It's 2023 and we still have baby crying in the background in a Teams meeting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the baby is crying in the background with the nanny? Its 2023 and we are still judging others?

This. Babies cry, even when they are with another caregiver OP. We are also in the DC metro and lots of houses are teeny or don't have good sound insulation.

Good point. Are you even sure it's your coworker's baby, OP? Could be their next door neighbor's if they live in an old apartment building/condo/townhouse.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Who gives a crap? Get over yourself OP

[Anonymous]

OP is a 1st child who has complete sleep and a world that revolves around them.

Okay princess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked remote for 15 years prior to covid, and we had to have childcare. It's insane that people just...thinking they can work and take care of an infant now.

I have worked remotely FT since 2011. During that time, I had a FT nanny who came M-F to the house. I paid her a ton of money. Sometimes, however, you could still hear kids crying. Most of the time when I had a call, I asked them to go to the basement but sound travels. I can imagine that those who live in smaller houses would have issues.

How do people not understand this in 2023?

[Anonymous]

OP - unclench; we are all human. You may be the worker bee robot that wants to gold star. Suck up on your own time...

[Anonymous]

I would not mind, OP.

Babies cry, dogs howl, road repairs and leafblowers are loud...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't even understand this scenario that makes people think a crying baby means parent isn't working.

If someone is muted and video is off, maybe they're caring for a baby.
If you *hear* the baby, then they are presumably unmuted and contributing to the WORK conversation while someone else is with the baby in the background.

+1. One of the best most productive employees I supervise has a baby I can hear all the time on the phone. She's working, her baby is just also making noise.

[Anonymous]

I used for work for a large ($9 billion) company based in NY whose offices in DC and dozens of other countries are designed like an open trading floor... people sit roughly 4-5 feet apart, there are no cubicles/vertical walls whatsoever, just long desks... you could touch hands with the people beside/across/behind you if both reached out... there were some conference rooms but many meetings were taken from your desk... people wore headsets but you could hear THEM speaking.

You just had to get used to/over the fact that there was always some sort of background noise. No one whined or complained about it, you just asked people to mute if needed.

Ultimately you don't know what the situation is in everyone's house, they may actually have a nanny or childcare provider, and if it's truly disruptive you just have to speak up and ask them to please mute. You can't control whether your kids yell in the next room, or your dog barks. When companies accept hybrid or remote work as a policy - these things will happen. But it's really not a big deal or hard to navigate. It's not an excuse to deem working from home unacceptable. if you want people back in the office just own that and deal with the repercussions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't even understand this scenario that makes people think a crying baby means parent isn't working.

If someone is muted and video is off, maybe they're caring for a baby.
If you *hear* the baby, then they are presumably unmuted and contributing to the WORK conversation while someone else is with the baby in the background.

This! Is the theory here that the baby is crying alone in another room while the person participates in the call? And you really think that's the most likely scenario?

If you hear a leaf blower on my call, do you assume I left one running in the yard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked remote for 15 years prior to covid, and we had to have childcare. It's insane that people just...thinking they can work and take care of an infant now.

I have worked remotely FT since 2011. During that time, I had a FT nanny who came M-F to the house. I paid her a ton of money. Sometimes, however, you could still hear kids crying. Most of the time when I had a call, I asked them to go to the basement but sound travels. I can imagine that those who live in smaller houses would have issues.

How do people not understand this in 2023?

Exactly. Our house is 1200 sq ft. It's old, hardly any doors fully close, and any moderately-loud sound in any part of the house can be heard elsewhere. So a crying baby with a babysitter upstairs WILL be heard on a call.

Imagine how families do in small apartments as well.

Some posters are clearly entitled assh0les living in their comfy bubble and simply cannot fathom how others live...

[Anonymous]

Here are things that my coworkers now do with absolutely no shame that would have been unheard of pre-pandemic. I love working from home, I do. But I agree with OP that if we don't maintain some kind of professionalism, our employers are going to start requiring we just go back in.

1) one of my coworkers REFUSES to get childcare of any sort so every meeting or call we have is centered around her child's nap or feeding schedule.
2) coworkers stop the meeting/call to discipline their kids with no regard that none of us on the call want to wait for this S show.
3) kids interrupt the meetings to talk to me. I love kids. I really do. I have my own. But sometimes we just need to get some business conducted and I don't need Larlo to tell me all about his day at school.

Also, when did it become the norm for people not to be reachable during the day because they are taking care of kids and then email you at 11 or 12 at night to ask for things?

I sympathize with parents, but I also get what OP is saying.

[Anonymous]

Wow OP is whining more the babies. Stop being a prick OP. Some people have kids. If not, go to the office if you’re that bothered. Geez what a loser.

[Anonymous]

Yeah! Shouldn't we be done with babies by now, or have figured out how to keep them from crying? It's 2023, ffs.

(sometimes babies cry even when you have a nanny, sometimes nannies get sick and can't come to work on short notice, sometimes your spouse is your childcare and they get sick, sometimes stuff happens and GOD FORBID someone have to hear a baby crying on a conference call for a short period of time wow I can't imagine a more trying circumstance )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP is whining more the babies. Stop being a prick OP. Some people have kids. If not, go to the office if you’re that bothered. Geez what a loser.

People had kids before the pandemic too but somehow managed to have decorum while working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone in my mom's group just asked for tips for remote work with a newborn. UGH. Get a freaking daycare/nanny like the rest of us. You're short changing your child and work.

If she was asking about remote work with a "newborn" then she's asking for tips on how to get through, at most, a few weeks or a couple months.

I was forced to return to work part-time before I had originally planned to come back because someone on our team left. I worked remotely 4 hours a day and they knew I didn't have consistent childcare at that point. I absolutely used a bunch of "tricks and tips" for getting through those 6 weeks with an infant and limited childcare (it's actually hard to find someone who will come nanny for you part-time for six weeks, it turns out, and I already had childcare lined up for when I went back, but it could not start early).

If my work felt short changed or anyone on my team was annoyed by occasionally hearing my baby crying in the background, they can go to hell.