15+ awkward zoom calls for people who still don't know how to mute themselves: 'A colleague activated a filter that turned them into a potato for the entire team meeting'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jun 30, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

Who hasn't had a paranoid thought during a Zoom call? Perhaps you're wondering if you really are on mute or if your screen is still being shared and someone saw that passive-aggressive text you sent about your boss. Perhaps this paranoia is legitimate because something like this actually happened to you. Over the past several years, we have all had to adjust to these remote calls, and some employees are just not built for it. 

This collection of Zoom mixups and mishaps ranges from workplace drama to online school fails. Remember that viral video of that lawyer who could not figure out how to remove the animal filter during his remote call? Well, to some degree, we have all been that person or we all will be some day. It's par for the course when technological advancements evolve faster than our collective societal ability to keep up with it all.

Keep scrolling below for these Zoom fails. For more, check out this post about a remote employee's friction with a client.

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  • 01
    control T 4 L 9 D O H J K Z x x C V B N M x
    via Chris Montgomery
  • 02
    deontiko 47 min. ago During a Zoom call announcing layoffs, I watched a coworker call the CEO a " "by name and to his face. It was glorious.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 03
    Pleasant Peach6892. 24 min. ago One time a girl in my english class accidentally spent a solid 10 minutes talking to her boyfriend with her mic and camera on. She went into personal life details at points but no one wanted to be the one to tell her. She eventually took out a b■ which was when another student quickly said "uhhh... [name], your camera and mic are on." She turned both off without a word. Easily most awkward case of forgetting about the mic.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 04
    Comprehensive Act5391. 25 min. ago Our teachers toddler wandered in saying that "daddy wants to know where you hid his underwear". We could not stop laughing. I think it turned out she hadn't hidden it and it was just in the wash
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 05
    nov8tive1 43 min. ago on a major conference call involving about 300 people in the defense industry. Someone forgets to mute. "oh, who's a good boy? Are YOU a good boy? That's right baby! You're Mommy's good boy!" And I'm not going to tell you that there weren't side bets placed in the chat as to whether she was talking to her dog or her husband.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 06
    dawn_of_dae 1 hr. ago Guy rushed back to his seat. In the process he knocked down a glass of water, managed to fall down by rushing and hit his desk extremely hard in the process. The professor had to stop the lecture to ask him if he's okay.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 07
    Workable Oxygen 40 min. ago My lecturer was zoom calling us (online class) and my cat fd really loudly it was so embarassing but everyone laughed.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 08
    vian1608 31 min. ago One of the funniest things I've witnessed on Zoom while working from home was when a colleague accidentally activated a filter that turned them into a potato for the entire team meeting. No matter what was being discussed, there was this potato on screen, nodding along seriously. It took a while for someone to figure out how to turn the filter off, so the potato stole the show for a good part of the meeting!
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 09
    Eliasha637 52 min. ago I was once in a serious works call and one of my work friends kept playing memes and funny stuff on the screen while my boss was trying to speak was hilarious, shame he got sacked for it though.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 10
    elevenghosts ⚫ 43 min. ago We had a meeting on Christmas Eve morning. About half the team had signed and we were waiting for others. A couple people were chatting about holiday plans until one woman starts screaming at her kid. I don't remember what he'd done, but she had clearly hit her boiling point with him about it.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 11
    She's admonishing him for his behavior while he's in the doorway saying "Sorry" (in a progressively more sincere tone) over and over as she excoriates him. Then she starts talking about returning his presents because of whatever he had/hadn't done. He was in the 10/11/12 range and the fear in his eyes led us to believe he did not think she was bluffing. Obviously, at this point, everyone else has quieted and is listening in.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 12
    When she turned back to the camera and noticed that everyone saw and heard it all, the face she made was incredible - a perfect mix of shock and embarrassment. But it only lasted for a second because she then muted herself and turned the camera off. I and at least one other person had turned our cameras off because we were laughing so hard. I always kind of wanted to ask her later on how Christmas went.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 13
    AsleepDay 1 hr. ago one of my friends forgot to mute his mic and we all heard him talking to his baby goats friends (this was actually really funny-cute)
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 14
    milley_t_ .58 min. ago When the guy who was listening to the lecture broke his chair and fell
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 15
    Rambos_Magnum_ 40 min. ago In 2021 I had a coworker turn on her zoom meeting and forget to mute. Our boss who was hosting had to step out for a moment when the meeting started. Then you hear the co- worker and her husband arguing over laundry.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 16
    Him: "Um.. why the your clothes still in the Jare dryer? They've been in there 2 days. I need to use the washing machine. When your meeting is over can you please get your stuff out?" Her: "I'll do it after my stupid meeting. What the is your problem? You act like a baby sometimes I swear. Oh " (mute) Not necessarily funny, but it was hella cringe worthy.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 17
    nuclear_sock. 33 min. ago I was in an online class and a classmate thought he was muted and without a camera but in reality he had muted the teacher's audio. The teacher saw him lying on the bed (on his side) and started calling him, he didn't respond and we all started laughing. The best part was when he fed and the image of him appeared on screen, that's when he realized what had happened and left the call. He treated everyone bad until that moment.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 18
    No-Investigator-4030 OP. 1 hr. ago During my first year of college, which was entirely online, I heard quite a few people getting rather... intimate on Zoom. Like more than once. I guess joining, turning off camera and muting mic was just too many clicks for the heat of the moment lol.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 19
    Jaded_Syrup2454 35 min. ago A guy got fired cause he turned the camera on and didn't have his shirt on.... People be getting too comfortable working from home lol
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 20
    Forsaken-Factor-5062. 27 min. ago I saw my coworkers cat chew through a lamp cord on a zoom call, it got electrocuted and stunned a little. Everyone on the call starting yelling to direct her attention to it the cat was okay though thank god
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 21
    bananaboiyy 20 min. ago I saw someone forgot to turn off the camera so I saw them do a cartwheel lol
    via u/No-Investigator-4030
  • 22
    J120101 29 min. ago Probably during online classes when my professor thought she had her mic muted and she was talking to someone in the background cursing the class out and saying how stupid we were.
    via u/No-Investigator-4030

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