DEAR MISS MANNERS: A manager where I work has a young child. Since we have embraced teleworking, she regularly lets her kid interrupt our meetings. Her home office appears to be located in her kid's bedroom.
Now a co-worker has a new baby. In a recent meeting, we could hear both her baby and her MIL in the background. And she was hosting this meeting!
Children are usually not allowed in the workplace unless it is Bring Your Kids to Work Day. They are distracting and often disruptive. Everyone I have spoken to agrees this is inappropriate. What do you think?
GENTLE READER: That all of the public pronouncements that the pandemic would finally force either employers or the government to enact rational policies to support working parents were empty words.
This is not to say that Miss Manners absolves working parents of making their best efforts to keep children out of meetings -- only that some understanding is required for occasional lapses.