TIFU by thinking my Zoom call was on mute

Submitted by Warm-Conclusion-8891 t3_z2zq3o in tifu

I joined a webinar at work today with about 50 other people. Normally when you join as just a viewer, you're automatically muted in my experience. Someone came in the room and I didn't hear them open the door but looked behind me it scared the shit out of me so I yelled "fucking hell!" in shock and continued going on about how I didn't hear them etc... And was promptly muted by the host.

It was an educational training video on something pretty serious so I felt so bad. I apologised in the chat saying I didn't realise I wasn't on mute. I didn't know anyone else on the call but they all work for the same company so I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.

TLDR; Assumed I was muted on a zoom call, yelled profanities, was swiftly muted.

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Comments

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PvtPill t1_ixj7i8j wrote

Number 1 rule for any virtual meetings: always double check you’re on mute. That’s a beginner mistake you only make once

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AcrobaticSource3 t1_ixj8kek wrote

> Someone came in the room

Usually in TIFU posts ain’t Zoom, this related to OP having sex and not knowing they were on video, it unfortunately this is not related to OP having sex and not knowing they were on audio. I wish the opposite will happen for you next time!

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Bertram31 t1_ixjgp1k wrote

Yes you did, hopefully lesson learned.

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SugarsBoogers t1_ixjhqy1 wrote

I was in a meeting recently, bored. I opened the NYT mini crossword, and when I finished it played this very loud fanfare sound. Thankfully the host didn’t recognize the sound or figure out it was me, but I was mortified. Now I stick to Spelling Bee for that meeting.

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Stagjam t1_ixjj06w wrote

Rule #2, make sure you have pants on. You only make that mistake once as well.

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speculatrix t1_ixjjgo4 wrote

Replying to Stagjam (#639,548)

Working from home, I once walked past my wife to the printer. I didn't know she was in a video meeting with colleagues.

It was a heatwave, I was only wearing boxers.

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Extension_Ok t1_ixjlq3o wrote

Replying to PvtPill (#638,316)

Double check, disable and reenable to be sure it's working. Start getton anxious about your mute state. Check again. Get asked a question, don't find unmute fast enough. Repeat.

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disgruntled-capybara t1_ixkac70 wrote

Replying to PvtPill (#638,316)

Early in the pandemic, most of my 50+ year old coworkers didn't even think to mute, so nearly every meeting started out with this horrific reverb that was so bad that you couldn't understand what was being said. That is, until five minutes passed and 15 messages came in through the chat asking people to mute and we could finally get the boomers to comply. After a couple months I started to feel awkward and like I was becoming the, "please mute your mics" guy, because I'd say it at virtually every meeting, but it was so bad you could hardly understand the person who was speaking. You'd think after a week or two, you'd learn that you needed to mute. Apparently not.

It seared into me that I need to make sure I'm muted at every virtual meeting where I'm not the one talking.

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cherrymoonmilk t1_ixknjvw wrote

Replying to Extension_Ok (#639,844)

I overcheck to make sure I'm muted or have my camera off. Better safe than sorry. Good thing I do this regularly, because I farted the other day during a massive meeting and I was grateful I was already on mute.

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St3phiroth t1_ixkqvvi wrote

In your zoom settings you should be able to set your default to join with mic off (and video off if you want that too.) That way you have to enable any talking or video yourself rather than being video/mic on as you join.

I always have mine muted by default and push to talk for any talking.

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star_ladyj t1_ixl8nak wrote

This happened to me and it sucked

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PaleBall2656 t1_ixm3v7l wrote

Replying to PvtPill (#638,316)

I have an external mic I use for zoom/gaming. Tapping it from above mutes/unmutes, and the whole mic illumination turns off on mute.

HyperX cloud quadcast or something.

I always mute from the mic.

  1. Remove risk from zoom not muting even though it is supposed to, I have seen this happen.
  2. Other members can't see if I am muted.
  3. Improved Audio a lot compared to on board mics.
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DanniTheStreet t1_ixos06k wrote

much like a gun is always loaded, a mic is always unmuted

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