Do you have an upcoming Zoom meeting that you want to squirm your way out of? Try using some of these excuses to help you escape…

Seriously though these are just for a laugh for your Thursday morning so take them with a big grain of salt!

1.     Play dumb

Once you're in the Zoom meeting, pretend it's malfunctioning, and that you don't know what you're doing—essentially, play dumb. Act like you can't hear anyone, frantically search the screen and squint at all four corners of your computer to look like you’re ‘trying to solve the issue’ quickly, and for something extra, mouth some words to your colleagues to make it seem like your audio is broken. In other words, make it look like a disaster and suddenly exit the call.

2.     Use a loud sound effect

Play a loud sound effect, like a glass or vase shattering on the floor in the other room and play it loud enough to startle all your colleagues on the Zoom call. All you have to do is pretend to look shocked, mute the call, walk out, and never return.  

3.     Blame it on the different time zones 

Don't enter the Zoom meeting until an hour after it initially commenced and tell your team that you got totally mixed up with the time zone differences and thought the meeting wasn’t until later. "Daylight savings has already started? I had no idea."

4.     Create a distraction

Cause chaos by finding a recording of someone using a silent dog whistle and play it on your Zoom call (surely someone will have a dog in their house), and with some luck, it might cause too much of an interruption = meeting postponed.

5.     "It won't let me into the meeting".

Say you're having trouble accessing the meeting room because of 'technical issues'. Insist that you've had to re-install Zoom, update the app, and now it's asking you for a pin to enter the meeting room that you're already late for and it’s just not working.

6.     Get your story in order 

6.1. Blame it on your computer

Plant the seed early by telling your co-workers that your computer is unreliable, and lately, it’s been freezing up, so you can't promise that it won’t cut out during the meeting. Say something like, "Just letting you know that my computer sucks, and has been cutting off and freezing on me pretty often, so if that happens, just know as much as I hate to miss a Zoom call, I can't help it if something happens."

6.2. Blame it on your Internet

Have you used the dead computer excuse a little too much? Try swapping it out for the Internet instead.

If your colleagues are trying to contact your whereabouts, say that you're unavailable right now because you're trying to sort out your Internet issue and are currently in a queue with your provider and it’s up to a three-hour wait.

But really if you’ve done any of the above, steer clear from our roles…

On a serious note, do you have a question for us? If you're a job seeker on the lookout for your next role or a hiring manager looking to fill a position, contact us at Just Digital People! We're here to help you succeed.