David Grady: The Conference Call

[HOVNO5000]

I don't know, reading comments first and then watching? It's bit overrated....

[gentle1999]

Wow ... this is real life! I nearly died laughing ...

[mirvpgh]

That was EPIC-ly funny.

[davidjohngrady]

Hey @joecurrojr ...no way! Too funny. Art imitates life?

[joecurrojr]

Today I disconnected by accident, and last week my dog barked when I was at home speaking to someone in the UK. And my name is Joe. Way too close to the mark, Sir!

[MrTonySimek]

Simply brilliant and sooo on-point!

[MetaGrrrl]

Thanks again for this wonderful piece, Dave. I've listed it in the Resources section of my new book (Discardia: More Life, Less Stuff) because it's such a great reference on badly run meetings.

[RobertKCole]

He also left off the folks in their offices that put their line on hold instead of muting - resulting in the entire conference call grinding to a halt while everyone listens to Rick Astley on-hold music while attempting to figure out who the moron is...

[DaftNotStupid]

I was running a call recently with about 50 people and one of them used the bathroom (took a piss). I edited it out of the replay.

[nakamichi680zx]

Brilliant. Perfect! Could not have hit closer to home! Excellent!

[mjhinton1972]

absolutely brilliant. and a representation of what happens in real life. not every time, but on some occasions. 

[emezzanine]

I had people flushing the toilet in conference calls -_-

[desalaberry]

Sad but so true!

[alextaylor29]

This is my life! :)

[Golfingbazza]

Love this video, very funny indeed. I always carry on oblivious to my young son Luke if he is giving his input to my videos.

As a Stay At Home Dad and working from home, it's part of my environment. Don't have a dog so can't get input from there.

Baz Smith

[slgiberson]

yes this is hysterical. we do need the person who puts the call on hold and the person who is asked a question and then responds with "sorry I had the call on mute". so realistic and too funny!

[Jamesfromnyc]

You forgot, when someone puts their call on hold and you get that annoying hold music. But very well crafted and definatley part of my world...

[natalhab]

THIS IS SO TRUE!!!

[ajayk0680]

True to the core...

[JohnnyLeuthard]

I gave never been in a conference call like that. (looking around). No really I haven't. They never go that way ever! Everybody shows up on time.

[gearoiddom]

@davidjohngrady Yes, so many Nicolas and Jackies ... and little else. Prevents awkward name-forgetting I suppose.

[slimmccoy74]

That was so amazingly spot-on!!

[brackettst]

@slimmccoy74 Are you actually Nigel from the U.K., lol?

[texaninmi]

oh my--so funny. in the world of telecommuting and conference calls this is so true. 

[davidjohngrady]

@texaninmi thanks for your nice note about my conference call video. appreciate it!

[vladdd]

that's what I call corporate sense of humor

[shalindia]

life in Corp IT. Spend most of the time on the call and do real work in the night.

[LifeSizeHD]

Hey David, hilarious video. Everyone at LifeSize loved your video so much that it inspired us to create ‘conference call bingo’ - Check it out at lifesize((dot))com((slash))bin­go - what do you think? We couldn’t have made it without you!

[davidjohngrady]

@LifeSizeHD hi. i checked out the game it's great. got caught once at my old job doing this on the white board - pc-based is much more discreet!

[cassyg99]

Hilarious - thank you for sharing this!!!

[davidjohngrady]

@cassyg99 thanks for liking it!

[peterkoci]

HP Czech agrees ... it's standard of most conf calls ;-)

[davidjohngrady]

@peterkoci If I ever need a job the first place I will apply is HP Czech

[LISC998]

@gearoiddom Tim from the UK here. The usual issue is when someone sends out a meeting in Central Time when you are used to Mountain, or PST. I always get Central wrong.

[Dbassman999]

So funny and so real. For me real life also includes and Endless repeating of "We have a netmeeting active, the IP address is. " "can you please repeat the IP address? " "I am not able to access the neetmeting...;"

[awhtokyo]

I knew a guy who dozed off during a call and his snoring was so loud that everyone else had to hang up and make a new conference without him...

[davidjohngrady]

@awhtokyo that was me

[mergebow]

David should have started off by saying, "The names have been changed to protect the guilty, but we all know of or are someone on this call."

[gyrocopterkai]

This is fantastic. I had all of these incidents, including Nigel and Sparky. Only one thing is missing:

"Sorry, I was on mute, can you repeat the question?"

[MrWattsy707]

I was that annoying person today! what's worst is i was the host!

[davidjohngrady]

@MrWattsy707 that's funny

[janivz]

Reminds me of the 'splash splash' sound I once heard, on a call with an outsourced partner who was working at home sitting at his swimming pool.

[RBLevin]

Perfect!

[Cindyfeliciawee]

Dave, you made my day with this! Absolutely true and hilarious! My conference calls usually include US, China, India and me in Singapore. Dog barking, a child screaming and email audio notifications. Love it. LOL. Gonna share this with my team in Unisys.

Well done! :)

[davidjohngrady]

@Cindyfeliciawee thanks! very nice note.

[FlorianLify]

Everybody at Hewlett Packard Germany has been watching this video....and its HILARIOUS!!! :-)

Great performance....and yes it sounds TOO familiar!

Thanks again,

[davidjohngrady]

@FlorianLify -- hello germany and hp! thanks for your note

[RealPhyrexia]

@FlorianLify As it seems, HP Switzerland too!

[souma88tenshi]

love it! :-D

[davidjohngrady]

@souma88tenshi thanks!

[acattila]

So realistic.

[davidjohngrady]

Thanks, Jacque!

[jacque0715]

HILARIOUS!! I think he works for my company :-) Agreed that heavy breathers and those who put the call on hold with music would also be great! Or how about a toilet flushing??? Had that happen also!

[MrRightFFM2]

Webex......... always fun lol

[dengood]

I wish he would have had the heavy breather. One of my favorites.

[davidjohngrady]

@dengood or the heavy sigh guy

[cifspecialist]

worst is when some ponce joins the call late and then demands to know wot has been gone over from the get-go. ye'd just love to reach through the phone line and strangle them! unfortunately the ponce tends to be a manager ;)

[incosmos]

This is excellent! great job. It would be nice if you add when someone puts the call on hold, maybe to take another call, and all you can hear is music... that also annoys the callers, haha.

[davidjohngrady]

@incosmos thanks very much!

[WillLamers]

He left out the heavy breathers...

[ArxVirtus]

@WillLamers - and the ones who smack their mouths and burp while eating.

[StevenKiyo]

Oh no ! My boss told me to access this important video. Understand he wants to let the team to know his daily life. A ha ha ha. Many thanks for the true story !

[WISCBADGERSRULE]

he is silly

[agentmike23423]

This is my life! And I work in an office setting where all those around me are on conference calls as well and it is echoed thoroughout. Good grief, what does this say about corporate America these days????

[sfallon115]

A hilarious everyday occurrence!

[duetrecht]

For anyone who's been on conference calls....

[TraShSaab]

absolutely brilliant! :-)

[sonomatek]

Art imitating life. Gotta love it.

[xriva]

Painful, but very, very funny. Truth in humor. (I did hear a dog on one of my calls this week.)

[enricokamaza]

Soo funny and absolutely correct. Had he used the FULL platform with participants control on the PC he would have avoided 90% of these problems. Incredible that it has been so a slow penetretaiongrowth of the full integrated Genesys Meeting Center, Webex and others ...

[enricokamaza]

Soo funny and absolutely correct. Had he used the FULL platform with participants control on the PC he would have avoided 90% of these problems. Incredible that it has been so a slow penetretaiongrowth of the full integrated Genesys Meeting Center, Webex and others ...

[LittleWhisper2012]

LOL Daily Business - Even though here it's funny. In general it's just sooo annoying and a huge waste of precious working time..

[bib993]

So true, but sometimes it can be even worse. I saw this video 2 days ago, and yesterday I had attended a conf call with more than 100 people, and it was even more hilarious than that.

[davidjohngrady]

@bib993 that sounds awful

[gemziebeth]

@bib993 why didn't you record it for us? ;0)

[Wrassle]

@msPurple -- 2 whole Conf calls a week!? In my job, i am on conf calls from 6:30 am until 5:15 pm DAILY - 7-10 conf calls PER DAY. Thankfully, very few of them are like this (although when they are like this, it's usuall due to an inexperienced host). But over all very funny vid Dave!

[mjhinton1972]

Absolutely hilarious !

[launchpadmcquak]

Dave looks like Steve Jackson from The Pietasters.

[davidjohngrady]

Is that a good thing?

[calehcar]

OMG This is my life!!!!

[mspurple45]

Dave,

LMAO , with two conference calls a week I so relate!!! Thanks for the laugh.......

[fristot24]

The reason this is sooooooooooooo hilarious is because it is soooooooooooo true! Thanks for taking one of my daily experiences and making me laugh!

[Hunnybee72]

This is the funniest thing since Dilbert :)

[calblanch]

Only thing missing are the multiple IT folks that join the calls from overseas and the language differences. My daily life.. ROFL. Love it.

[1518JoeFil]

This is so accurate it's scary! This is my life every day. Oh and I'm Joe and I do work from home. My dog's name is Jack though, not Sparky!

[davidjohngrady]

Better to be Joe than Nigel. Thanks for your note!

[yamamefish]

I could hardly breathe, I was laughing so hard! Thanks so much!

[lefoldee]

As a Project Manager who works virtually (and I'm the "Dave" of the calls), I can relate WAY too much to this. Thank you for the belly laughs. This was perfect with a couple exceptions...the doorbell from FedEx,/UPS/mailman, and the occasional baby crying in the background. :)

[Gussetsniffa]

The story of my life. Maybe missed the foreign guy who asks for everything to be repeated 3 times..

[Vultur321]

@Gussetsniffa Foreign?.. more like India or Phili guy :D

[zsuzsaka]

@Gussetsniffa at least they speak a foreign language. Respect.

[230dirtbikegirl]

LOL!!!! Hysterical! Oh my gosh. I conducted several calls this week just like this one complete with dogs barking in the background (unfortunately they were mine). :)

[kirednort]

haha very good conference call nightmares..

[keithayork1]

Funny as hell. There's so much that's great about global workforce and virtual teams. This is one of several downsides. The one thing you left out was "So Jeff, can you answer Betty's question? ... Jeff?.... Jeff? " , "Oh - I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question?"

[MnemosyneUK]

Sadly this is a true reflection of those numerous, pointless, tedious calls

Comedic when looked at from the outside - yet we still waste 'x' hours of our time living this LOL

[pjs21junk]

For those of you that have ever attended conference calls this is a super funny video. Need to watch at least the first 90 seconds and then it gets so funny after that.

[daumar12]

that is too real ... :-)

[jacobraj11]

So hilarious but true, lot of people dont follow basic conference call etiquettes, David this is wonderful, this should be shared around with all corporate during the CC etiquette session. i am sure a lot people could learn from this.

[davidjohngrady]

@jacobraj11 thanks! if even one call is less painful, that's a good result!

[jacobraj11]

So hilarious but true, lot of people dont follow basic conference call etiquettes, David this is wonderful, this should be shared around with all corporate during the CC etiquette session. i am sure a lot people could learn from this. 

[Bubatronik]

great!

[maradyhill]

so hilariously true (woof)

[mhlbr]

story of my life LOL

[Polymeron]

Brilliant :D

So familiar, too...

[nalts]

Very funny- didn't think anyone could carry that bit through nearly 5 minutes but I found a few hearty chest laughs. :)

[claudi010778]

Oh so true...! I think Sparky got more input than anyone else..! I'll send this to my manager if that's ok.... Here in the UK we have regulars conference calls with the States and throughout Europe so I think my colleagues will find this hilarious! We also have a Nigel!

[hackebeil20]

sooo true

[chrisdavis68]

Story of my life!

[SavethePlace]

This is all the way spot from the vernacular, to the tardiness, to Joe's dog, and down to Nigel. Brilliant, Dave. This blows open the hoax that virtual teams are more productive. Great stuff and a sad testimony!

[UKGarry]

You missed the German in the car doing 240kph on hands free, David, but this was excellent and so much like my life :0)

[artfan601]

8 people missed the like button.

[RM2Static]

So very very very true!!!!!!!

[lorikendall999]

Rock on! Brilliant!

[TimothyPWilliams]

Idle hands are the devil's workshop. "All hands" are the devil's conference calls.

This is a classic.

[ozpieman]

absolutely brilliant - frighteningly true!

[powerpaw2]

ROFLAMO!!!  Hit the proverbial nail on the head.

[powerpaw2]

ROFLAMO!!!

[IdahoHSmom]

I hope Joe let Sparky out to potty, because that was the only productive part of the call.

[ronw204]

Your conference call was enjoyed by my IBM collegues who spend all day on conference calls

[shuasolutions]

HAHAHAHAHAHA..... YES! Classic

[rrachel0177]

Hi David - I think I will use your video as an introdution to my meetings now. Love it!

[lartiges]

This was absolutely fantastic, it reflect perfectly my day to day job!

I assume that the 7 persons who disliked this vid are the one pushing to use more and more telco's.

Such a waste of time in most cases!

[AlanGil]

HIlarious! I spend about 4 to 6 hours a day on calls just like this one! Once, someone forgot to put his/her phone on mute and we all heard his/her WC flushing!!

[elfinjam]

Brilliant! So funny because it is SO true. At least 50% of my day is on calls just like that. I haven't responded in frustration like you did in the video, but oh how I wanted to...made my day, thank you! 

[elfinjam]

Brilliant! So funny because it is SO true. At least 50% of my day is on calls just like that. I haven't responded in frustration like you did in the video, but oh how I wanted to...made my day, thank you!

[3Apples2Cookies1Kiwi]

This is brilliant!

[elisa5983]

Hey, Dave! This is hilarious. A most unfortunate resemblance to corporate life though. Imagine the productivity without all those bloop-bloop's... :D

Post more stuff soon!

Cheers!

[JimBob14624]

Who are the 8 people that didn't like that?

[davidjohngrady]

 Best comment ever! Thx!

[magicwise42]

@JimBob14624 That were the eight people whose dogs are always late in telcos when they're working from home :)

[ndelfix]

@JimBob14624 ehehe prob the ones working for Genesys conferencing...that was hilarious thanks David!!

[ArxVirtus]

@JimBob14624 - Probably some morons who have never worked and don't know what a conference call is. They didn't get it.

[rideco55]

Sounds exactly like my job.  A+ funny stuff

[LISC998]

I'm laughing, but inside I'm crying.

[brainhackde]

epic truth

[ShortyLongstrokin]

Wow, this is every conference call I've ever been on.

[tlkchew]

hahah good one... obviously he is a low level employee using a cheap conf call.

the hosted conf call does not have the bloop bloop haha... but yah thats exactly what we all experience in conf call

[acranow]

Hi David,

This is so funny especially since this is so true! Funny how we can do these conference calls and get so frustrated with these exact same things but then watch it and find it so absolutely hilarious! Thank you!

[mommymeredith3]

What about those times you hear "clink clink" in the background, when you know someone is popping open a cold one while working at home?

[StaceyHanke]

Thanks David! Only if you share your 1st million with me :)

[broughaj]

Too funny! My favorite was when I was on a conference call hosted by an outside vendor with 60+ people from our company on the line. First, a phone call in the background to schedule an auto repair. Then, a lady gets in an argument with her daughter. And of course, the infamous hold music. With interruption after interruption the moderator kept asking everyone to mute. Eventually he decided to mute the whole group.

Read comment below for the big dinger (out of space)

[broughaj]

What he didn't realize was that he muted the group so he couldn’t hear anyone, but the participants could hear each other. The big dinger (no pun intended) came when somebody started playing an adult film in the background and because only the participants could hear it, the moderator kept the call going. Started hearing a lot of dropped call beeps, but funny thing is nobody had the guts to yell out for whoever had the inappropriate material on in the background to mute their line!

[robindelorenzo]

HYSTERICAL!!!!! After 7 years out of Avaya/Lucent/AT&T, it's nice to see that some things haven't changed!!!! Great way to start my morning.

Does anyone remember Robin and the Vectors?

For more enjoyment, take a listen to my new music - I've got some big stuff happening!!

robind com

or for a sneak peak listen to my newest single Shakey Ground go to reverbnation com forward slash robindelorenzo It won't dissapoint!

[StaceyHanke]

Hi David,

Great video...tons of laughs!!!! May I share your video with individuals in my workshops on communication? I will give you credit as I show the video with your approval.

Thank you!

Stacey Hanke

[davidjohngrady]

no problem, ok. But please share your next million with me?

[tinab232]

Wow, you've been listening to the recordings of my conference calls!!! How can it be so funny on this video and make me want to band my head on the desk when it's happening? :) I laughed so hard my dog was barking at me, very confused. Thanks so much for posting!! LOVE IT!

[666rdc]

Also don't forget when someone puts you on hold and you all have to listen to music!

[sirensong65]

Brilliant! This pretty much describes my entire day. I'm usually Joe, with the dogs.....

[Waccao]

LMAO this is awesome.. XD

[LuckyNYC]

This really is every conference call I've ever been on. I'm forwarding this to everyone in my family. Very funny!

[blittlet56]

Priceless!! This is so true... and don't forget babies crying in the background with the work from home crowd :-)

[esleazy81]

So true... don't forget the kid who wants to talk to mom (working from home) in the background.

[mjlachman]

So sad but true.

[chielitesocr]

I laughed so hard I was crying...This is me every week...

[rhondarolf]

It's funny because its true! The only thing missing was the idiot putting us on hold with cheezy hold music and then: "whoever put us on hold, please take us off! ... Like i was saying...... ok, can't talk over this....does anyone know how to mute all? ..............................­. silence.......................­............ " i guess mute all silenced everyone...ha ha.... let's hang up and dial in again."

[iamsgt828]

OMG... this was hysterical... and happened to me twice last week, thanks for a great laugh. And look at you-- getting marriage proposals out of this!! :)

[iamsgt828]

OMG... thank you so much.. this was awesome!! and it happened last Friday to me...

[mabauer2000]

Awesome

[djschny]

I'm sure most of my Software Engineer friends will enjoy this.

[cliffway]

Excellent!!

[vitabutch]

Just amazing! Thats what happens every day :)

[pamela99ish]

LOVED IT!  So close to reality!

[imagelegacy]

Brilliant!

[CathieHeath]

What makes this so hysterical, is that it's the TRUTH!!

LOVE it!!

[daradw2]

This made my day after a week of WAY too many conference calls!

[soimpossiblep]

Story of my life

[davidjohngrady]

sorry

[katala97]

Wow, have you been listening in on my company's conference calls? Because that was 100% on target. AWESOME.

[Eyzarblu]

Working in pharma communications I think I've spent 2/3 of the last 13 years like this. My vendors know the automatic default is MUTE! You need to take the life boat and beer and get yourself into comedy!

[candyb1967itf]

OH MY GOSH!!! That is my daily life to a T. And why can't the guys on my conference calls sound so WOW like you or look as hot as you????

[Dyga22]

OMG, I laughed so hard... this is near and dear to my heart, you really pulled this off!!!!!

[DerDelegator]

Our system enforces that you tell your name before joining (well, you can leave it blank by saying nothing) but this is even more disturbing than a short glub glub.

One of the most funny things was a false firealarm going of in another office and listening to people running downstairs and yelling at each other "Whats happening ? Whats happening ?".

Or the indian bus station in the background, because it was in the evening and the indian collegues were on their way home.

[sjanosko]

I love this - I've personally watched it at least 20 times and have sent it to co-workers around the global. We've discussed this "as a group" on the several calls this week. I made my husband and kids watch this (I needed to show they what my day is like - I work from home). I spend between 5-7 hours a day on conference calls and this clip is 100% reality. You've packaged it and presented it perfectly.

[365daytonafan]

Have many Genesys calls at work and this is superb. Many of our calls feature people who do not speak English as a first language call ends up sounding like the Eurovision song contest results

[relaxbyangelus]

Hey D, We just had one of those this morning. I love it when the new late caller does not respond....no one will ever know it's me....except when they are looking at the call in report! Hello :) Heather Hines....Alice's sis :)

[mjareo123]

You hit it right on the head - this is HILARIOUS....and so true.

[sailqueen]

Awesomeness! I posted it on Twitter and Facebook! Now going to save it to my favorites. Thanks Dave.

[swackhap]

This is awesome! So true of so many conference calls I've been on! Love it!

[manuntd2009]

joe needs to get fired.

[boboyoyojojogogo]

GREAT video man. Pretty sure I'm not in love with you, though. Sorry.