Brand new employee mortified by their interruption to video call: 'I let out a loud, audible sigh'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 14, 2025 5:00 PM EST

People do the wildest things on their work video calls… and sometimes they don't even realize it until their coworkers are giggling at their expense. 

I'm a huge fan of people who show their pets during Zoom video calls. First of all, if you work from home, Fluffy is your coworker now, so get him on the call, pronto! Second of all, your pet is never a bother. Cats love to jump up on the desk and start rubbing themselves on your face at the exact moment you're trying to give an important presentation to your boss (it's like they know that they're choosing the worst possible time to do it!). Don't be embarrassed that Mr. Whiskers is getting in the frame, just embrace it! Now, your precious pet can mug for the camera while you deliver last quarter's numbers. You've instantly livened up the meeting! Congrats! 

However, that's not the only way you can liven up your coworker's video call experience and become the workplace personality hire. Just keep reading, and you'll find a bunch of stories about hilarity on video calls, for better or worse. 

Up next, read about the inexperienced traveling YouTuber parents who plan to sell their home, travel full time, and make $50k, in that order: "

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    Cheezburger Image 10454433536
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    "Accidentally sighed unmuted on a teams meeting as a new hire" this person admitted

    I feel so bad lol. I had asked about an issue I was having and they told. to wait until the end, it was getting close to the time I thought I had to leave (realized it was an hour later towards the
    via u/espresso_d**ressooo
  • 03
    end) and one of the other new hires was asking a very long winded and kind of silly question related to her emails. I let out a loud, audible sigh.
    via u/espresso_d**ressooo
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    No one mentioned it, but I quickly realized I forgot to put myself on mute and muted myself. It mostly wasn't related to him it was just when I was checking the clock it
    via u/espresso_d**ressooo
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    looked like I had 8 minutes to get off and I was worried about getting my issue resolved in time. Probably just overthinking it.
    via u/espresso_d**ressooo

    Best of luck to this new hire! I'm sure they weren't the only one who was using their whole brain power to will the meeting to a swift close. After posting their tale, more than 150 people chimed in with their own comments. Some comforted the new hire, assuring them that they didn't mess up too bad. Others shared their own great stories, which you can read if you keep scrolling down. 

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    marx34SD On my first remote job I got annoyed at this one guy's rambling questions during training over Microsoft Teams, so I muted him thinking it would just mute him for me He unmuted himself and without addressing it continued his word salad with an annoyed tone.
    via u/espresso_d**ressooo
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    Ex... I did something similar during a company wide Slack meeting. It was getting into the afternoon and I was tired. There was a design guy droning on about some UI/UX specification, and it was lulling me to sleep.
    via u/Excellent-Ad-3623
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    I do this weird thing sometimes when I have a big yawn, where I obnoxiously let out a loud noise during the exhalation phase of the yawn because it helps wake me up a bit. Well, I did just that thinking I was muted, and everything went de d quiet. The designer that had been speaking then said "are you okay?"
    via u/Excellent-Ad-3623
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    I meant no disrespect by it (obviously I thought I was muted), but it probably came off like "can you wrap this boring sh up before I fall asleep?". I was mortified but got DMs all day saying it was hilarious. I treat meetings like I'm always unmuted now.
    via u/Excellent-Ad-3623
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    Apprehensive_Fu... My cat's decided to crash my final interview with a job that I really want. I wanted to move him away so bad but the manager laughed. Orange cat bring me luck!
    via u/Apprehensive_Fun7454
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    Cheezburger Image 10454434048
    via Surface on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    chickadee1 It could be much worse. A couple years ago on a large all-staff meeting, someone forgot to mute during a presentation and commented (presumably to someone sitting next to her) that the presenter had "aged horribly."
    via u/chickadee1
  • 13
    tydust I attended the monthly managers meeting (that we typically don't have to speak in) from bed because I was being lazy. I am usually hyper-vigilant about muting. but at one point a lady said "can someone mute their.....bear?" My husband's Boston Terrier has a wicked, constant snore.
    via u/tydust
  • 14
    I messaged her, mortified, thanking her for the alert before it went on longer. She laughed. Now we're friends and she asks about him a lot.
    via u/tydust
  • 15
    Questlove802 Whole company heard me making pasta during Co id. Nothing like the "you've been muted" playing in your ears when you thought you were already muted in the first place
    via u/Questlove802
  • 16
    devonodev Last year in a meeting of 100+ people someone started yelling at their kids in the middle of it, went on for a bit while everyone else was silent. Presenter did the classic "Just a reminder to everyone to turn off your mic."
    via u/devonodev

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