So, I heard about this whole Jon Wertheim thing, the tennis commentator. Yeah, that hot mic situation. Rough stuff, and pretty cringey when you think about it.
It’s kind of wild how easily that stuff can happen these days, isn’t it? We’re all living on these video calls, Zoom this, Teams that. You get comfortable, you think you’re just talking to yourself or the mic’s definitely off. And then, boom, the whole world, or at least your whole meeting, hears your unfiltered thoughts. Not great.
It actually makes me think of this one time… nothing as public as being a TV commentator, thankfully, but man, it felt huge to me at the moment. It was one of those experiences that just sticks with you.
I was doing this online course, a pretty intensive one. I’d put a lot of hours into it after my regular job, trying to pick up some new skills. This particular session was a live workshop, interactive, with breakout rooms and all that jazz. I was pretty focused, or so I thought. I had my camera on, as requested, and I was sure my microphone was muted. Absolutely positive.
The instructor was explaining something, and maybe it was a bit dry, or maybe I was just tired. Anyway, my dog, who usually just sleeps when I’m at the computer, decided this was the perfect moment to start barking his head off at a squirrel he saw through the window. It was loud. Instinctively, I clapped my hand over my mic – or where I thought my mic was on my headset – and grumbled, “Oh, for goodness sake, Buster, will you shut up? This is boring enough as it is without your commentary.”
You can guess what happened next. My mic wasn’t muted. Not even a little bit.
The instructor stopped mid-sentence. There was this horrible, deafening silence from everyone else on the call. I saw a few faces on the screen flicker with surprise, maybe a suppressed smirk or two. My own face went hotter than the sun. I just wanted to melt into the floor. I quickly fumbled for the actual mute button, stammering out something like, “Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry, my dog… I thought I was muted… I didn’t mean…” Utterly mortifying.
The instructor, to their credit, handled it pretty well. They just kind of paused, then said, “Well, I’ll try to make it less boring for you and Buster,” and then moved on. But for the rest of that session, I couldn’t focus. My mind just kept replaying that moment.
- Did everyone think I was a total jerk?
- Was I going to fail the course because I insulted the instructor? (Okay, probably not, but my brain went there.)
- Why does my dog have such terrible timing?
It wasn’t like I made a comment about someone’s appearance on national TV or anything, like Wertheim apparently did. But that feeling of your private, frustrated thought suddenly being broadcast? It’s a special kind of awful. You can’t snatch the words back. You just have to own it and feel like an idiot for a while.
In my case, it all blew over. No one mentioned it again, and I passed the course. But it definitely taught me a lesson. Now, I’m paranoid about that mute button. I check it, then I double-check it. Sometimes I even triple-check it if I’m about to sneeze or, you know, complain about my dog to myself.
So, when I hear about incidents like that Wertheim comment, I get it. Or at least, I get a tiny fraction of that “oh no” feeling. It’s a good reminder for all of us, I guess. In this online world, always assume the mic is hotter than you think.
