TIFU by forgetting to change my zoom name

A few weeks ago, I had a job interview over Zoom. They sent me the meeting link two days beforehand.

For some context: I sometimes use my school’s Zoom account to join or host casual parties with friends. When you click directly on a Zoom link, you automatically join the meeting with whatever name is already set on your account — no prompt to change it. If you instead manually open Zoom and join by entering the meeting ID, you get the option to update your display name. I usually forget which method does what.

Well, the day of the interview, I clicked the link without thinking. I joined the meeting and immediately realized I had entered the professional interview… with the display name “OP’s Muthafuckin’ iPad.”

Absolute panic set in. The hiring manager didn’t acknowledge it at first — maybe she didn’t notice right away — but I definitely noticed. I quickly started apologizing profusely, stumbling over my words, trying to explain that it was an accident and not at all reflective of my professionalism. She seemed a little caught off guard, and gave me a kind of polite, forced smile, saying, “It’s okay.”

Still, the damage was done. I was completely rattled, and it showed. I struggled through the rest of the interview, flubbing several of my answers because I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I had just embarrassed myself. The manager stayed professionally polite but it was very obvious the whole vibe was awkward after that.

At the end of the interview, I launched into a minute-long apology rant, explaining the context (that the name was leftover from a party) and reassuring her that it didn’t reflect how I would behave as an employee. She looked a little uncomfortable but thanked me for explaining, and we wrapped up the call.

I was mortified. I immediately texted all my friends about it, and of course, they laughed at my pain.

And then, somehow, they invited me to a second interview. I was completely shocked. I went into the second interview a few days ago with a completely clean Zoom name, and the new (corporate) manager didn’t mention the incident at all. I guess I survived it, but I still cringe every time I think about it.

TL;DR:
I didn’t change my Zoom name before a job interview, joined the meeting as “OP’s Muthafuckin’ iPad,” thoroughly weirded out the hiring manager, but somehow still got a second interview.