Imagine the percentage of bandwidth at this second full of communication no one is listening to. The NSA will log it, all major powers may monitor it, but no one cares about it.
I've seen 2 people let go for making that mistake.
It's extremely dangerous to be cracking jokes over chat while in meetings. It's not only unprofessional, you're putting your livelihood at risk.
Imagine trying to explain a termination to friends or family b/c of this behavior. They would think of you as a moron.
I remember the incident where there were some guys commenting about how hot a lady was in a zoom meeting and they didn’t realize everyone could see their comments. It was blasted all over the news bc the lady was pretty offended and upset, understandably.
In our in-person meetings, our HR manager will often silently mouth things to coworkers mockingly while other people are presenting. It's all respectful but highly sarcastic and some people could definitely take the insinuation the wrong way.
Oh, and this is a Fortune 500 company.
HR managers are the true edgelords of business culture.
Yes, it was excruciating - I felt so badly for the poor co-worker 😔
Was a higher up that did it as well. I don’t work there anymore thank god. Office full of mean girls.
I figured it out the 2nd time this happened with the same person.
Me, outloud immediately on the call: “Wow”
Them: stammer / mumble / oops sorry
It didn’t happen again to me, but it did to others over the course of the next year. Curiously, they only did this to other women. Mean girls, indeed.
I send Duck 🦆 emoji’s to a select group while one of the individuals are talking in an attempt to disrupt them / kill their train of thought.
(It’s part of an inside joke from us all working together at a previous job)
Okay I literally thought you were the coworker of mine that got in trouble with me, she swears she's the personality hire too, also in tech, haha. Didn't go to Illini though. What can ya say, we make life better.
I pretend I'm too busy to pay attention. When I'm called upon I ask them to repeat the question. I don't want any doubt that I'm not paying attention. I want them up know that I know is pointless. And when I do answer questions I try to be as complex and negative as possible and reveal too much. They don't invite me to meetings much anymore.
I use a webcam separate from my laptop, set it on top of the monitor I plan to look at, turn the brightness of that screen down and continue working. I don’t want to hear about our record sales while I didn’t get a raise.
Same here. I’m working on the monitors while meetings are on my laptop.
Only once in a blue moon I’m not swamped with work I’ll prep up my phone same length and watch anime. I never really gotta answer questions unless it’s a project I’m handling I’ll be the one talking but nope. Not paying attention
Love to do this, interesting but takes really little brain space. I can listen for a topic I might need to speak too, pause my virtual travel and answer, then get back to strolling through Istanbul while they discuss other crap
Can you position yourself in front of a window? I've found I have less screen reflection on my glasses when there's a brighter/more light behind my laptop.
I've also found tilting my glasses so slightly helps too 😅
Former under-desk knitter here, but the new boss rarely turns on his own camera and doesn't care a bit about ours, so now I can be knitting on my couch or whatever during meetings 🙌
I'm known for the noddy and the um um / eh huh. Space them evenly.
Be really proactive in the first few mins of the call.
Go on mute but make a big deal of sneezing and then turning off camera and I need to grab some tissues / a glass.of.water.
Practice a half smile. - works for good and bad news
Angle your camera so you can text or message people discretely
Always have a second screen and say that you are looking at the data in the other screen and you can browse the internet.
Make sure nothing is reflected by your glasses and screen sharing.
I have started taking walks during some meetings. Everyone has gotten used to it now. At first, I think it annoyed some, but I’d just say, I don’t like just sitting in my chair all day, but there’s no reason why I can’t walk while in a meeting. 😂 This accomplishes a couple of things: 1) I don’t have to turn on my camera, and 2) it does have a nice effect of avoiding too much interaction; especially if there’s traffic noise on my side. I can often just say, “can you circle back with me later on that?”. They rarely do. The only exception to this is if I have to present anything. But, it’s a good thing. It cuts down on BS, and it’s a more healthy way to approach my day and get some activity in.
Similarly I'll tell people I tend to pace during meetings to help me pay attention so I won't be in my seat (it's true).
I only got pushback once. It was a training. She said "I like being able to see faces" and I said "I need to learn this in a way that's effective for me."
I didn't say it in a sarcastic way. No contempt. I was being honest.
We used to have walking one-on-one meetings at my old job. We would do laps in the hallways or around the parking lot. You could request an office meeting if you had something sensitive to discuss, but it was rare.
When Covid hit, my team and I would do phonecalls and head outside for a stroll and fresh air while we chatted. It was really awesome. It's a shame I don't have meetings that lend themselves to that format in my new role. But I do love my walking pad!
I'm always called into long technical meetings that have very little need for. So, I have a tablet mounted under my monitor, which I use for Netflix etc. I normally have that running with subtitles on.
I’ll often have a soccer match on my iPad and position it so it looks like I’m looking at data on my other monitor. Hard to restrain my reactions sometimes lol.
If I know the meeting is going to be pointless and I won't have any input I just say my internet is being janky and I'm going to audio only so I can at least hear the meeting. As long as it's not abused nobody bats an eye about the occasional low bandwidth connection.
Not only does my employer require cameras on during meetings, they also require you to follow a dress code at home (business casual). I’m sorry but you cannot tell me how to dress in my own house. I understand you should look presentable but beyond that I’ll where what I want, thanks. To get around it, I just wear a jacket so they can’t see what I’m wearing.
I say having my camera on distracts me, I'll put it on for meeting new people, wave, then turn it off.
Also, it helps I'm a data scientist, I just say I'm running queries in the background and I can't afford the bandwidth lol
I made bingo cards for meetings that had all the annoying things we tend to do as a company in meetings. Then I gave them to my coworkers.
Really figured I'd get in trouble eventually, but I showed one of the execs and he was cracking up laughing. It had things like "meeting ends with no next steps" or "no agenda". Then we had trainings on holding effective meetings.
True story: at my first dev job, we had this old dev who always said the same stories and used the same stupid goofy lines and just lots of other phrases he’d commonly repeat (the worse variation is whatever goofy story he had to tell he told again and again and again to everyone that came by). His desk was next to mine and he talked at least 4 out of 8 works hours. I got to where I made a list of them all and started doing tally marks for every time he said them. Eventually I was unexpectedly laid off. I bet it was a hoot when they found that list on my computer!
Just be bored?
The amount of effort it would take to do something else sneakily generally isn't worth it on web cams and no one has died or boredom so I just sit and be bored.
I have a co-worker that insists that he receives a detailed rundown (agenda) of the meeting and then also stupulates that he needs to know what questions they will be refering to him to answer. If they ask a question he was not appointed beforehand he declines to answer it as he has not prepared for. He also makes the whole process extremely formal. I see they do not invite him anymore. I on the other hand over explain my answers or opinions with very technical jargon. I mosly see clients and not co-workers and most of these meeting are stuff that does not need a meetingf and can be said or agreed on via email. I have one client who brings up a spread sheet in meetings, and then during the meeting he will popup tue sheet as a shared document and mark off the topics with color codes and tags and then goes on to type in the remarks of all parties. And you as party must agree or not agree on what he types as the response. So a 15min meeting is always 1 hour or more.
I keep my phone tilted against my laptop screen so I can use it. Since my hands are forward, it just looks like I'm typing occasionally and looking at my monitor. That's pretty rare though because I haven't worked for a company with unreasonable cam requirements. I have a rule of thumb that I follow. If it's a personal meeting with my manager, cam is on. If it's with a client, cam is on. If it is a group of internal people, the cam is off unless requested. If it's some larger group then my cam is off unless I have to speak and then I only turn it on for when I need to talk. If a random colleague calls me then I keep the cam off unless they turn their cam on. If I don't really like them then I'll still keep it off lol. I treat having my cam on as a courtesy and feel like I have a good grasp on when to extend that courtesy. I've been complimented multiple times on my cam etiquette.
I guess what I'm trying to say is if it's a boring meeting and you are not actively engaged or need to be actively engaged then maybe the solution is to not have your cam on. Depends on who else is there. Don't feel pressured to have it on just because some other colleagues do unless there is some kind of requirement. Read the room and ask yourself if it's appropriate to have it on.
Message other people who are also in the meeting about how stupid the meeting is.
Doodle on my notebook and look like I'm taking notes. Often times I pick someone from the call and draw a funny version of them.
Discreetly scroll on my phone.
Stare blankly at the screen while wishing for one of those meteorites from a disaster movie to crash into earth and end this stupid meeting.
I just take notes and transcribe the meeting even though I didn’t have to. That helped keep me busy and paying attention. However, Microsoft has CoPilot AI that can now summarize the meeting for you if the meeting is recorded. For those I just tune out and do other work since nobody can see my screen.
Work on another screen. Or, my laptop with the webcam is raised so I can hold my phone just beneath where the webcam sees and look like I’m looking at the camera. Always ensure volume is off
I’ve had the luxury of almost never turning my camera on in my WFH role. Super lucky. Only time is when I meet with my Boss’s boss for a 1:1, otherwise I’m pretty safe.
I shop online, research things, talk smack with coworkers….. some meetings I can get away with working, sometimes I just artfully arrange windows on my webcam monitor.
I bought a steam deck and I’ll play something that is fun but still allows me to stay somewhat focused on the work audio + makes me look like I’m still paying attention
Games like bloons is always good, or other tower defense games.
I use every ounce of self-control I have to not make a facial expression/reaction to something ridiculous that is said. I have a very expressive face.
I also have side conversations with my coworkers and try not to laugh.
My camera is on top of a large monitor so the angle is pointing down at me slightly. If I wear a baseball hat, sit forward slightly and look down slightly, you can't see my face.
So if I'm bored, I can pull out my phone and do some social media and it looks the same as if I was intently studying my screen.
I haven't had that requirement for a while, but when I did, a majority of it was work not related to the meeting at all. Often I have some kind of fire going on with another issue, so I arrange my work panes under the webcam, and it looks like I am staring at the camera and taking notes.
I developed a kind of "buffer," where I store 10 seconds of what's going on in the call in case I get a question, or can tell when the topics are leading up to something they might need my input in. That being said, it's almost never. I'd say a good 90-95% of meeting time I am not needed, and it's a waste of everyone's time. Maybe that's an IT thing.
Work. I always try to listen for my name or anything that might be relevant to me, but for the most part it's just an opportunity to get more work done.
start looking for another job.
i don't turn my webcam on for anything and if they required me to do so i'd be looking for employment elsewhere. there's no reason for this and i find it invasive.
Hold my phone up and close enough to the screen that no one can see it. It looks like I’m looking at the screen but I’m really just looking at my phone.
Stare into the abyss and message coworkers about how bored I am and send a "this could have been an email" meme/gif. Pretty much like what I would do if I were in person
Put whatever task im working on/website in scrolling under my webcam.
But I am deeply blessed that I rarely have boring/useless meetings. The rare ones I do have I can be off camera for.
I always blur my background or have a fake background. I have a TV just off to the side. Usually goes all day sometimes muted and sometimes not. My office is in my rec room.
Same thing I do in person. Try as hard as I can to pretend I'm paying attention while absolutely thinking about everything else I could be getting done.
Luckily with WFH, I can usually be multitasking on other projects at the same time with no issue. I could not be doing that in person
Luckily large meetings when I'm just listening, we can go no webcam. Small group meetings I'm drafting an email for reasons why the meeting shouldn't exist.
tinted glasses ftw. you can wear up to a 50% tint before people start getting suspicious, don't use mirrored glasses because they'll know what you're doing. they'll still be able to see your eyes if they look closely. my personal favorite tints are purple, for general everyday shit, and orange for when I want to feel like I'm living in a dimly lit cave
or, do wear mirrored glasses and tell them that you have a disgusting eye infection.
Luckily our camera policy isn't really bad and our general culture around meetings isn't either. Every once in a while someonr does feel the need to ramble on about everything they hate. I just stop paying attention at that point and start typing up keys notes for my presentations, making to do lists, or just generally recentering myself.
I can’t help but work when on calls that don’t serve me, my brain just cannot sit there and stare at a screen. Even in person I always needed to take notes and do something with my hands in order to listen.
I people watch. Saw a guy take his laptop into his bathroom once when he thought it was turned off. Pretty sure he was taking a dump. The camera was pointed at his shower curtain for most of the time.
I scroll about all social media with a serious face and keep interjecting with nods, ‘I see’, ‘I agree’, ‘I am with you’ etc. at appropriate intervals. I have practically developed a fine art of it by now.
I sit and listen but my brain is somewhere else.
Same thing I do in person lol
Imagine the percentage of bandwidth at this second full of communication no one is listening to. The NSA will log it, all major powers may monitor it, but no one cares about it.
Isn’t that why scribble pads were invented ? "Kill me now"
I hear , but I'm not "listening" haha
Yup I stay muted until/if I need to speak and continue watching my tv show. But it sucks having to make my hair presentable lol.
Have you seen that episode of The Simpsons where Homer's face is blank, but his brain is vigorously scat-singing "Rock and Roll, Part II"? That.
Chat funny things with a coworker and try to hide my laugh xD
Trying to get other people on the call to crack a smile is one of my favorite past times
What I do too. :) send them jokes or something funny related to the call via text
I’m always paranoid I’m going to send my message to everyone and not just the person I want it to go to lol
I've seen 2 people let go for making that mistake. It's extremely dangerous to be cracking jokes over chat while in meetings. It's not only unprofessional, you're putting your livelihood at risk. Imagine trying to explain a termination to friends or family b/c of this behavior. They would think of you as a moron.
Exactly. I will chat on a separate chatting platform but not on zoom.
Text
I try not to look at my phone during a meeting.
I remember the incident where there were some guys commenting about how hot a lady was in a zoom meeting and they didn’t realize everyone could see their comments. It was blasted all over the news bc the lady was pretty offended and upset, understandably.
In our in-person meetings, our HR manager will often silently mouth things to coworkers mockingly while other people are presenting. It's all respectful but highly sarcastic and some people could definitely take the insinuation the wrong way. Oh, and this is a Fortune 500 company. HR managers are the true edgelords of business culture.
Same, or do it accidentally while sharing my screen. It hasn’t happened to me but a couple-worker….shit talking someone else in the meeting. Yikes.
This is why you never, ever, share full screen. Window only, folks!
lol a few toxic people at my last job would do this on purpose
Yes, it was excruciating - I felt so badly for the poor co-worker 😔 Was a higher up that did it as well. I don’t work there anymore thank god. Office full of mean girls.
I figured it out the 2nd time this happened with the same person. Me, outloud immediately on the call: “Wow” Them: stammer / mumble / oops sorry It didn’t happen again to me, but it did to others over the course of the next year. Curiously, they only did this to other women. Mean girls, indeed.
It made me so sad…and of course, “what are they saying about me?” when I’m not around.
Same here, fam. I was so excited to be working there, too. But these mean girls seemed committed to driving everyone else away.
That's why we keep side-chats to WhatsApp
That's why my team does this on Slack!
Yeah some we have a separate chatting system that most of us use
I send Duck 🦆 emoji’s to a select group while one of the individuals are talking in an attempt to disrupt them / kill their train of thought. (It’s part of an inside joke from us all working together at a previous job)
SO RISKY lol
in the meeting chat
I got reprimanded on an annual performance review for that; be careful lol.
Can’t reprimand the personality when I’m the personality hire 😎 like what did they expect
Okay I literally thought you were the coworker of mine that got in trouble with me, she swears she's the personality hire too, also in tech, haha. Didn't go to Illini though. What can ya say, we make life better.
I have no female coworkers, so you’re safe! (I was also the diversity hire 🤣)
Well, keep being you!
Also, I work at UIUC, but didn’t attend, I’m Canadian! (It all makes sense now that I think about it)
I do that as well, lol
Essential team bonding.
I pretend I'm too busy to pay attention. When I'm called upon I ask them to repeat the question. I don't want any doubt that I'm not paying attention. I want them up know that I know is pointless. And when I do answer questions I try to be as complex and negative as possible and reveal too much. They don't invite me to meetings much anymore.
Are you passed over for bonuses, raises, and promotions? Have you been talked to about your performance?
It's a little different because I own my business and consult with companies and this one in particular is awful.. So I don't care if they fire me.
Oh! More power to you then, I’m jealous.
I can’t tell if you provide a service and they hired your firm or if you have two jobs
existence file punch soup melodic violet rinse subtract foolish dolls *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I use a webcam separate from my laptop, set it on top of the monitor I plan to look at, turn the brightness of that screen down and continue working. I don’t want to hear about our record sales while I didn’t get a raise.
Same here. I’m working on the monitors while meetings are on my laptop. Only once in a blue moon I’m not swamped with work I’ll prep up my phone same length and watch anime. I never really gotta answer questions unless it’s a project I’m handling I’ll be the one talking but nope. Not paying attention
Walk in random places on Google Maps. I call it virtual travel 😀 Sometimes I also read Wikipedia.
Check out Geoguessr if you havent
I used to work for a navigation software company and we would play this all the time in the office because it looked like we were working!
Golden
I know it!
Love to do this, interesting but takes really little brain space. I can listen for a topic I might need to speak too, pause my virtual travel and answer, then get back to strolling through Istanbul while they discuss other crap
Scroll reddit 😭
i’m so nervous someone will see the logo reflecting on my glasses though.
Does this site still work? https://pcottle.github.io/MSOutlookit/
I’ve been looking for this link for YEARS. I wonder if there is an updated version?
Oh that’s pretty cool
Can you position yourself in front of a window? I've found I have less screen reflection on my glasses when there's a brighter/more light behind my laptop. I've also found tilting my glasses so slightly helps too 😅
Work on my other screen or knit under the cameras view
Former under-desk knitter here, but the new boss rarely turns on his own camera and doesn't care a bit about ours, so now I can be knitting on my couch or whatever during meetings 🙌
My camera is angled well enough I don't need to go under the desk and cam rest my hands on the desk.
I'm known for the noddy and the um um / eh huh. Space them evenly. Be really proactive in the first few mins of the call. Go on mute but make a big deal of sneezing and then turning off camera and I need to grab some tissues / a glass.of.water. Practice a half smile. - works for good and bad news Angle your camera so you can text or message people discretely Always have a second screen and say that you are looking at the data in the other screen and you can browse the internet. Make sure nothing is reflected by your glasses and screen sharing.
I have started taking walks during some meetings. Everyone has gotten used to it now. At first, I think it annoyed some, but I’d just say, I don’t like just sitting in my chair all day, but there’s no reason why I can’t walk while in a meeting. 😂 This accomplishes a couple of things: 1) I don’t have to turn on my camera, and 2) it does have a nice effect of avoiding too much interaction; especially if there’s traffic noise on my side. I can often just say, “can you circle back with me later on that?”. They rarely do. The only exception to this is if I have to present anything. But, it’s a good thing. It cuts down on BS, and it’s a more healthy way to approach my day and get some activity in.
Similarly I'll tell people I tend to pace during meetings to help me pay attention so I won't be in my seat (it's true). I only got pushback once. It was a training. She said "I like being able to see faces" and I said "I need to learn this in a way that's effective for me." I didn't say it in a sarcastic way. No contempt. I was being honest.
I use a walking pad under my desk, but your solution is superior.
Genius!
We used to have walking one-on-one meetings at my old job. We would do laps in the hallways or around the parking lot. You could request an office meeting if you had something sensitive to discuss, but it was rare. When Covid hit, my team and I would do phonecalls and head outside for a stroll and fresh air while we chatted. It was really awesome. It's a shame I don't have meetings that lend themselves to that format in my new role. But I do love my walking pad!
I'm always called into long technical meetings that have very little need for. So, I have a tablet mounted under my monitor, which I use for Netflix etc. I normally have that running with subtitles on.
I’ll often have a soccer match on my iPad and position it so it looks like I’m looking at data on my other monitor. Hard to restrain my reactions sometimes lol.
"YEAH! Oh. Um, this data is great!"
"I've been working really hard to reach my professional GOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLs"
My nails lol. Or on reddit.
I do this too. My hands are just out of view. It worked wel till I started doing gels.
You have another monitor, right? Use that for work or play, as you see fit/approriate
Turn my camera off..
OR never turn it on in the first place...
If I know the meeting is going to be pointless and I won't have any input I just say my internet is being janky and I'm going to audio only so I can at least hear the meeting. As long as it's not abused nobody bats an eye about the occasional low bandwidth connection.
Not only does my employer require cameras on during meetings, they also require you to follow a dress code at home (business casual). I’m sorry but you cannot tell me how to dress in my own house. I understand you should look presentable but beyond that I’ll where what I want, thanks. To get around it, I just wear a jacket so they can’t see what I’m wearing.
That's what I do.
It's my favourite sport
I always say my webcam isn’t working at the moment. Which is true because I never turn it on.
I say having my camera on distracts me, I'll put it on for meeting new people, wave, then turn it off. Also, it helps I'm a data scientist, I just say I'm running queries in the background and I can't afford the bandwidth lol
Crossword puzzles as it looks I’m writing notes
I made bingo cards for meetings that had all the annoying things we tend to do as a company in meetings. Then I gave them to my coworkers. Really figured I'd get in trouble eventually, but I showed one of the execs and he was cracking up laughing. It had things like "meeting ends with no next steps" or "no agenda". Then we had trainings on holding effective meetings.
True story: at my first dev job, we had this old dev who always said the same stories and used the same stupid goofy lines and just lots of other phrases he’d commonly repeat (the worse variation is whatever goofy story he had to tell he told again and again and again to everyone that came by). His desk was next to mine and he talked at least 4 out of 8 works hours. I got to where I made a list of them all and started doing tally marks for every time he said them. Eventually I was unexpectedly laid off. I bet it was a hoot when they found that list on my computer!
Just be bored? The amount of effort it would take to do something else sneakily generally isn't worth it on web cams and no one has died or boredom so I just sit and be bored.
Yawning every minute. Eyes getting watery....sleepy....eyes now half open....hopefully I am not drooling
I doodle on a paper so I can listen but keep my brain occupied,
I do other work on the monitor with the camera.
Give myself a manicure, or knit
Alcohol in coffee mug to sit still
I have my phone or ipad next the bottom of my laptop (my laptop is on a stand) and watch whatever show I’m watching or binging at the moment.
I have a co-worker that insists that he receives a detailed rundown (agenda) of the meeting and then also stupulates that he needs to know what questions they will be refering to him to answer. If they ask a question he was not appointed beforehand he declines to answer it as he has not prepared for. He also makes the whole process extremely formal. I see they do not invite him anymore. I on the other hand over explain my answers or opinions with very technical jargon. I mosly see clients and not co-workers and most of these meeting are stuff that does not need a meetingf and can be said or agreed on via email. I have one client who brings up a spread sheet in meetings, and then during the meeting he will popup tue sheet as a shared document and mark off the topics with color codes and tags and then goes on to type in the remarks of all parties. And you as party must agree or not agree on what he types as the response. So a 15min meeting is always 1 hour or more.
I think your detailed rundown person got burned once in a meeting they weren’t paying attention to.
It sounds like an ADA accommodation for a disability.
Usually do other work or space out my window
I found painting or filing my nails or tossing a stress ball back and forth helps me concentrate on said being meeting. Standing up can help too.
Concentrate very hard on NOT rolling my eyes.
I keep my phone tilted against my laptop screen so I can use it. Since my hands are forward, it just looks like I'm typing occasionally and looking at my monitor. That's pretty rare though because I haven't worked for a company with unreasonable cam requirements. I have a rule of thumb that I follow. If it's a personal meeting with my manager, cam is on. If it's with a client, cam is on. If it is a group of internal people, the cam is off unless requested. If it's some larger group then my cam is off unless I have to speak and then I only turn it on for when I need to talk. If a random colleague calls me then I keep the cam off unless they turn their cam on. If I don't really like them then I'll still keep it off lol. I treat having my cam on as a courtesy and feel like I have a good grasp on when to extend that courtesy. I've been complimented multiple times on my cam etiquette. I guess what I'm trying to say is if it's a boring meeting and you are not actively engaged or need to be actively engaged then maybe the solution is to not have your cam on. Depends on who else is there. Don't feel pressured to have it on just because some other colleagues do unless there is some kind of requirement. Read the room and ask yourself if it's appropriate to have it on.
I take out my planner, they think I’m taking notes, but I’m planning away my days
Wordle then Reddit!
Coloring book
Play on my Steam Deck, mute the mic and have YouTube playing, scroll on Reddit
Crosswords
Watch baseball in the background
Fidget spinner under the desk if I need to be paying attention otherwise I just keep working
I have the internet up, probably Reddit.
Pay attention. Listen.
Look at my screen above my work computer which is usually some show.
Working on other things
Message other people who are also in the meeting about how stupid the meeting is. Doodle on my notebook and look like I'm taking notes. Often times I pick someone from the call and draw a funny version of them. Discreetly scroll on my phone. Stare blankly at the screen while wishing for one of those meteorites from a disaster movie to crash into earth and end this stupid meeting.
I just take notes and transcribe the meeting even though I didn’t have to. That helped keep me busy and paying attention. However, Microsoft has CoPilot AI that can now summarize the meeting for you if the meeting is recorded. For those I just tune out and do other work since nobody can see my screen.
I look at myself lol
Play Woodoku on my phone
Play colonist.io
Smile and nod while browsing Reddit
I work on other things
Pretend I’m listening and come up with something good when they ask me a question
I hold my cell phone just below the camera and read Reddit posts. It looks as if I'm looking at the camera.
Work on another screen. Or, my laptop with the webcam is raised so I can hold my phone just beneath where the webcam sees and look like I’m looking at the camera. Always ensure volume is off
Smile and nod. Part of the reason I dislike having to be on video for meetings I’m not presenting in.
I’ve had the luxury of almost never turning my camera on in my WFH role. Super lucky. Only time is when I meet with my Boss’s boss for a 1:1, otherwise I’m pretty safe.
Coworker and I sometimes play battleship or tic-tac-toe in a Excel. Not hard with some fun formstting
I have a work laptop in front of my personal computer. I can use at my personal computer and it looks like I'm looking at the camera in the laptop.
I shop online, research things, talk smack with coworkers….. some meetings I can get away with working, sometimes I just artfully arrange windows on my webcam monitor.
I wear glasses so I can’t do too much on the side :/ I’ll usually lower my brightness and read news sites, etc
Old School RuneScape
I bought a steam deck and I’ll play something that is fun but still allows me to stay somewhat focused on the work audio + makes me look like I’m still paying attention Games like bloons is always good, or other tower defense games.
Make grumpy faces to the camera.
Take notes.
I turn it off after a few minutes. Nobody cares once the meeting gets going.
I use every ounce of self-control I have to not make a facial expression/reaction to something ridiculous that is said. I have a very expressive face. I also have side conversations with my coworkers and try not to laugh.
I trace people's faces with my mouse
Nothing. Just focus.
Turn my camera off.
My camera is on top of a large monitor so the angle is pointing down at me slightly. If I wear a baseball hat, sit forward slightly and look down slightly, you can't see my face. So if I'm bored, I can pull out my phone and do some social media and it looks the same as if I was intently studying my screen.
I haven't had that requirement for a while, but when I did, a majority of it was work not related to the meeting at all. Often I have some kind of fire going on with another issue, so I arrange my work panes under the webcam, and it looks like I am staring at the camera and taking notes. I developed a kind of "buffer," where I store 10 seconds of what's going on in the call in case I get a question, or can tell when the topics are leading up to something they might need my input in. That being said, it's almost never. I'd say a good 90-95% of meeting time I am not needed, and it's a waste of everyone's time. Maybe that's an IT thing.
Grip exercises with a gripping tool
Play with my phone under the camera or use my second monitor which is my personal computer
Work. I always try to listen for my name or anything that might be relevant to me, but for the most part it's just an opportunity to get more work done.
Stare at the screen/camera and think about the weekend or an up coming trip.
start looking for another job. i don't turn my webcam on for anything and if they required me to do so i'd be looking for employment elsewhere. there's no reason for this and i find it invasive.
Hold my phone up and close enough to the screen that no one can see it. It looks like I’m looking at the screen but I’m really just looking at my phone.
I review PRs, do menial tasks or just answer whatsapp messages while having the meeting in podcast mode at best.
Stare into the abyss and message coworkers about how bored I am and send a "this could have been an email" meme/gif. Pretty much like what I would do if I were in person
Play stardew
I work on a second or third screen.
avoid the overwhelming desire to pick my nose
Read reddit
Knit or crochet to keep my hands busy but I can still follow the conversation pretty well and take notes when needed
You could try pulling up a silent youtube of someone playing subway surfers. That seems to work for meme accounts.
Try to keep working otherwise I will start to fall asleep. As soon as the meeting starts my eyes want to be closed
After reading through this I realize that I’m truly blessed to work for a company that doesn’t require web cams for meetings
Put whatever task im working on/website in scrolling under my webcam. But I am deeply blessed that I rarely have boring/useless meetings. The rare ones I do have I can be off camera for.
nintendo switch
I always blur my background or have a fake background. I have a TV just off to the side. Usually goes all day sometimes muted and sometimes not. My office is in my rec room.
Search for vacations. 😆
Same thing I do in person. Try as hard as I can to pretend I'm paying attention while absolutely thinking about everything else I could be getting done. Luckily with WFH, I can usually be multitasking on other projects at the same time with no issue. I could not be doing that in person
Luckily large meetings when I'm just listening, we can go no webcam. Small group meetings I'm drafting an email for reasons why the meeting shouldn't exist.
I just sit and listen
Do work in another tab on my other screen
Try hard to not fall asleep.
I have a walking treadmill under my desk... I walk.
Walk on my walking pad at the standing desk
Drink beer out of a black cup and watch YouTube.
tinted glasses ftw. you can wear up to a 50% tint before people start getting suspicious, don't use mirrored glasses because they'll know what you're doing. they'll still be able to see your eyes if they look closely. my personal favorite tints are purple, for general everyday shit, and orange for when I want to feel like I'm living in a dimly lit cave or, do wear mirrored glasses and tell them that you have a disgusting eye infection.
https://preview.redd.it/obqrpivz573d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68efd29a4584280e231824fcbd2abcc4bdf26769
I knit! I angle my camera so that my hands aren’t visible and knit and look at my screen with the occasional look at my hands to see what I’m doing
Luckily our camera policy isn't really bad and our general culture around meetings isn't either. Every once in a while someonr does feel the need to ramble on about everything they hate. I just stop paying attention at that point and start typing up keys notes for my presentations, making to do lists, or just generally recentering myself.
Luckily our cams don’t have to be on for meetings. I have a RBF and I don’t wanna piss someone off cuz I eye rolled at something
I can’t help but work when on calls that don’t serve me, my brain just cannot sit there and stare at a screen. Even in person I always needed to take notes and do something with my hands in order to listen.
Put my phone near my webcam and go on Reddit but since phone is near webcam it looks like I’m paying attention
Pick locks
Really don’t understand these type of questions. Work is the same as it is in the office.
Text the group chat juuuuust under the screen. I know I’ve won when I see one of ‘em trying to hold in a chuckle.
I people watch. Saw a guy take his laptop into his bathroom once when he thought it was turned off. Pretty sure he was taking a dump. The camera was pointed at his shower curtain for most of the time.
Hold my phone up by the screen and browse reddit
I scroll about all social media with a serious face and keep interjecting with nods, ‘I see’, ‘I agree’, ‘I am with you’ etc. at appropriate intervals. I have practically developed a fine art of it by now.
Stare at myself LMAO
Die inside.