Just realized my smart speaker's mute button is useless in a crisis

I was in my kitchen last Tuesday trying to get my Google Home to play a specific playlist for a job site cleanup crew, and it kept hearing the water running from the sink and playing the wrong song. My hands were all greasy from fixing a garbage disposal, so I couldn't tap the mute button on the app, and yelling at it to stop just made it play more random stuff. After a solid 5 minutes of frustration, I just unplugged the thing from the wall, which is honestly the only real mute option I've found. Has anyone else dealt with a smart speaker going haywire from background noise like a blender or vacuum?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninal911mo ago

Happened to me last week but with my vacuum cleaner. The Roomba was running and my Alexa kept thinking the bumping noises were commands, so it started playing some random country music station while I was trying to relax. Ended up having to scream "ALEXA STOP" over the vacuum which just made it worse cause it picked up the word "stop" wrong. Honestly the mute button on these things is a joke, they should just make them easier to shut up manually without needing a PhD in smart device troubleshooting.

jade_hernandez1mo ago

Random country music station" is honestly the most unhinged part of this whole story lmao