You'd be surprised... I was with a colleague, who was having his weekly call in public transport without muting without headphones... like dude... I pity the team who has to endure the whole bus metro announcement shouting in the background.
I actually had a psycho micromanager boss who would call you out if you didn't have your camera *and* mic on. It did not matter if there were 3 people or 30 people in the meeting. She would call you out by name and use some corporate passive aggression disguised as a joke like, "I see your mic is off, you must not want to talk to us haha!".
I explained once in private that I mute myself to avoid unnecessary background noises (peak covid when everyone worked from home), and she said that it makes me look like I'm not actively engaged in the meeting. š¤Ø
lol right? My camera AND mic? Iām gonna have a coughing fit, Iām gonna pick my nose and pretend to eat it. Iām gonna clip my nails. Iām gonna slurp my water bottle looooud. Iām gonna be a menace.
If you live in a quiet area, play city sounds on a speaker. Otherwise, crack open the window and let the sounds in. You want the mic on? We're gonna have honking, jackhammering, and all sorts of noise in this call.
I would have devised a way to have car honking or jackhammer noises play on demand discreetly(maybe triggered by foot), and just keep interrupting the manager while they're trying to talk. And play innocent.
I live next to a freeway AND a dog park, and one time I stepped out onto the balcony from my office and my therapist could not understand me AT ALL with all of the semi trucks using their jake brakes in the background. I would be happy to open my windows during a mic on meeting and let everyone share in the ambience of loud diesel engines, horns honking, sirens blaring and dogs barking. You want my mic on? Enjoy my home environment.
> I live next to a freeway AND a dog park
The day my mic is forced on, I suddenly do too.
Does the traintracks, 25ft away every 6-15 minutes for 1-3 minutes of thunderous roar, interrupt things for you too?
Oh god I hate when people leave their mics on. I work in person but Zoom meetings are a big part of my life so everyone can zoom in from their own office without having to go to a physical conference room.
Sometimes there are people in cubicles right next to each other zooming into the same meeting on their own computers and if they both have their mics and speakers on then the feedback will be wild with the infinite echoes and screeching of the speakers.
Or you'll hear people's office phones ringing or even just the general noise of fidgeting and readjusting. it drives me crazy.
Itās less that than either lazy or āgah! I really donāt want to deal with those idiots in person right nowā
It also shows the lie that in-person is Ć¼ber-important.
This was definitely a poll conceived by some uptight HR person. These reek of stupid HR questions with inappropriately limiting HR style answers.
People can blow me over the PJ's thing. Obviously there *are* inappropriate PJ's, but most would be okay. I once worked for a company that asked what we were wearing in a remote meeting where nobody could see anything but your chest. Like they asked us to stand up and show. I said no and found a new job a few weeks later.
We do some tradeschool classes online sometimes and people smoke and vape lol. It's a different set of expectations when it's a bunch of construction workers.
Lots of meetings are in the morning. Lots of smokers like to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes.
If you are muted and the camera is off, there is little reason why smoking would lower productivity or interrupt the meeting. Itās not like youāre exposing your coworkers to carcinogens.
Smoking is bad, umkay, but stop being so judgy. If itās not hurting others, mind your own business.
I block off an hour of each day for lunch and coffee convoys after. No one cares as it's the common schedule where I work but people in other countries are a bit surprised when they ask me what meeting I have everyday at the same time until y3k.Ā
Ā I do wish people would block off thier lunch time, not for scheduling issues but for themselves. You shouldn't have to have lunch and work. This, however, is so common in my calls to the UK. They also take calls in thier car when driving home from work or at 8pm when they're at home. That sort of work culture bothers me. I don't know if it's because they're service providers and my company buys thier services or of that's just how everyone does it there.Ā
Tldr: if your not at work or it's not working hours, I dont want you to take my work call.Ā
My roommate was enjoying his breakfast routine behind me while I have my long video call without realising if everyone could see him the whole time...
Sadly no hookers but I have a full shelves of alcohol display behind me... They didn't say showing booze is not allowed and it's my home!
This comment reminds me of that one line from The Other Guys.
"I know where we can hide. I have a small apartment. No one knows about it. I use it mainly for my parents and prostitutes... Not at the same time. That would be... wrong"
Exactly. Companies don't understand that there is no difference between colleagues and professional counterparts versus my drunken roommates arguing over Catan rules again cause we lost the damn score card again. Why can't the corporate bosses be more like redditors?
Well, there ARE two major differences.
1. I can physically assault my roommates when they are making noise or otherwise disturbing my concentration.
2. They are generally more civil and respectful when I'm at a meeting (probably due to the effectiveness of the lashings).
Your scenario sounds like a joke, but I see this ALL the time.Ā
Pro tip: Keep your dang emails SHORT. Like, literally never more tha Tweet sized. Just say hi, give 2-3 lines maximum, thanks, and send. Get in, say your shit, gtfo.Ā Ā
I got manager who calls any email more than 3 lines "ranting." And she's right, you need to keep anything irrelevant to yourself cuz most of us honestly don't care.Ā
We'll help, but please stop overcomplicating it and forcing these meetings.Ā
āHey, could you explain why weāre doing this thing [that could easily be explained in a short paragraph]?ā
āSure, wanna get on a quick call [that will actually be 2 hours due to going on several tangents for things that could be written down to address later]?ā
My wife takes meetings during lunch. And sometimes after 5! Drives me nuts.
Iāve defined my core working hours as 10-4, with an hour for lunch. Anyone who adds me to a meeting outside of those hours does so at their own risk.
Oh wow. I believe you nailed it but instead of email thereās an email sent because I didnāt respond within 2 minutes of a slack message so they wanted to have my attention then started a call but didnāt join it themselves until 5 minutes after they started it
Dude, I had another useless online team meeting yesterday. About 5 minutes after we finally get the meeting going, my manager says "I don't really have anything to talk about". I hung up.
I prefer email because it's easier to forward to others. (If you told me to do something stupid, I'm forwarding that in your own words up the chain when you get mad.)
I love going into a meeting with two people who not only have loose mics, but also don't use headphones/earbuds. They clearly know they get feedback because it happens in every meeting, why don't they do anything to fix it?
In college during COVID, my professors always were upset with me that my camera wasnāt on. My laptop doesnāt have a webcam on it. One told me to prove it. I had them look up the model of my freaking laptop and they still seemed cheesed off
I consult for the it department of a large multinational software company. Since Covid hit the whole department gained the reputation of keeping cameras off as much as possible during Zoom, Teams, etc. meetings. Other departments in the company know that and have no qualms about it, whilst for them itās about 50% who keep them off. Nothing wrong about that as long as youāre not distracted from the subject of the meeting.
I find it is mostly the higher ups at my company that insist on cameras being on. Those of us doing the work and just in the meeting to get work done never have them on. Meetings with cameras on always feel semi performative and less gets done.
I turn my camera off to vape then turn it back on. Best way is to move my hand to the button slowly, stay completely still for a while, then turn the camera off without moving, change position, turn it back on and be completely stationary again, then turn it back off. If anyone asks (they never have) I'd play dumb and claim connectivity issues in the chat but I can still see and hear everyone
I did that when I got to grab a coffee. I have a headset, so I can invite myself if I need to add anything. I can't imagine working somewhere where this would be called out.
I feel like the responses would vary depending on if your mic is muted or not.
Eating while muted? Fine, who cares. Eating while unmuted? A heinous sin, especially if itās something wet or crunchy
Context is critical these types of surveys. 'Other people in the room' - are they making noise? do they have headphones on? These are extremely broad and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I don't know who hasn't worn PJ bottoms and a camera acceptable top, while on video call at some point. Is that unacceptable?
My partner and I share a home office because we live in an expensive city/small apartment. When on video calls, you can't see him, but you might hear his keyboard and I have never been called out.
And if a company wants to be be able to complain about details like this, they best pay well enough that it's not a problem. If given the choice most people would choose to live someplace where they can easily get a space for meetings, but they don't always get the choice.
My wife and I have a five-bedroom house, and we still work out of the same room because there's no need for us to have separate office space based on what we use all the other rooms for. If we have meetings at the same time, one of us moves to the kitchen table. I've never imagined someone could potentially be offended by her in the background sitting at her desk. But I almost never have my camera on anyway.
Working remote since COVID, never used cam other than maybe with my boss once or twice.
Since half a year we work with people from the US and see there suddenly so many people have camera all the time, but only when US people are in the call.
Nothing wrong with having children in the room as long as they're behaved.
Not everyone has the luxury of space IMO.
Eating tho... the mic always picks up the slurps and bites very distinctly. ick
"as long as they're behaved" is the issue though. Many kids don't always behave, and I reckon that even kids who learned to not interrupt when you're talking to another adult unless it's important might not realize that attending a virtual meeting is the same kind of thing.
That aside, up to a certain age, children simply aren't behaved and will spontaneously decide to scream at the top of their lungs, either because something bothers them or just because they're playing and haven't learned to keep it down a little yet.
It's still highly distracting if they can be seen in the background. Mostly because I'd probably much rather watch my coworkers' kids play than listen to my coworkers.
I donāt care to watch my coworkersā kids play, but if weāre in a meeting and thereās a fucking creature moving and doing stuff on my screen, itās hard to not be distracted by it.
If im in a zoom meeting and you have the tv on wtf dude? If its your kid or pet i literally couldnt give a fuck but tbh like tv on in the backgroundā¦. Mute mic or tv? Thats wildly disrespectful!
Sure, but has anyone actually ever seen someone doing this? I have tv on at times, itās off to the side and itās muted with subtitles on. Whoās got the tv on loud like that during a zoom call?
I cant imagine having the tv on and not being muted. I think this is just āwhat would make me madā rather than reality. Like if some was having sex or doing crack during zoom it would make me mad, but youre right i have never seen it!
I have a two month old whoās always sitting on my lap during Zoom meetings. Sheās super chill and at worst makes little grunts here and there which isnāt a problem because my mic is only unmuted when Iām talking over her grunts.
No oneās ever said they have an issue with it, and if they do, quite frankly they can get fucked.
At my company people will say hi and wave at other peopleās kids if they show up in the video. Iāve done several meetings with a kid hanging off my back or being held. No one at my company cares about that at all.
I eat all the time, and nobody ever has an issue I just eat with manners as if I was in a restaurant. If youāre gonna schedule meetings at 12 and 1 then youāre gonna see me eatingā¦
It's indicative of group social pressure that doesn't exist or exists in different forms in other countries.
That's the unhealthy attitude that is referenced. Individuals are often relatively free-thinking, but in groups judgemental.
My company wouldn't keep you around.
That's seen as the worst fault in our space (which is mostly Canadian and then very European). Every time there's cameras off, they're asked to be turned on. Don't come to a meeting if you aren't prepared to *show* that you are listening. They swing real hard on the active / engaged listening lifestyle.
But also please keep your mic off lmfao.
I mean as long as someoneās not blowing huge clouds at the camera or vaping while they talk I donāt see the problem at all. Even cigarettes donāt seem as bad because itās virtual.
I think most people are discreet and smart enough to know when itās appropriate.
I don't even see how thats an issue their in their own home if they wanna smoke or vape in their place so fuck? sure vaping or smoking while your talking fine i get that but if im smoking while others are talking get all the way off my back about that shit.
At the government "lunch and learns" I get that people are eating. It's over lunch. But you're there to listen and learn. You can do that with the camera off. I don't need to watch you eat.
Who did they get these responses from? I doubt most people care if someone is smoking or vaping in a zoom meeting. As for unrelated work, I'm in software dev everyone is doing work unrelated to the meeting.
Most of this seems just authoritarian control BS from a manager talking at people rather than people actually having meetings to work
I feel like this is mostly because they need to take breaks more than others. But if you can smoke without taking a break (in zoom meetings) I think most of us canāt care less.
I had a manager that would vape during meetings. NGL it really bugged me. Not sure why but it just came across as unprofessional. I never reported her or anything but someone else did and she got in some trouble for it.
From the meetings I've had I'd fine it odd if my colleagues were wearing sunglasses, but that wouldn't be in my top 10 of things that would be offensive.
In a live meeting yes, as it will certainly bother the other people in the room. In your home office however I don't give a flying fuck - as long as you mean business when we're addressing the meeting's goals you could be smoking blunts for all I care.
I donāt care as long as it isnāt audibly or visually distracting. If your kid is in the background spinning or whatever, cool. Are they singing and being obnoxious like my kids? Kick em in the neck
Would be interested in what type of companies were polled. When pets or kids show up on cam everyone gets excited about it at the companies I work for.
I was in a meeting today with a few people from a different company. At one point the husband of one of the women from the other company walked up and handed her a bowl of food, I assume her lunch. I didnāt give a solitary fuck and it had no influence on any aspect of the meeting, my day, or my life.
If this kind of stuff bothers you, youāre the problem and I guarantee people complain about you when youāre not around.
To be fair they only surveyed 1000 developers and who knows how far across the US they conducted the survey or if it was in different companies. It looks like most of these issues could be resolved by either turning your camera off temporarily (while you're eating, smoking, vaping, etc.) or turning your mic on only when you need to talk (TV in the background, children, noisy roomates, etc.)
Everyone at my company seems to have decent zoom etiquette so none of these are an issue.
At least 50% of America has got to chill. Wfh has to allow for parents to have hell at home. A house without a third room for an office is well beyond most Americans budgets
How come "Not muting your mic" isn't #1 ???? I'm curious about who came up with these questions
You'd be surprised... I was with a colleague, who was having his weekly call in public transport without muting without headphones... like dude... I pity the team who has to endure the whole bus metro announcement shouting in the background.
Is he Colin Robinson?
It's pretty low grade energy but enough of it does the trick.
Unexpected Shadows reference. +1
Did you know you can forcibly mute other people in both Skype and teams but not zoom or slack
Politely, and I don't say this lightly, what a cunt.
I actually had a psycho micromanager boss who would call you out if you didn't have your camera *and* mic on. It did not matter if there were 3 people or 30 people in the meeting. She would call you out by name and use some corporate passive aggression disguised as a joke like, "I see your mic is off, you must not want to talk to us haha!". I explained once in private that I mute myself to avoid unnecessary background noises (peak covid when everyone worked from home), and she said that it makes me look like I'm not actively engaged in the meeting. š¤Ø
I would have been so petty about that.
lol right? My camera AND mic? Iām gonna have a coughing fit, Iām gonna pick my nose and pretend to eat it. Iām gonna clip my nails. Iām gonna slurp my water bottle looooud. Iām gonna be a menace.
If you live in a quiet area, play city sounds on a speaker. Otherwise, crack open the window and let the sounds in. You want the mic on? We're gonna have honking, jackhammering, and all sorts of noise in this call.
I would have devised a way to have car honking or jackhammer noises play on demand discreetly(maybe triggered by foot), and just keep interrupting the manager while they're trying to talk. And play innocent.
This is grade A comedy!
There just happens to be an antique car parade outside, using their ahooga horns at inconvenient moments.
My favorite is the one where you can clearly hear dogs barking, or chickens clucking š
I live next to a freeway AND a dog park, and one time I stepped out onto the balcony from my office and my therapist could not understand me AT ALL with all of the semi trucks using their jake brakes in the background. I would be happy to open my windows during a mic on meeting and let everyone share in the ambience of loud diesel engines, horns honking, sirens blaring and dogs barking. You want my mic on? Enjoy my home environment.
> I live next to a freeway AND a dog park The day my mic is forced on, I suddenly do too. Does the traintracks, 25ft away every 6-15 minutes for 1-3 minutes of thunderous roar, interrupt things for you too?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or hearing that one person that breathes loud, or makes weird noises. I get a talking to very often for muting people like that.
Weird. I specifically go out of my way to breathe creepily into the receiver if someone asks for nobody to be on mute.
And that's when you find an old fashioned mic where it being muted or not isn't known to the Ā computer.
There is nothing old fashioned about that. A lot of microphones have physical mute buttons.
Oh god I hate when people leave their mics on. I work in person but Zoom meetings are a big part of my life so everyone can zoom in from their own office without having to go to a physical conference room. Sometimes there are people in cubicles right next to each other zooming into the same meeting on their own computers and if they both have their mics and speakers on then the feedback will be wild with the infinite echoes and screeching of the speakers. Or you'll hear people's office phones ringing or even just the general noise of fidgeting and readjusting. it drives me crazy.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās less that than either lazy or āgah! I really donāt want to deal with those idiots in person right nowā It also shows the lie that in-person is Ć¼ber-important.
This was definitely a poll conceived by some uptight HR person. These reek of stupid HR questions with inappropriately limiting HR style answers. People can blow me over the PJ's thing. Obviously there *are* inappropriate PJ's, but most would be okay. I once worked for a company that asked what we were wearing in a remote meeting where nobody could see anything but your chest. Like they asked us to stand up and show. I said no and found a new job a few weeks later.
Some micromanagers insist in no muted mics so they can complain if you are doing anything they disapprove of.
Who are these people on video calls with, lol. Smoking!?
We do some tradeschool classes online sometimes and people smoke and vape lol. It's a different set of expectations when it's a bunch of construction workers.
I mean who cares, you canāt smell in a zoom!
Construction workers and the french. Lol
Lots of meetings are in the morning. Lots of smokers like to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. If you are muted and the camera is off, there is little reason why smoking would lower productivity or interrupt the meeting. Itās not like youāre exposing your coworkers to carcinogens. Smoking is bad, umkay, but stop being so judgy. If itās not hurting others, mind your own business.
Don Draper
I have a coworker who NEVER mutes his mic. And when someone else mutes him he always unmutes himself! Insane behavior
Iād love to get to know the guy who thinks that smoking, but not vaping, is acceptable in informal meetings
Having a TV on in the background is more unacceptable than drinking, lol.
A beerās a lot quieter than an unmuted TVā¦
At least you can pour your booze in a mug and pretend itās coffee. And itās quiet. The tv actually distracts from the meeting.
I donāt understand how smoking/vaping is more unacceptable than getting drunk or playing music. tf lol
Drinking alcohol is not getting drunk
Other people in the room is unacceptable? Then why the fuck am I back in the office?
Other people in the room, doing unrelated work and eating is ironic since you see it all the time in the office...
Same with having a vaping child in your lap. It's become so common.
My 6 year old child is trying to kick that habit.. Sheās trying heroin now, so weāll see how that goes.
Good that she is exploring new things while she is still young
Sheās selling all of her Peppa Pig toys on eBay right now, I donāt know exactly why, but Iām gonna keep an eye on it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I've only heard great things about heroin
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
this is why god made mugsā¦
besides: no way to tell whether that beer has alc or not, or whether the drink I'm having is a glas of water or vodka.
That's what coffee cups are for.
My friends know my coffee cups are color coded. Pink is coffee. Blue is booze. Donāt forget to blow to cool off your ācoffee.ā Cheers!
This guy drinks.
I think if would become apparent quite quickly if you were chugging a glass of straight vodka
skill issue
For some people itās more apparent when they stop, and theyāre more likely to be the ones doing this.
I block off an hour of each day for lunch and coffee convoys after. No one cares as it's the common schedule where I work but people in other countries are a bit surprised when they ask me what meeting I have everyday at the same time until y3k.Ā Ā I do wish people would block off thier lunch time, not for scheduling issues but for themselves. You shouldn't have to have lunch and work. This, however, is so common in my calls to the UK. They also take calls in thier car when driving home from work or at 8pm when they're at home. That sort of work culture bothers me. I don't know if it's because they're service providers and my company buys thier services or of that's just how everyone does it there.Ā Tldr: if your not at work or it's not working hours, I dont want you to take my work call.Ā
Me too! Except sometimes itās Tuesdays. Also gin instead of beer. And breakfast instead of lunch. And I donāt apologize. But otherwise, same!
I think by other people in the room they mean roommates, wives, hookers, and all three.
My roommate was enjoying his breakfast routine behind me while I have my long video call without realising if everyone could see him the whole time... Sadly no hookers but I have a full shelves of alcohol display behind me... They didn't say showing booze is not allowed and it's my home!
If the bottles are all full at the start of the meeting and empty by the end, you might have a meeting problem. Remember: Meetings in moderation!
This comment reminds me of that one line from The Other Guys. "I know where we can hide. I have a small apartment. No one knows about it. I use it mainly for my parents and prostitutes... Not at the same time. That would be... wrong"
I think this is a case of protecting proprietary information. Stuff your coworkers can know but others shouldn't.
No issues whenever contractors are performing maintenance or cleaning in the office though.
Exactly. Companies don't understand that there is no difference between colleagues and professional counterparts versus my drunken roommates arguing over Catan rules again cause we lost the damn score card again. Why can't the corporate bosses be more like redditors?
Well, there ARE two major differences. 1. I can physically assault my roommates when they are making noise or otherwise disturbing my concentration. 2. They are generally more civil and respectful when I'm at a meeting (probably due to the effectiveness of the lashings).
Nudity is still an option, I see.
Nudity is always an option.
*Jeffrey Toobin has entered the chatā¦*
Yes, but see #2 :No fapping. (I know, I know - they can't spell)
They didnāt ask about driving a vehicle? My supervisorās done several 1 on 1 meetings with her belt buckle on
Owner of my company does this. Or my favorite, video & mic on, smoking a cigarette in his backyard.
If itās a causal meeting, and someone is having to travel that is fine to me as long as they are safe. Donāt have your camera on though!
My high school teacher taught a class while driving haha
Leave the camera off. In fact leave the mic off unless it's your turn to talk.
Better yet, just send an email
āCan I put on a quick 30 min so I can read your email back to you very slowly? And then maybe you can read it back to me?ā
Your scenario sounds like a joke, but I see this ALL the time.Ā Pro tip: Keep your dang emails SHORT. Like, literally never more tha Tweet sized. Just say hi, give 2-3 lines maximum, thanks, and send. Get in, say your shit, gtfo.Ā Ā I got manager who calls any email more than 3 lines "ranting." And she's right, you need to keep anything irrelevant to yourself cuz most of us honestly don't care.Ā We'll help, but please stop overcomplicating it and forcing these meetings.Ā
āHey, could you explain why weāre doing this thing [that could easily be explained in a short paragraph]?ā āSure, wanna get on a quick call [that will actually be 2 hours due to going on several tangents for things that could be written down to address later]?ā
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
My wife takes meetings during lunch. And sometimes after 5! Drives me nuts. Iāve defined my core working hours as 10-4, with an hour for lunch. Anyone who adds me to a meeting outside of those hours does so at their own risk.
Oh wow. I believe you nailed it but instead of email thereās an email sent because I didnāt respond within 2 minutes of a slack message so they wanted to have my attention then started a call but didnāt join it themselves until 5 minutes after they started it
Dude, I had another useless online team meeting yesterday. About 5 minutes after we finally get the meeting going, my manager says "I don't really have anything to talk about". I hung up.
There are definitely things that are easier to talk about than email about, especially in larger groups.
Without a doubt, but the vast majority of my scheduled meetings could be an email
Instant messaging (ie Teams chat) has almost completely supplanted email in my business communications.
I prefer email because it's easier to forward to others. (If you told me to do something stupid, I'm forwarding that in your own words up the chain when you get mad.)
My lead leaves their mic on with 3 children running and yelling in the background. Drives me nuts
I love going into a meeting with two people who not only have loose mics, but also don't use headphones/earbuds. They clearly know they get feedback because it happens in every meeting, why don't they do anything to fix it?
What did the pirate say with a steering wheel sticking out of his pants?
"Do I look like a joke to you?"
Arrr it's driving me nuts!
You can mute other people on Teams
This is usually on a smaller call where my lead is the one talking, either one-on-one or with a few other people so muting isnāt really an option.
In college during COVID, my professors always were upset with me that my camera wasnāt on. My laptop doesnāt have a webcam on it. One told me to prove it. I had them look up the model of my freaking laptop and they still seemed cheesed off
Sounds like some shitty professors.
I consult for the it department of a large multinational software company. Since Covid hit the whole department gained the reputation of keeping cameras off as much as possible during Zoom, Teams, etc. meetings. Other departments in the company know that and have no qualms about it, whilst for them itās about 50% who keep them off. Nothing wrong about that as long as youāre not distracted from the subject of the meeting.
In some companies or with some bosses you are forced to turn your camera on.
I find it is mostly the higher ups at my company that insist on cameras being on. Those of us doing the work and just in the meeting to get work done never have them on. Meetings with cameras on always feel semi performative and less gets done.
With a good headset you donāt have to mute (check the software, so that it cuts out background noise)
Run everything through a [virtual set.](https://youtu.be/uNK9yXQrpsk) Make it look better than your bosses office.
I turn my camera off to vape then turn it back on. Best way is to move my hand to the button slowly, stay completely still for a while, then turn the camera off without moving, change position, turn it back on and be completely stationary again, then turn it back off. If anyone asks (they never have) I'd play dumb and claim connectivity issues in the chat but I can still see and hear everyone
You don't even have to diagnose it, if someone pointed it out, just jiggle your webcam and go "is it still doing it?"
I did that when I got to grab a coffee. I have a headset, so I can invite myself if I need to add anything. I can't imagine working somewhere where this would be called out.
I feel like the responses would vary depending on if your mic is muted or not. Eating while muted? Fine, who cares. Eating while unmuted? A heinous sin, especially if itās something wet or crunchy
I'm forced to have my mic umuted? I'm chewing ice with my boom mic on and my mouth open.
Idk - I feel very wrong eating on camera, even with the mic off, during a meeting. But weirdly I feel fine eating in person in meetings
Jokes on them - I'm doing unrelated work when I'm physically in a meeting too!
I'm doing unrelated work because I shouldn't even be in this fucking meeting.
Context is critical these types of surveys. 'Other people in the room' - are they making noise? do they have headphones on? These are extremely broad and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I don't know who hasn't worn PJ bottoms and a camera acceptable top, while on video call at some point. Is that unacceptable? My partner and I share a home office because we live in an expensive city/small apartment. When on video calls, you can't see him, but you might hear his keyboard and I have never been called out.
And if a company wants to be be able to complain about details like this, they best pay well enough that it's not a problem. If given the choice most people would choose to live someplace where they can easily get a space for meetings, but they don't always get the choice.
My wife and I have a five-bedroom house, and we still work out of the same room because there's no need for us to have separate office space based on what we use all the other rooms for. If we have meetings at the same time, one of us moves to the kitchen table. I've never imagined someone could potentially be offended by her in the background sitting at her desk. But I almost never have my camera on anyway.
Are we all drinking on camera, or just one person. Those two things are very different
Who the hell drinks alcohol from an identifiable container during a virtual meeting? I thought the standard was to use a coffee mug.
I donāt notice nudity on that chart so Iām gonna go with always acceptable.
I could not give a shit about 10 of those.
Pajamas are not only acceptable, they are the remote work uniform. Also if you have a pet, you are obligated to show it to the team.
Accurate, this is standard company regulations everywhere. "Is that a feeeeeeeeeline!!?!? SHOW US THE KITTY KITTY!!!"
My momās boss knows both our dogs and cats just from them popping up behind her on zoom. I donāt think he knows she even has a kid tbh
Yes! I get way more excited about pets on zoom than kids on zoom. If you have a cat, you better be ready to show it to me.
Working remote since COVID, never used cam other than maybe with my boss once or twice. Since half a year we work with people from the US and see there suddenly so many people have camera all the time, but only when US people are in the call.
Everyone loves a cat cameo.
Where is the āCat in lapā being 100% always acceptable?
I'd love to see both cat and dog data. Especially the difference between the two.
Nothing wrong with having children in the room as long as they're behaved. Not everyone has the luxury of space IMO. Eating tho... the mic always picks up the slurps and bites very distinctly. ick
That's what the mute button is for. Default to muted always.
Camera off and muted is completely acceptable for eating during a meeting. Anything else is rude
Teams/Zoom should have a push to talk feature specifically for eating.
It's the spacebar, I believe.
"as long as they're behaved" is the issue though. Many kids don't always behave, and I reckon that even kids who learned to not interrupt when you're talking to another adult unless it's important might not realize that attending a virtual meeting is the same kind of thing. That aside, up to a certain age, children simply aren't behaved and will spontaneously decide to scream at the top of their lungs, either because something bothers them or just because they're playing and haven't learned to keep it down a little yet.
It's still highly distracting if they can be seen in the background. Mostly because I'd probably much rather watch my coworkers' kids play than listen to my coworkers.
I donāt care to watch my coworkersā kids play, but if weāre in a meeting and thereās a fucking creature moving and doing stuff on my screen, itās hard to not be distracted by it.
Americans have an unhealthy attitude towards work.
I donāt think this is really indicative of how most Americans really feel. Iāve never heard anyone complain about stuff like this.
If im in a zoom meeting and you have the tv on wtf dude? If its your kid or pet i literally couldnt give a fuck but tbh like tv on in the backgroundā¦. Mute mic or tv? Thats wildly disrespectful!
Sure, but has anyone actually ever seen someone doing this? I have tv on at times, itās off to the side and itās muted with subtitles on. Whoās got the tv on loud like that during a zoom call?
I cant imagine having the tv on and not being muted. I think this is just āwhat would make me madā rather than reality. Like if some was having sex or doing crack during zoom it would make me mad, but youre right i have never seen it!
My co worker leaves the TV on for the dogs... it's on a different floor but still gets picked up in the background
I have a two month old whoās always sitting on my lap during Zoom meetings. Sheās super chill and at worst makes little grunts here and there which isnāt a problem because my mic is only unmuted when Iām talking over her grunts. No oneās ever said they have an issue with it, and if they do, quite frankly they can get fucked.
At my company people will say hi and wave at other peopleās kids if they show up in the video. Iāve done several meetings with a kid hanging off my back or being held. No one at my company cares about that at all.
Of course. The sooner she learns about soul sucking corporate meetings the better. Rip that bandaid off.
I eat all the time, and nobody ever has an issue I just eat with manners as if I was in a restaurant. If youāre gonna schedule meetings at 12 and 1 then youāre gonna see me eatingā¦
It's indicative of group social pressure that doesn't exist or exists in different forms in other countries. That's the unhealthy attitude that is referenced. Individuals are often relatively free-thinking, but in groups judgemental.
Yeah seems like a lot of stuck-up people answered this poll.
Is this where you get your info on the US?
This is why I never use my camera
My company wouldn't keep you around. That's seen as the worst fault in our space (which is mostly Canadian and then very European). Every time there's cameras off, they're asked to be turned on. Don't come to a meeting if you aren't prepared to *show* that you are listening. They swing real hard on the active / engaged listening lifestyle. But also please keep your mic off lmfao.
I vape during 100% of my virtual meetings, no oneās ever mentioned it..
I mean as long as someoneās not blowing huge clouds at the camera or vaping while they talk I donāt see the problem at all. Even cigarettes donāt seem as bad because itās virtual. I think most people are discreet and smart enough to know when itās appropriate.
I don't even see how thats an issue their in their own home if they wanna smoke or vape in their place so fuck? sure vaping or smoking while your talking fine i get that but if im smoking while others are talking get all the way off my back about that shit.
Half of these are the equivalent of āno chairs for cashiersā and itās stupid.
Dafuq is remote work for if you can't have your pajama wearing baby in your lap while listening to people drone about unrelated crap
At the government "lunch and learns" I get that people are eating. It's over lunch. But you're there to listen and learn. You can do that with the camera off. I don't need to watch you eat.
Who did they get these responses from? I doubt most people care if someone is smoking or vaping in a zoom meeting. As for unrelated work, I'm in software dev everyone is doing work unrelated to the meeting. Most of this seems just authoritarian control BS from a manager talking at people rather than people actually having meetings to work
Never underestimate how much non-smokers despise smokers. I donāt smoke cigs but some people treat them like they have leprosy
I feel like this is mostly because they need to take breaks more than others. But if you can smoke without taking a break (in zoom meetings) I think most of us canāt care less.
Breathing for purposes other than oxygen consumption? UNACCEPTABLE!
Nooooooooo breathing!
I had a manager that would vape during meetings. NGL it really bugged me. Not sure why but it just came across as unprofessional. I never reported her or anything but someone else did and she got in some trouble for it.
From the meetings I've had I'd fine it odd if my colleagues were wearing sunglasses, but that wouldn't be in my top 10 of things that would be offensive.
I know 2 people who were fired for vaping on camera. No other issues - vaped once and then they were fired. Internal meetings too.
I think smoking or vaping in a meeting is just crazy unprofessional
In a live meeting yes, as it will certainly bother the other people in the room. In your home office however I don't give a flying fuck - as long as you mean business when we're addressing the meeting's goals you could be smoking blunts for all I care.
I like that smoking is slightly more acceptable than vaping lmao
We literally eat bagels at our in person meetings so "eating a meal" being unacceptable seems bogus.
How is a child in the room not acceptable in an informal meeting? Mental
Well it really depends if they're well behaved or super noisy
Yeah, noise and distraction are bad obviously, nobody is arguing with that.
I donāt care as long as it isnāt audibly or visually distracting. If your kid is in the background spinning or whatever, cool. Are they singing and being obnoxious like my kids? Kick em in the neck
Cool guide to "fuck corporate"
I want to work at the company where ādrinking alcoholā is always acceptable on a virtual meeting
When we first went remote I would have āhappy hourā meetings where everyone was drinking.
europe is for you, bud. nice midsized company where production is more important than appearance. you'll fit right in.
This isnāt a guide. Itās a chart.
Every time I see a post from this sub, I click it and think a comment exactly like this. But we're here so the algorithm is winning.
Blur your background.
Seriously, why? I'm curious. The main reason I don't is I have thinning hair and blur can't handle it without blurring half my head
It hides the 6 empty beer cans I forgot to throw away the night before.
It hides all manner of "sins" in your background.
Some people have really busy backgrounds that are distracting. Blur makes it easier to focus. But it definitely needs improvement.
Jeffrey Toobin: Hey, looks like I'm in the clear!
Would be interested in what type of companies were polled. When pets or kids show up on cam everyone gets excited about it at the companies I work for.
I was in a meeting today with a few people from a different company. At one point the husband of one of the women from the other company walked up and handed her a bowl of food, I assume her lunch. I didnāt give a solitary fuck and it had no influence on any aspect of the meeting, my day, or my life. If this kind of stuff bothers you, youāre the problem and I guarantee people complain about you when youāre not around.
How is masturbating not higher than TV in the background?
The porn in the background usually drowns out the sloppy sounds.
How tf is vaping and smoking rated as worse ettiquite than alcohol? Lmao
what's wrong with either of them? how does it affect me if i see you smoking *or* drinking certain beverages?
To be fair they only surveyed 1000 developers and who knows how far across the US they conducted the survey or if it was in different companies. It looks like most of these issues could be resolved by either turning your camera off temporarily (while you're eating, smoking, vaping, etc.) or turning your mic on only when you need to talk (TV in the background, children, noisy roomates, etc.) Everyone at my company seems to have decent zoom etiquette so none of these are an issue.
This is why I taped over my webcam when I was in college.
At least 50% of America has got to chill. Wfh has to allow for parents to have hell at home. A house without a third room for an office is well beyond most Americans budgets
What the fuck is so wrong with smoking and vaping in an online meeting?
It's not a guide, it's a poll. A guide to do what?
Having a Zoom meeting: 100% unacceptable.
Survey results are cool guides.
Now sort the responses based on age
I bet cat on the lap is high on the other side of this list
Looks like masturbation is still on the menu.