My noise-cancelling headphones died mid-call, now I avoid video meetings

Had a big Zoom call with a new design partner last Tuesday and my headphones just gave out at the 20 minute mark, left me stuck in silence while they thought I was nodding along. I ended up typing in the chat that my 'audio was glitching' and switched to speakerphone, but now I double check everything with a quick test call before any session. Anyone else have gear fail at the worst possible moment, and how do you handle the awkward fallback?

1 comments

1 Comment

aaronroberts1d ago

Blaming the equipment is always the move, though I once had my laptop battery die mid-pitch and had to pretend my webcam was the issue while frantically mouthing "call you back" like a mime having a seizure. Now I keep a backup pair of $20 earbuds in my bag just for these moments, plus I do the whole "testing 1-2-3" routine even if it's just to my cat. Honestly the awkward part is never the tech failing, it's the recovery story you have to stick with for the rest of the meeting.