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<p>From my ugly conf call memories:</p>
<p>1) PR and Company CEO think they're on mute or haven't heard my
entrance tone. PR company is in the midst of a long diss of the
publication I'm representing, calling out chapter and verse for
each of their top staff. Epithets and expletives abound. CEO is
digesting the background. Oh, you heard about X from Y pub? Five
minute story about taking two journos on a drunken #MeToo
experience. Said he caught a case of something. PR person
snickers. I clear my throat. You'd have thought a completely
different pair of individuals were subsequently on this call.</p>
<p>2) Had a nine-person conf call. CEO/founder, VP marketing,
product manager, geeks from Israel and India on speakerphones, PR
person desperately trying to manage the call, and a product
engineer. Fortunately, they knew how to use mute controls. The
rest: Total mayhem, with mayhem slides, then the app demo that
switched back and forth between machines, and nothing worked at
all, period, for the entire wasted hour. Nine sheepish goodbyes.<br>
</p>
<p>3) We have a conf call to tell a product manager that his stuff
actually doesn't work, and why. This is impossible for him to
believe, so we switch into view screen mode. He watches the
problems with his own eyes. He yells, "FU A$$holes" and terminates
the call. An hour later, a request from the VP to do a conf call.
Rinse repeat the demo from our side. "Hooooolleeeeeeyyyy F" is his
response. Next morning, another and final conf call, final because
we don't get paid to teach vendors their mistakes. It's the coder.
I fixed it, he says. A week later, we've checked it. Nope, not
fixed, smoking crater with scents of sulfur. They were bought by a
certain three letter company two weeks later for almost a billion
dollars.</p>
<p>4) Product manager in Israel does a skype conf call. Very late in
the day for him. He didn't realize his cam was on. Naked, of
course. Very hairy guy. Eventually, he realizes this and the
screen goes blank, but not the audio. I hear a scramble while he's
talking. Call is cut short. Oddly and perhaps for the same reason,
he leaves the company not long after.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Tom</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/10/2018 10:11 AM, Tom Geller
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:BC504FA6-2D30-4D5B-990C-C4437DEDC9A1@tomgeller.com">Funny
you should ask this, because <a href="http://Cracked.com"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Cracked.com</a> had a
somewhat-related listicle yesterday:
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><a
href="http://www.cracked.com/pictofacts-1104-21-hilariously-cringeworthy-moments-from-live-tv-shows/"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.cracked.com/pictofacts-1104-21-hilariously-cringeworthy-moments-from-live-tv-shows/</a></div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">It includes the famous "baby running into the room"
conference call (#19)<br class="">
<div class="">
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="auto" class="">#21 had me rolling on the floor.</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
---<br class="">
Tom Geller * Writer & Video/journalist * <a
href="http://tomgeller.com" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">http://tomgeller.com</a><br
class="">
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, +31 (0)6 87071468<br
class="">
Oberlin, Ohio * +1-415-317-1805</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc</pre>
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