This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Gudakesa on 2024-10-24 16:10:34+00:00.

In rare TIFU form, this happened about an hour ago and I am mortified.

I had a virtual interview this morning for a contract gig with a pharmaceutical firm, and as with all the video interviews I do, I set up on the attic of my house on the third floor to avoid distractions from background noises from my family. The attic room is finished as an office, so it looks professional, and my cats rarely go up there so it’s a good place for a private call or a video meeting. I have a node for my Wi-Fi extender in that room so the connection is stable and fast. There is not a door to the attic stairs though, we took it off to allow better air circulation and to allow more space in the hallway on the second floor. (The doorway for the attic is right up against the stairs, leaving the door open creates a navigation hazard for my handicapped brother.)

Like I said, the cats *rarely* go up to the attic. Except today. Just as the interview started one of the cats, Moe, decided to “hide” behind my laptop and play with the cord to my camera. I scooped him up and put him on the floor, thinking that the “glitch” for this meeting was past, because there is always a glitch at some point.

The interview was going great, we’re having a good conversation about the role and the skills I bring to it when the cats come into the attic. At first they are just playing in the background, so no big deal. I was about to blur the background when they chased each other down the stairs and out of sight. Here is where the FU happened.

As we were about half way through a 45 minute meeting, Moe jumped back up on the desk and started walking across my keyboard. No big deal, but I did not want him to flash his butthole to the camera so I scooped him up again. Except this time Moe did not want to be scooped up and started to protest by getting squirmy. I let him squirm as I lifted him up and moved him back to the floor and he struck out with his back leg, kicking me in the face. With his claws. Hard.

At first I laughed about it with the people on the call, because cats, right? But then I noticed in the thumbnail of my video that i was bleeding, and not just a little bit, but the kind of blood you get when your cat scratches your cheek from the bottom of your eyelid to your nose. It looked like I was weeping blood. I excused myself to get a tissue to staunch the flow and told the people on the call I would go off camera so they wouldn’t have to watch me holding a tissue to my face as I bled through the rest of the call, but they each said to stay on camera that they understood, and we continued. They asked a few more questions, I had a couple for them, and we wrapped up on a personal note about our shared hobbies. All while I was bleeding through my second tissue.

Overall I thought the interview went well, but I could have done without the facial laceration. At least they will remember me.

TL;DR My cat Moe kicked me in the face during a video interview. I bled like a stuck pig.