In March 2017 we laughed out loud at Professor Robert Kelly’s predicament as he tried in vain to conduct an interview about the impeachment of President Park with the BBC. His little girl decided that was the perfect time to treat us all to her dance routine, followed by her baby brother in his walker.
Mortified
He was, he said afterwards, ‘mortified’ and worried the BBC would never call again. Far from that being true he became an internet sensation.
Little did we know just three short years down the track we would all be joining the ranks of the epic Zoom bloopers of early 2020.
Unusual meeting experience
Last week my husband tried to have a Zoom with his boss as a newborn lamb bleated pitifully in the background demanding a feed. They soldiered on but it was an unusual meeting experience.
Nobody should have to see that!
My own humiliation came when half asleep I dropped something on the ‘shredding pile’ and only after I left the room did I realise that I was only partially dressed and he had been in the middle of a Zoom call. Nobody should have to see that! I sweated on it for the full hour and twenty-three minutes of the call, desperate to know if I had involuntarily entertained his workmates with my dazzling array of bed hair and spare tyres spread liberally over my middle-aged bod.
‘No,’ he answered, as I stuttered through the question – not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer. Oblivious to my torment he said ‘I didn’t turn the camera on today.’
Not a mistake I have made again.
Zoom quiz night
Our first Zoom quiz night was a washout because my other half – not quite grasping the concept wrote in ‘chat’ the answer to the first question. It was one of the only answers we knew but less than surprisingly everyone else got it right as well…sigh…
We’re not alone – there have been hilarious stories of parents and pet owners trying desperately to ignore the antics of kids and pets all over the world. I read where a boss wanting to lighten the mood for her team put up a picture of a dressed potato and then couldn’t work out how to get rid of it so was stuck as a potato head for the rest of the meeting.
Filter Dangers
It’s hard to beat the sight of an Italian priest solemnly delivering the mass, having inadvertently put filters on. The one of him with a mafia hat and glasses in addition to his priestly robes is particularly entertaining.
However poor ‘Jennifer’ who decided to take her phone to the loo and subjected her entire meeting to a bird’s eye view of the process, may regret that action for some time. I can’t see how she will ever live that one down especially as someone has very ‘kindly’ shared it to the whole world.
Perhaps what is best about all of these ‘epic fails’ is that – despite our massive fears of being the subject of our teammate’s hilarity, we have and will, survive them – even the unfortunate ‘Jennifer’.
No real downside then!
As a non-parent I should say that we have been endlessly entertained by the ‘child meets parent’s zoom meetings’ so perhaps there wasn’t anything to worry about after all. In the end Professor Kelly used to be known by everyone with a passionate interest in South Korean politics – now he is known by all of us. No real downside then!
Nicole Johnston https://writingtribe.com
