In trouble at work

[Dottiemay]

There's been Teams interviews for a junior role at work. The interviews include an on the day task for the first half an hour of the interview. I'm not on the panel but my manager asked me to join the call at the start of the interview alone to introduce the task and say the panel will join the call in half an hour and will ask you to introduce the task. All fine. I did six interviews this week and I was on the call for max two minutes to introduce the task then left. The last interviewee had been scheduled at school pick up time. I'd asked around to see if someone could pick up my kid from school but couldn't. So I asked the school - where I've been a governor for many years - if I could come early to use the meeting room to jump on this call for a couple of minutes. That way I'd be at the school for pick up. The head said yes, no issues. When I got to the school, the head was away at a meeting and hadn't told the deputy, and the meeting room was being used for a safeguarding meeting. They offered me the school reception area but it was full of parents wanting to speak to staff. As I didnt have time to drive back home, I jumped in the car and blurred the background. Introduced the task and then left - took a minute or two. The candidate then sent my manager a screenshot of me on the call clearly in the car. My manager has now raised it with me and said we'll have to chat on Monday about it. I'm shitting myself. They know I'm a single parent. I start work at 7.00 and work through my lunch break to get an earlier finish so I don't think I've done anything wrong and who cares if the background was a car. But I feel like I'm in a lot of trouble. Do you think I've done something terrible?

I do get this and perhaps I should have been upfront. I think being a single parent can feel overwhelming and you're always trying to make all of your obligations. I was trying to sort it in a way that would mean I could do both and don't always want to say to managers that you're struggling to meet commitments for fear of being deemed a liability . And it would have been fine otherwise. Maybe in future I should be more upfront.

Even if the candidate had a reason (excuse) in the interview later on, they’d already taken a screen shot of OP, so what was that for?

As a manager I wouldn’t be the slightest bit concerned about this. Try not to worry.

For the candidate however, they would enter company folklore as an idiot whom we were very fortunate not to progress

My manager sent me the screenshot. It was timed straight after my call so not after a disastrous interview

You totally should. It’s not being a single parent that makes you a liability, everyone has lives, but lying or hiding things in this way totally does make you look like a liability. Obviously you didn’t no the boss would be annoyed this time, but now that you do I’d be upfront next time.

Agree. How weird to take a screenshot of someone in an interview and then send it to their manager.

Did they give context as to why the candidate sent it to them? Are you sure the call isn’t just recorded and the manager saw it that way?

Candidate sounds like a dick. As an employer I wouldn’t give a shit about this, in fact I’d be impressed you managed to fit it in.

I really don’t see the issue with being in a car, I’m a fully remote worker, and have to go to site meetings as do many of the people I meet with. As we travel, any one of us might be in a car taking a meeting. It’s a private space. Better than doing it in a coffee shop like many people do!

The candidate is a dick. Male by any chance?

Lol yes

As a manager it totally wouldn’t bother me. I’m used to calls with people at all levels openly in their cars or with a blurred background. I would not be impressed with the candidate though. What an arse.

It’s simple really, different companies have different policies. When my job allows home working it’s exactly that, we don’t regularly travel for work and if there’s a home internet outage we would be expected to hotspot our mobiles at home or go into the office. It’s just company dependant in many cases.

I really wouldn't worry about it. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation and I think you went over and above to accommodate. You are clearly flexible, committed to the role and supportive.
At worst you'll get 'that was a bit unprofessional, don't do it again'

The candidate on the other hand... what a treat! At least they made the decision to hire easy!

To be fair the whole point of Teams is so it can be held wherever the person is. We've had Teams training where someone's cat decided to pop up for an appearance 🤣

It doesn't matter of you're in the office, at home, sat in the bathroom, or in the car. So long as it's private and the background is blurred to ensure no information can be seen on office boards for example. It's not like OP was stood at the deli counter in Tesco.

Good point actually. A car is a private, quiet place to take a call when you’re out on site/travelling/dealing with life. I wonder why this candidate is looking for a job right now..

My bet is the candidate was shit and grasped an opportunity to stay in contention by dobbing you in. I can imagine that's what the manager is irked about.

Gen-Z?

of course. I have so much I could say to this but I just don’t have the energy tonight. It really is the patriarchy in full swing.

You tried to solve the situation and unfortunately couldnt quite swing it, so did the next best thing. I don’t even think I’d go into the meeting with apologies. I honestly believe if a man did an introduction in the car no one would have tried to create drama. When a woman does it the assumption is she is disorganised and incompetent. Fuck that shit.

Same here.

one of our trustees joined a meeting on the school run last month. He’s (no exaggeration) a tech billionaire.

Also accurate. I'd guess 25ish

I'd say your Internet went down so you had to hotspot off your phone and you get better signal outside than in your house.

The candidate was such a dick. I hope they don't get the job.

People can be such cunts.

Surely the candidate should be thinking wow what a great flexible company this is and I’d love to work there!

Thank you ❤️ In principle I completely agree. Men who do this are seen as amazing fathers. Women are made to look like they don't have their shit together and can't handle full time work.