Zoom Call Disasters That’ll Make You Want to Return to the Office

Working from home definitely has its perks. You can wear whatever you want while you’re working and no one minds a bit if you finish your big report surrounded by pillows in your comfy bed.

But one of the most stressful parts of working from home is endless Zoom calls, which can turn out to be a complete disaster if you happen to have an unwelcome visitor or unruly neighbors.

Thankfully, these stories capture the worst Zoom disasters so you don’t have to experience them yourself.

Read the Room

Shutterstock

When classes had gone online, I had a student of mine logged on who told me that her mom’s boyfriend hit her mommy, she was sleeping in the bathroom and wouldn’t get up.

The student said she was scared and had her toddler sister with her under her bed. Nothing could have prepared me for this moment.

I stayed really calm and told her I was going to help. The other kids started joining, but I told her to stay on no matter what I said to everyone else.

I grabbed my phone and started texting my boss and every other person in our school. Another teacher who I was close with ran into my classroom.

She was a champ and started reading to the kids. We called the authorities and sent them to our address on file.

However, they were not at the address listed in our contact information.

Another parent got on and told me to mute the girl, as she wasn’t supposed to have a sibling on the Zoom call. The toddler was crying.

More people in my classroom were trying to help. I told everyone except for the girl to log off. She was in kindergarten, couldn’t really read yet, and started begging me not to end the call while trying to calm her sister.

This other mother was being difficult telling me how long I was officially supposed to Zoom and all this other garbage. I wanted to scream at her.

Finally, the principal stepped into the screen and told her, in a really nasty tone, “Read the room, ma’am! Get off!”

Everyone but the first kid and one other student logged off. The other student was a really kind boy.

I told him I needed him to go while the girl kept asking over and over, “Not me, right? I want to stay on. I’m scared.”

The other student started comforting her, and we were all frantic. We started asking her where she was, if she could get to a phone, what the house looked like, all that stuff.

An officer showed up at our school.

We called DHR. Meanwhile, we heard a man yelling at the student to quiet the baby. I felt complete horror, dismay, and helplessness.

We were in a small town. After talking to the student and asking her mother’s name, the officer who came to our school realized he knew the family and might have an idea where they were.

He sprinted out while we kept trying to comfort the girl, but she was upset.

Like an idiot, I had set my Zoom for 45 minutes, and time was coming to an end. I told her I was going to send another link, but it cut off.

Every teacher and administrator was now in my class. We all felt helpless. A couple of minutes later, we got word the authorities had found her!

I fell on my knees and started to cry. The boyfriend had, in fact, beat the mother. He was taken into custody.

The mother was in the throes of addiction, so the little girl and her sister went to live with the grandparents in another state.

Story credit: Reddit / pretendthisisironic

Maybe It's Just Tech Issues

Unsplash

While teaching online, I preferred cameras on for the younger classes so I could see if they were paying attention, but mics were on only when it was someone’s turn to talk.

Cameras were optional for teenagers. I had a good student who was not responding to questions when usually she would be full of ideas.

I figured she was just having tech issues. I wasn’t prepared for the real reason why. It turned out her grandmother was having a meltdown caused by dementia.

The student was home alone with her trying to reach her parents and avoid calling the authorities to respond.

One of her parents was a teacher and was in the room with me, team-teaching on campus. They were pulled aside to go deal with the crisis, which was how I found out.

It goes to show you never know what’s happening in the background and why a student isn’t responding.

Story credit: Reddit /NeonHairbrush

Unwelcome Guest

MaxPixel

My wife was on a call delivering virtual training to some new foster families. Her computer was located at the back of our dining room/study, so she had a good view of most of the door from about waist-high and upwards.

The door didn’t latch anymore; it could easily be pushed open. My wife had shut the door before she began the call to keep any of the background house noises from interrupting the session.

She was about halfway through when our dog decided to investigate the strange voices coming from the room.

The dog knew he could use his head to fling the door open, but the camera was angled in such a way that you could see most of the door, but not the dog as he came trotting in.

So, from the people’s perspective on the call, it appeared as if the door had been flung open with no one on the other side.

It was comical listening from the other room as a group of fully grown adults shrieked in terror, and my wife had to explain it was just the dog.

Story credit: Reddit /manwithapencil

I Was Mortified

Shutterstock

I was on a Zoom Interview for a very well-paying administrative position at my local hospital. I was doing the interview while my daughter was at school.

My husband walked into the room and said, “Well, would you look at the time? Time to suck my wife’s nose!”

He said this while he was entirely in the buff and visible to the camera. The interviewer laughed, I was mortified, and a conversation discussing onboarding became an employer ghosting me.

Story credit: Reddit /bzzibee