How to Politely End a Video Call
Now that we’re all making more Zoom calls, Google hangouts, and FaceTime sessions, we’ve started to face that awkward moment where we might be ready to end a conversation, but the other person doesn’t pick up the hint – and since most of us are now physically distant and hiding in place, we cannot say, “It was fun, but I have to go.”
Or can we?
This week on Twitter, NPR’s Jeremy Hobson posed a question:
Suggestions ranged from “It was SO great” to “I don’t want to take your day away” to simply turning off your device and blaming your internet connection poorly. I don’t recommend the latter (in part because the other party might immediately try to change the zoom or Skype), but I’ve found a few phrases to be particularly successful:
Farewell: “I have one more task”
While Hobson argues that today is really no one plans, the truth is that most of us still have plans – or, at least, the tasks that must be completed before the end of the day. This can be anything from “Well, I gotta get dinner ready” to “Hey, I need to turn my attention to work for the rest of the day.”
Many of us are still working, still cooking, still doing the laundry, still helping the kids with their homework, still walking the dogs, etc. etc.
Farewell: “I want to go outside before the sun is shining yet.”
What is the only thing that many of us can still do as long as we do it at an appropriate distance from others? Come outside. If you tell someone that you would like to continue the conversation with them, but you really, really need to go for a walk while it is still light (or “before it rains”, or “before it is time to cook dinner”), they are going to deny you this last pleasure?
Say goodbye, put on your shoes and get out in the fresh air – or say goodbye, look at your shoes and then curl up on the couch with Netflix. No one will know if you first sign out of your chat or video call account. (The last thing you want to do is display as “available” when all you need to do is try to relax.)
Farewell: “I have another video call on the schedule.”
I like this because it is almost always true – after all, many of us manage multiple video calls every day – but it can be glaringly vague. Your next video call can be scheduled for two hours, but you still need to reach it … right after a much needed internet interruption.
Yes, this is a variation of “I have another task” goodbye, but since video calls are often scheduled ahead of time, it gives you a sense of urgency. Saying “I have another call scheduled for this afternoon” gives you a better reason to end the conversation than, say, “I need to fold my laundry” (because no one really needs to fold my laundry) and it gives the other person a sense of that your time is now in demand.
Farewell “Well, it was nice talking to you”
I know some of you may have flipped through those first three answers and thought, “Wow, some of them sound like a lie .” What, okay, okay. If you don’t want to end your Zoom / Skype / FaceTime conversations with polite social fiction, you can just be polite: “Well, it was nice talking to you. We must catch up someday. “
And if you really want to catch up someday, feel free to add, “How about Friday?”
If you have any other suggestions or helpful phrases to gracefully end what may seem like an endless stream of video conversations, let us know in the comments. I would stay here, but I need to get out while the weather is still nice.