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

[BoringSilentHill]

Name changed as work related.

important teams meeting. I’m sat on couch, suddenly my dog jumps up and rams her nose into my eye, my mic is off . I try to push dog away and she thinks I’m playing so starts wrestling with me. Big dog. I notice the talking has stopped and colleagues are half way between amused and horrified.

I manage to sort this one out and everything is back on track until DH suddenly starts belting out Rule Britannia - this time my mic is on and in his defence, he didn’t know I was on teams. It was because we watched the choir.

this is a new job / one week in. How bad is it really or am I overthinking it?

People love dogs on Teams calls! I think it all sounded hilarious! As for your husband singing, unfortunate, but not a reflection on you! Maybe next time, put the dog AND husband in another room 😂

I’d have loved this. Teams meetings are so boring! You probably gave them a good giggle. Think no more about it

Ypu are mortified but I suspect you have endeared yourself to all your work colleagues. It very much depends how pompous your job is. Sales and Marketing team, great. High Court judge, not so much.

I don't think the OP was saying the meeting was on Sunday, I think she might have been procasinating from the first week on the job.

I did a speed awareness course whilst sitting on the sofa lockdown era. I was dressed and personal laptop was on a table.

But you were out of bed and dressed!

Never apologise, style it out and make a joke about it

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

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, or with HR 🤷🏻‍♀️

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

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.

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

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

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!!!

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.

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

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