This sums up the past 12 or so months for me

  I kind of know how you feel.

During every Zoom meeting phrases like this seem to pop up at least once "Sorry, I was on mute" or "can you repeat the question, the audio was cutting out?"

But what is going on in the background?

People often pop into my office to tell me something or discuss something while I am "muted' on a conference call, and I have to listen to each conversation with one ear and respond appropriately when somebody on the call asks me something.....

My "one-track" mind has a problem with this, so I am looking for new excuses for inattention. Anybody have any good ones?

True sir....

'Network error' is the most common excuse.

Sometimes I have made excuse that I went to the washroom, but I don't think it will be a good idea for you. Yeah... I know its a little embarrassing but that is the reason that it always works. You can turn off the mike and the video both.

Maybe you can say that somebody fainted in your office so you had to leave.

You can also say that you heard a loud noise outside so you had to leave to check it out.

Maybe excuse of any rat or any other animal entering your office help you out. You can tell them that there is a rat in your office, so you got distracted.

All the best!

"‘I’ll be right back: the cat’s just brought in one of next door’s chickens”

There is the bonus in that you can re-use that one and even 'dial it up' a little bit if needs be: "...the cat's just brought in the neighbour..."

That's handy - I have to drive to the supermarket for mine

I was browsing through the news app this morning. I think I read something like "stray cat brings in another stray cat", or something.

"Sorry, a stray cat who comes around sometimes just came around with another stray cat"

dougw  wrote:

 

... I am looking for new excuses for inattention. Anybody have any good ones?

Sorry, my phone cord got all coiled up again

"Errr....I've just seen an Imperial Stormtrooper walk past my house !"

Whilst not on a call I have actually seen that as well, plus a giant dinosaur on another occasion: first seemed to be on the way to the bus stop and coincided with a national Comicon event, the other looked like they were in training for a marathon.

That one could back-fire however as you may end up being mistaken for just being drunk... especially if you say you have just seen a herd of 'pink elephants'...

I used to have a neighbour that held some Comicon style parties. Used to see all sorts of  strange characters in the street when returning from the 'local watering hole'.

(Either that or the beer was a lot stronger than usual...)

That one could back-fire however as you may end up being mistaken for just being drunk... especially if you say you have just seen a herd of 'pink elephants'...

I used to have a neighbour that held some Comicon style parties. Used to see all sorts of  strange characters in the street when returning from the 'local watering hole'.

(Either that or the beer was a lot stronger than usual...)