Is Your Mute Button Broken?
About ten years ago I was on a conference call in negotiations with a very important business partner. We were all getting frustrated and exhausted from the three hour verbal tennis match. I was attempting to rationalize a point of contention when I heard, “Blah, blah, blah, blah. ‘Ooooo…I’m so smart and love the sound of my own voice!’….”, followed by hysterical laughter. Then suddenly it hit them and the world went quiet.
Yes, they had a broken mute button.
“Oh crap”, said the mocking executive on the other side of the speakerphone. “Mark… umm… well… sorry…” was the half-apology as he quickly tried to backpedal. Everyone on my side was a bit stunned and then I started to smile. My response?
I pretended our mute button was broken too and said in a false whisper, “C’mon people. These guys really did their homework. How did they know I love the sound of my own voice???” 
This broke the tension, we all had a good laugh and successfully wrapped the call ten minutes later.
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