I hate that people don't mute their phone during conference calls

[Youndyc]

Seriously, how difficult it is to mute the phone when you are on a conference call and are not the one talking? I don't want to hear you coughing, typing, talking to other people, answering your other phone, heavy breathing, etc. MUTE the damn phone.

I also hate that when the moderator makes an announcement asking people to mute their lines, a bunch of people ask "how do I do that?" Really? Well, see, there's this button called mute - press it!

[Tom]

I'm guessing that this was either a conference call with a lot of people who don't usually do conference calls. That, or one for senior management.

[smetchie]

I hate listening to people breathe on the damn phone. Or eat.

[Youndyc]

Luckily, nobody was eating. There was a cougher, though, and she coughed the entire time. It was a 4-hour conference, I gave up after 2.5, I couldn't take it any more.

And, to be fair, some people were probably doing this from home (I was) and don't have mute buttons on their home phones (though I do) and did't know the instructions for muting through the conference call system. But still! That's no excuse for whoever it was that was having a side converation part of the time - or the one shuffling papers.

Tom, your guesses are both right. A mix of senior people who also don't do conference calls frequently.

[Malbadeen]

I hate conference calls in general. It's really hard to fit in sarcastic remarks and the note passing and rolling eyes and all that other stuff that goes with meetings is just not the same when you're in a room by yourself.