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?

I would think you’re really unprofessional but maybe some people wouldn’t mind that. Depends what industry.

Do you find it funny out of interest?

At my work if this was with clients you would be in the shit as extremely unprofessional and bad for company reputation. But internally it would be laughed off (and probably brought up at the Christmas review 🤣🙈)

Oh dear it's not very professional is it
Agree with others you need a proper work space (especially for your back it'll be fucked if you work on the sofa).

It sounds pretty funny but I do think you need to take video meetings more seriously in future!

Tell DH in advance so he stays quiet and away and lock the dog out! Basic etiquette when at work is not to do things you wouldn’t do at the office!

Oh that is funny. In lockdown I was interviewing a consultancy for a contract and one of the guy's cats vaulted over his shoulder and collided face first with his laptop, shutting the call down.

I don't think it's very professional.

You are supposed to be working not hanging out with your dog and husband.

While I don't think it will be mentioned as a once off, I suspect if it becomes a pattern your line manager will mention it.

I think a lot depends on your normal WFH situation- if you’re expecting to be working remotely a lot, you need a more appropriate work space. I think some of the initial relaxed approach to video calls has reduced - partly as we’ve all had time to get our shit together but also because we’ve learned to spot the minority who take the piss

“Important “ is key. I think you need to explain yourself!

It wouldn’t go down very well in my workplace tbh - finance, so quite formal. People are really expected to have sorted out a desk and chair by now if WFH, not taking important calls on the sofa. Hopefully you have a bit more of an informal vibe and it won’t be an issue, personally, I’d have found it funny as long as it was an internal meeting.

I would be unimpressed. Sitting on your sofa doesn't look good for a start.

If it’s a professional meeting it’s not ideal. You need to be on a separate room to your dh and dog and at a desk/rable.

I agree that 'sat on the couch' was a bad start.

Is your usual WFH set up from the couch with your dog wandering in and your DH in the same room and TV one? That's not working. I think it's highly unprofessional and if I was your like manager I'd be having a chat with you.

Was there no assessment done prior to WFH to see if you had the appropriate equipment and a desk?

All work and teams calls need to be done from an appropriate desk, not a comfy couch.

Depends on your employer and the nature of the call.

If it was my employer, and it was an isolated one off, they’d probably think it was fairly amusing, if brief and didn’t really interfere with the meeting.

If it involved clients, they wouldn’t be happy - and would probably ask why I’m doing Teams calls with dogs / people around, on my sofa.

A few years ago I worked for a company where someone logged into a Teams call from their garden (it was a nice day) and suffice to say, senior people were not impressed, and the person “left” her job not long afterwards.

In my work the dog wouldn't be an issue but we'd silently judge the Rule Britannia 😬

Working from the couch does not make you lazy but I can see how it would look for an Important meeting, important being the key word here. So if that is your only set up, put on one of the Teams backgrounds on your video settings so nobody can see your background next time, and also prewarn your husband next time that you are about to go on an important call to minimise background noise.

I would be mortified if that happened to me, but I would also find it hilarious if it happened to someone else.

You have said it was an "important" meeting so it doesn't look great in my opinion. Do you not have a proper working space at home?

I'd have found it v funny but as others have said, really depends on the industry and meeting context. For an important meeting, it sounds like you weren't paticularly prepared given dog/hubbie could interrupt, so on that basis it probably didn't make you look too professional. However, it's entirely down to the context and industry. Dogs and sofas will be absolutely fine in many WFH meetings.

Do you and your husband think that it’s actually appropriate to do that?
He knew you were in a work meeting but still belted out Rule Britannia just because he thought you were muted… when most people wouldn’t behave like that while their partner was working from home and certainly not if they were in a meeting. So, do you two think that’s a normal way to behave at work?

To be honest if someone one week in had this level of of disruption in a meeting I would be a bit worried that the can’t get their shit together.

depending on how senior you are, don’t take meetings on the sofa, close doors, keep it professional and you are in the office.

will you have to chair meetings? Present online? If so and I was your boss I would have reservations.

tell your husband to assume you are on Teams at all times.

Why should her husband have to always be tiptoeing around? He's allowed to sing in his own home if he wants to.

What were you thinking ?!

Of course he is, but not in the middle of a meeting that his wife was participating in surely?

I would agree with this. I’d be concerned you haven’t got a proper work set up at home (and be worrying what you were doing when you weren’t on line tbh.)

Better than the chap who went and had a poo with his camera still on 🤦‍♂️