Manager Dies After Zoom Goes Down

 

Callum Ference, a mid-level manager who previously worked at a Fortune 500 company, suffered a brain hemorrhage and died yesterday—right after he discovered that Zoom, the meeting software he used all day at work, was down.

Ironically, Zoom wasn’t down at all. His company was conducting an emergency preparedness drill to test how employees would handle critical situations if Zoom were to go offline. Only the top management knew it was a mock drill; Callum believed it was real.

“He felt totally worthless — this was the only thing he did all day: Zoom calls,” said one of the engineers who reported to him.

Such drills are becoming increasingly common, but few would imagine they could lead to such a tragic outcome, a risk manager at a security consulting firm told TT.

Another engineer who worked under Callum had more insight:

“He recently took a three-week vacation to the mountains of Tibet to find his calling. And when he came back, he was clear — his role was to take project status updates over Zoom calls. That became his passion. In the last few months, he’d become almost obsessed with Zoom and status updates. When he saw Zoom not working, he was naturally devastated — but we never imagined it would lead to physical damage to his brain,” he said, trying to hide his smile.

According to sources, the company’s senior management is not reconsidering the preparedness drills.

“These exercises are important for ensuring seamless business continuity. If some employees can’t handle it, they should get their hearts checked for toughness — or leave the organization,” said a senior VP, speaking on condition of anonymity.