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?

😂 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

Something similar has probably happened to them too.

Absolutely!

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.

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.

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 OP but that sounds like an amazing teams meeting 😂

Our council has had a few doozies during public meetings. They always go viral. It's the only time folks watch them. 😁

Yikes that is hideous

Completely unprofessional

That never happened. Urban myth.

My thoughts too.

So didn’t happen. How can teams be on camera accidentally? You are in a call or not it doesn't just happen to come on itself over the lunch break. 🤨

You’re the type of colleague I want on my team meeting 🤣 Don’t over think it. I’m sure you’ll be laughing about it with them sometime soon.

I don't think wanting to appear professional is being uptight and straight laced. We can have a laugh in Teams meetings, but we have all known each other for years. As a new person I would never have had a meeting on a sofa with a dog and a singing husband. It reeks of a complete lack of judgement.

I wasn't sure which way to vote as I think you are unreasonable to have a chaotic homeworking setup 'and' you are not unreasonable to be worried. Aware it is very industry dependent though so perhaps if others are this distracting and distracted it's fine. It would be a massive red flag in my workplace and I'd have to follow it up if you reported to me.

I’ve read the op twice and each time cried with laughter. You should sell your services to support dull team meetings! I hope that they didn’t take this badly at your work - happens to the best of us!

I agree. Yes to lols and things going wrong in calls, but not sitting on a sofa with a dog running around and a husband who can’t take the time to check whether you’re in a meeting before starting to sing

To me this screams unprofessionalism tbh.

I know people are asking which industry, but frankly I cannot imagine industry where this level of disrespect for work or your colleagues would be welcomed.
It's not about the dog or DH or the song, it is about you being totally fine showing that you are actually not working while working from home.

Sitting on a couch watching tv and playing with a dog - this is not working - doesn't really matter if you are in fintech and doing a demo to a new prospect or taking part in a friendly knitting course (even in that case as a course moderator I'd be slightly annoyed as it would be clear you are not really interested).
Not to mention that when on a call it is assumed that you are not in a public space where another person can hear your entire work related conversation/meeting.

If I sound to harsh, it may be due to the fact that people that behave like you are the very reason why more and more companies are asking their employees to return to the office even for jobs that can be executed remotely perfectly well (e.g. coding). Examples like you just prove their point that people cannot be trusted to put in a similar amount of effort/focus as they would in the office.
And the saddest thing is that (it sounds to me) you hope that what happened is funny and original and kind of singles you a out as quirky one - yes if you were in a sitcom. But considering someone is actually paying you to work - it's just immature :(

There was no consequential story, until some character tried to correct the spelling of mike.

Mic*
😉

Let’s ask the Cambridge Dictionary.

Don't worry about it, I would have found it funny. Might want to think about your working environment so you don't need to worry about interruptions going forward.
I was on a call a couple of years ago. Lots of people on the Teams call. Someone's webcam fell down. He wasn't wearing any trousers so got a good look at his orange budgie smugglers. No-one batted an eye. I thought maybe I was having a stroke until someone messaged me after the call saying "OMG did you see that??"

It’s fine don’t worry about it. At least 95% of people on that call will have loved it and the 5% who don’t probably just take it all too seriously anyway

They are a very strange bunch of people to be horrified by that. Its really no big deal. Dont worry.