I got stuck on a lunchtime video conference today with some people in my department and a vendor. I hate meetings at noon, but with timezones being a factor, it was the only available time the vendor could meet. Usually, I’m only on these for technical consultation, so I rarely need to speak other than to clarify a point or answer questions about our infrastructure. Those are usually toward the end of the meeting.
That said, I just muted myself and ate at my desk because I was starving and would have plenty of time to eat a quick bite before it got to the point where I had to say anything.
What I did not realize was that even though I was muted, my webcam was on. So 6 people I work with plus three vendors all watched me eat a bag of tacos, and no one said anything!
Like, when I eat a taco with people around, I do eat it in a dignified way. Less so when I’m alone (or think I’m alone) and wolfing it down before I have to do something So, yeah, it was not a pretty sight.
I’m still mortified, but at least I am laughing about it as I’m typing this out.
that’s pretty funny and equally embarrassing. thank you for sharing. i admit, I don’t pay much attention to traditional lunch times becsuse i mainly meet with network ops folks who have no concept of time or work-life balance. 24/7 or bust. i have a beard so foods like ribs, and tacos that fall apart are my kryptonite. i feel like i need to take a face shower after a meal at times. And honestly after the quarantine period of covid i felt like i had to learn how to interact with society again. cheers.
I definitely feel better after sharing and laughing about it LOL.
Same about the “post-covid reintegration into society awkwardness”. Definitely struggled there, too.
Yeah best to laugh that off as the people in your meeting probably did.
So easy to beat yourself up over something minor you did for years and can never undo. (Of all the times to get extra sour cream, why Tuesday, WHY?!)
So true. As long as I learned something (and I did!) from the experience. 🤣
I took an uber to a friend’s house, try to talk to the driver about whether its ok to bring lunch for friend, find out he’s deaf. I know some ASL so I can sort of communicate but I havent had practice for 5 to 10 years so I am rusty. Anyway the signs for “thank you” and “fuck you” are about 2 inches of vertical distance apart. Guess which one I accidentally signed at the end of the ride.
So thats what has been haunting me for the last week.
Oof! If it’s any consolation, a lot of ASL’s interpretation also comes from body language and facial expression, so he probably knew what you meant lol.
I’m willing to bet, everyone else wanted a taco after that meeting.
You should make this your thing. Next time eat a slab of ribs smothered in BBQ sauce
Lunch meetings are a crime against humanity. Eat your tacos like tacos are meant to be eaten amigo.
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Ha, thanks. To give a 30 Rock example of what it probably looked like:
But replace “teamster’s sub” with 5 tacos from a local Mexican place.
Mine was good. I finally got a senior review on a 200 page document, so it was addressing all the edits and weaving the whole thing together. I got a lot done.
Nice! Always annoying when things grind to a standstill waiting for review.
Don’t worry about it. If the room was big enough, many of them didn’t see you, and half of the ones you did probably thought it was just a flex to show your annoyance with being dragged into a lunchtime meeting. In any case, 95% of people would laugh it off and forget it, and the other 5% are probably well within the “meet an asshole everyday” crowd. With the camera on, they at least know you were there in front of your computer. My coworkers might not always be able to say the same thing about me on some of my larger calls where I’m just there so our org “has presence.”
