last week in san francisco, i was stuffed into a conference room the size of a closet. another colleague named greg was with me, and an outdated phone with a “hands-free mute” button.
the lady who ushered us into the room assured me that while on speakerphone (”hands-free”) the other people on the conference call would not be able to hear us. when we dialed in, I made sure to let everyone else on the conference call know this. these people included my boss and several others in upper-management.
as the meeting carried on, greg and I were making comments to each other, playful banter, and some unprofessional remarks. occasionally everyone on the call would stop talking, and we found it humorous — coincidental, we figured.
so coincidental, that at times we would look for a “hidden” microphone. surely if they heard us, someone would have the decency to say something, right?
when it came time to dish out assignments i put on my best Greg voice and said “this is greg, i’ll take that assignment”. they were trying to assign it to someone else. then they started explaining to “Greg” why the assignment was not right for him, but would give it to him if he wanted.
…let me exaplain that the “greg” they were “talking to” was not the greg sitting in the room with me. he was a new Director with the same name…
in all my stupidity i still could not believe this was more than an unbelievable coincidence. when they asked “greg” if he really wanted the assignment, i said “yeah, that’s great”.
then someone else on the conference said, “that is not greg’s voice. who is that speaking?”
i almost lost control of my bladder. greg started rolling on the floor laughing his head off.
after I explained what happened, I heard my boss point out to everyone that she heard me make a certain unprofessional comment earlier. needless to say, she was ticked, and she scheduled a meeting to discuss my behavior.
other collegues on the call told me they could hear us the whole time. after the call, we figured out that you have to press the “hands-free mute” button twice if you want to be muted.
found out the hard way. and that’s about the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in a while.
Recent Comments