This Meme Perfectly Captures How Awkward the End of Every Zoom Meeting Truly Is

These days, Zoom meetings are a normal part of nearly everyone's workweek. With more people than ever working from home — not to mention students learning from home — amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, the video conferencing platform has become the go-to method of face-to-face communication while still observing social distancing mandates. 

Still, let's face it: Video conference calls can be uncomfortable AF.

Even though you're video-chatting with coworkers you would typically see every day anyway, there's a completely different vibe going on when you're doing it from the comfort of your home instead of at the office. It's like two worlds suddenly colliding — and no one is quite sure how they should act. Should you still dress professionally? Is it improper to show off your cat? Not to mention, technical difficulties and user errors have the potential to be seriously embarrassing as well.

No matter how experienced a team of employees is with Zoom, the end of any meeting almost always plays out in the same, exact manner. And a new meme that's been going around perfectly captures just how cringe-worthy it can be.

You might have already seen this meme going around and thought to yourself, "LOL, it's soooo true! But what is this from?" The meme features a clip from the comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy. Stan Laurel (the thin one) and Oliver Hardy (the bigger fellow) were well-known during the late 1920s and mid-1940s for their slapstick humor. And even though we're now well beyond the classic Hollywood era of American cinema, the sentiment definitely hits home.

This clip shows Hardy and a large group of others piled into a car and waving/saying "goodbye," over and over again — to the point where viewers become highly uncomfortable and are all like, "OK, we get it. Get on with it already and just leave." Meanwhile, Laurel, along with other neighbors, are standing outside while awkwardly bidding them farewell multiple times as well.

Seriously, though. Does this meme not capture the ending of literally every Zoom meeting ever?

Because here's what ends up happening: By the time people start sensing the meeting is coming to an end, they haven't had a chance to figure out, exactly, how to end the call. (Yes, even though it's literally the only red button on the screen.)

As they're locating the "end call" button, they also don't want to be the first one to bail out of the meeting. So they follow up that initial, "goodbye" with another wave or a "see ya later!" — which then prompts another round of farewells from others still in the meeting. 

The thing is, we all know it's coming. And yet the endless goodbyes never fail to come at the end of every Zoom meeting. Unless you're one of the select few who opt to GTFO the second you think it's sort of safe to click, "end call," etiquette be damned.

Granted, the actual end of every Zoom meeting isn't quite as endless and drawn out as the over-the-top Laurel and Hardy clip. But that's the whole point, right? The meme merely captures the feeling at the end of every Zoom meeting in an exaggerated way. But only slightly.

Happy Zooming, folks!