To snack during zoom meetings?

[Fiep]

Every day I have to log onto a meeting which is largely not applicable to me. We have a camera on, microphone off culture which I am fine with. However this interminable meeting coincides with my snack time so I’m often having my mid morning snack while listening / multitasking.

DD gets me up at 5:30am so I definitely need morning snacks to make it to lunch. Nobody else ever eats in meetings though so I just wondered whether I’m breaking the etiquette.

AIBU to snack?

YABU: control yourself, woman, and stop eating ion screen, nobody wants to see this

YANBU: nobody cares what you’re doing if you’re just a lurker, munch away.

@Wankerchief

Umm I start work at 5am and get a lunch break at 12:30…. You can make it through without wilting away. Would you eat in the meeting room if you were in the office?

we used to.....meetings were held over lunch and break time.

@HunterHearstHelmsley

It's a strange one as when I was in the office people would regularly eat during meetings but its a no no on Teams!

Either switch your cam off for a bit or eat at a different time.

could it be because the mic pics up the eating noises more than real life would?

How long is the meeting that you can't eat before or wait until after? I would wait til after as if the sound isn't on them they can't hear my tummy rumbling
I think I'd feel weird about it, who wants to see a video of me eating?

My DH is director level in a big finance company. He often eats during meetings. Not important board level or external one but normal ones with his team or colleagues. Sometime, having started working work around 7am, he gets absolutely no break so takes his lunch to his office to eat during meetings. He also has a cup of tea and a biscuit from time to time during meetings. I don't see what the issue is. Not everyone gets a lunch or tea break.

I thigh snack time was for toddlers. Eat before or after if a proper meeting. Internal bloody huddles eating is fine.

My boss eats during meetings. It is bloody disgusting. (And we tell him so, in plain language).

If you are eating, turn your camera off. It really is that simple. No-one wants to see that...

Snacking on food fine.
This morning I had to sit through an hour of someone snacking on their nails in a zoom call. It made me feel sick.

Does the meeting go on for hours and hours? Can you not change your ‘snack time’?? Eat something just before the meeting.

I agree with others that eating when on video calls is not on, really. Eating on audio calls is fine (assuming you're on mute and not being expected to talk during that bit).

However, if like my company you have days where you literally jump from virtual meeting to virtual meeting, I think it is ok to say "sorry I have back to back meetings all day, I have to just eat my sandwich" or whatever. If you have enough space to eat between meetings, you should do that.

I always got up at 5:30am during my working life and never had a snack time, although I did have an early lunch. Generally speaking and I have worked at numerous places, it wasn’t normal to bring food to meetings unless it was a specific working lunch meeting.

My main priority would be to get myself out of the irrelevant meeting so I could spend my work time more productively and eat my snack

Why do you have to attend?

Snacking and multitasking with the camera on is a big no - distracting and no one wants to see it. Put a picture on your profile so it isn't a black screen and switch the camera off when it isn't the beginning/end of the meeting or you are not fully engaged or contributing.

I would probably kill someone smacking their lips and chewing on the camera, can't stand the sight. It's irrational but emotions are strong with this one.
I don't snack on my virtual meetings, it's not polite and if you need to answer quickly, how do you want to do it if you have your mouth full?
Unless it's something like lunch and learn, just delay your snack. Unless you're diabetic, it won't do you any harm.

I have a regular long meeting with people from different external organisations where there is a five minute “comfort break”, and then everyone comes back with coffee/biscuit - it mimics how we did it face to face. In other meetings, no.

You don’t eat on screen unless it’s a very casual team call.

“Interferes with my snack time” ???

You can’t be serious. Which adult (and a professional adult in a work environment) has a “snack time” ?!

Hahaha. This can’t be a serious thread.

I’d say that generally people are understanding if you need to eat or snack but they usually leave their camera off while they eat then turn it back on after they’ve done. I’ve been in meetings where I’ve had to have the camera on but I’m pregnant and the first trimester I was sneaking snacks so I didn’t feel sick. I’d try to turn my camera off and if I couldn’t I’d drop my pen on the floor and then hide my mouth. I’d also try to snack on something that didn’t involve too much jaw action. The venn diagram of what can I sneakily eat that might help with nausea - so mints mainly.

If you are snacking on camera, I think you might be able to get away with fruit but anything else probably not.

@Bksjshsbbev2737

Would you eat in a meeting in the office? It’s not really accepted to do that at work in the office so no I wouldn’t do it. I like a mid morning snack but I have it around meetings just like I do in the office.

Really? I have a lot of meetings both internal and external and when these things were face-to-face there was almost always food provided even if just a biscuit. Some even laid on croissants etc for breakfast. And if over lunch that would often be provided. I wouldn't at all find it unusual for there to be food at a meeting.

Oddly though I do feel weird eating on Teams or Zoom or whatever. If it was a client I'd probably wait till after, but internal meetings etc I might just turn my video off for five mins if I needed a snack.

Yabu. Eat breakfast and have a snack after the meeting.

Do people really need to be told this

Sorry, a more constructive response from me (if this isn’t a wind-up thread) should have been:

• if it’s a v informal meeting/catch-up with colleagues it’s generally ok to have a biscuit & a brew, or if over lunchtime to have a sandwich (as long as you refer to it such as: ‘please excuse me grabbing my lunch whilst we chat’)

• if it’s a proper meeting, do not snack. How hard can it be to prepare for it in advance by grabbing a handful of nuts before dialling-in?

Most workplace cultures expect that you manage your time properly and this means being flexible with your own rigid “snack time” to prioritise the actual work required.

Never met an adult with a designated snack time 😂😂

Youre an adult. I dont understand why you have a snack time like a small child. If youre jn a meeyungvyou have to wait until its over or predict it and eat before. Its very rude and distracting. If everyone was snacking it would be like a dinner party.
Im sorry just really dont understand this.
Its not allowed in my company.it makes people look disinterested and like they arent making an effort as well as not being respectful to their colleagues.

@Use627

Never met an adult with a designated snack time 😂😂

Agree!

You're not a newborn baby! You don't need feeds every couple of hours or at predicable times! 😂😂

You've got to remember this is MN OP, so no one eats anything apart from dust and fresh air, OK?!

Unless you're meeting is 7 hours long, surely just snaffle a kit kat before it or wait until it's finished to eat?! Or have a camera malfunction/parcel at the door/phone call from kids school and excuse yourself for a minute while you have a crumpet.

I work with someone who spends the entire time in our meetings eating a packet of crisps with the microphone still on and it's infuriating. It cuts out whoever is talking while they are crunching away. I can't believe management don't bollock them for it.