughing that badly probably wasnt on her mind.

(Disclaimer I know she probably wasnt going to die)

Peter Mandelson?

That’s hilarious!!

Does anyone remember the zoom meeting where Jackie Weaver chaired? That was hilarious and made her quite famous.

I liked this one too- the giant dildo on the shelf 😆

www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/woman-goes-viral-after-xrated-item-spotted-on-the-shelf-during-bbc-wales-report/news-story/13d7fca4561fc4472b8ec2ac0a02e5c4

This is a brilliant thread OP 🤣.

I always just default to female if I dont know someone's gender. It wasnt important in this context.

Did the police officer speak with you? What did she say?

The dr is ready. Let's go to her office.

That's a lovely pigeon you have. What's her name?

If God existed, she would be female.

It often sounds odd to say she/her which is a problem I am taking my own tiny steps to address.

..............
Back on topic. Do you randomly just put people on speakerphone without asking them? That is so rude.
Plus something can be "technically" public but in reality isn't actually. You mentioned the word technically there which suggests it's not usually public snd ut wouldnt ge unreasonable for all the parties to believe it's private.

Anyway, it's done. Please ask people before you put them on speakerphone.

I heard an odious man speaking like an arse hole to his young daughter.

She was just asking him to help her with something simple and he was aggressive and abusive - you can't do anything, youre thick, you're pathetic. Don't talk to me and waste my time etc... Just genuinely a horrible excuse of a man.

Felt like calling child services - probably should have, right.?

I had already mentioned the judge by a male pronoun so your posturing just looks silly.

They are public. That's a fact. I said "technically" because I've never known anyone dial into a phone one. But certainly people do turn up to the in-person ones, I've done it myself in many court cases (not pre hearings because they're very boring, they're usually about procedure). They are listed at the tribunal and all you have to do is ask for the details if it's by phone or video conference. Or rock up if it's "live".

Yep, I put people on speaker all the fucking time and will continue to do so. No, I don't tell them. It's not rude, it's normal and it's not for you to tell me not to.

Read the standing orders! Read them and understand them!