Just because most of us are currently working from home doesn't mean the meetings and workplace banter stop.
It just means we've taken things "high tech," moved meetings online and created a few novel ways to embarrass ourselves... and each other.
The stories about people accidentally screwing up on video conferencing have been coming in hot. There are broadcast bathroom breaks and countless incidents of partners walking through backgrounds or participants in various states of undress.
There are plenty of people out there guilty of whispering things into ears not realizing the mic is on. Remember folks, treat all mics as hot and all cameras as recording.
But this is a flub of a different color.
This flub comes to us courtesy of degrudv on the subReddit "Today I F'd Up" (TIFU) who just learned that the chat feature on his WebEx defaulted to "everyone in the meeting." Even though he was replying to a message.
WebEx was, essentially, set to "reply all." And that's how 300 people in the meeting got one man's update about how puberty was going.
Oops.
"Like many men, this quarantine gave me (a 35yo Male) a good opportunity to grow out a beard. So, I'm on a Sales Department WebEx Call (probably 300 people) and since no one has seen me in about a month, it was a bit of a surprise to see me with facial hair."
"A friend at the company privately messages me through WebEx, 'Dude what happened to your face?' I thought it would be funny to reply with 'Good News! I finally hit puberty!!!' except that message wasn't private - it went to everyone on the call... like everyone - without any context around it."
"Just imagine sitting there on a company webex call listening to the SVP of Sales and out of nowhere your coworker sends you a message saying 'Good News! I finally hit puberty.' That coworker was me."
Us right now... and pretty much everyone in the meeting when they got that message.
Shocked Oh My God GIF by Unbreakable Kimmy SchmidtGiphy
OK so it's embarrassing, but it's not TERRIBLE.
This is one of those relatable cautionary tales that we chuckle along with and make a mental note to check the chat settings on the next meeting. That relatability is what got people talking and turned the thread into a sharing circle.
Turns out a lot of you are out there making yourselves look bad.
Honestly, we kind of love it. We feel seen, ya know?
Reddit had a good laugh, but not just at OP.
So many people had similar stories...
"Relax! I once heard someone yell "REVERSE COWGIRL!" in the middle of a sales meeting while the CEO was talking. No context, and no one ever owned up to it, but we all know who it was..." - This_Btch_Overhere
"Next month's company newsletter: 'We'd like to congratulate team member OP on finally hitting puberty. Please join us in helping him navigate this confusing time.' " - SlickGuy2000
"I was one late to a Webex and opened with "Better Late Than Pregnant." Thanks Blanche Devereaux. Took me a minute to realize I (a guy) had just said that out loud." - OKVolume1
"A long time ago in the 90s, my father did the same thing. We were both in the army and he sent me a joke email about the stupidity of officers. Unfortunately, that was in the early days of IT in the Canadian military and they hadn't clamped down on who you could and couldn't send it to and somehow the To: address turned into *.*. It went to the Chief of Defence Staff right on down to the lowest private that had military wan access."
"He had to sit through several lectures on computer literacy." - Kalmish
"I was talking to a co-worker about guns the other day. We went back and fourth, and I had decided to get a gun, and he asked for me to send him a picture."
"And so, My dumbass, sends a picture of my 357 S&W M60, to the group text of my whole local team. About 30 people. Luckily everyone is pretty chill, and no 1 said anything to bad. Still felt like a irresponsible douche lmao. Ya know, the exact sort of trait you don't want to have as a gun owner lol." - Zeal514
"We had a guy send an email to a whole 50 person department answering a singles ad, instead of to himself. I didn't read it, but I heard it was pretty embarrassing. He sent out an apology, and was understandably pretty embarrassed." - mandicapped
So, what pandemic meeting foibles have you been a part of so far?
*If you enjoyed this article, you can read more like it by clicking on the TIFU link below.*
The workplace comedy Office Space is available here.
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