The ultimate facepalm

It was the first week of my first project in my first company and we were having a meeting over conference. One point in the agenda was to introduce me to our clients based out if the US. That was over and done with within minutes as the team moved on to more important things to discuss. However, all I was wondering was if I had delivered a good intro justifying all the preparation that had gone into it the night before.

Meanwhile, the meeting went on for more than 30 minutes and as usual I started procrastinating. Being new to the team, I wasn’t aware of most of what was being discussed. Feeling stifled and bored I desperately fiddled around in my cubicle. Just then I saw this white board on my computer screen. It was part of the tool’s interface that we used for client meetings. While other team members were deliberating on ways to handle the latest technical issue, I started scribbling on the screen. It was kind-of like MS Paint, so I decided to test my drawing skills using the mouse. From drawing circles I moved on to a hearts and stuff. I had finally started having some fun.

Just as I was about to pierce an arrow into that heart I drew, I saw my puzzled manager get up from his seat and frantically move around. I wondered if the client had pissed him off (maybe they got to know what time he comes to office and were pulling him up!).

He came towards me and as he saw my screen with the pointer over the “Heart”, his face turned red. He yelled “What the hell are you doing?” He gave me the dirtiest look possible and barked “Just delete that thing!” That was the first time I got such a mean look from anyone, outside my family that is.

I realized now that it was a common whiteboard where all my art was out on display for everyone to see. Fucking idiot! I panicked and now I would not know how to erase it off. That is when he gave me another dirty look (so the count goes up to 2 now) and did that himself.

That was my ultimate face-palm moment.

Thankfully, there was not much damage as the others in the call saw the funny side of it. Though I was embarrassed for a fortnight or so, till I laughed it out with my manager, over drinks!