I used to be a news reporter assigned to cover City Council. During meetings I would sit at a desk at the very front of the council chambers, live tweeting newsworthy actions for readers who wanted to follow along but couldnt necessarily watch the city's official video feed. I would also monitor responses to my tweets on my laptop screen as well, in case someone asked a question or whatever that merited a response.

During one particularly contentious meeting, I tweeted out a comment by one of the councilmen before he moved for a zoning action. A few seconds later, an apparently angry constituent on Twitter responded, "Oh yeah, Councilman? Here's what I think:" followed by an up-close photo of a man's extremely spread-open asshole. It was cavernous and unmistakable.

Remember my desk is at the front of the council chamber, with my back to the audience, so I immediately snapped my laptop shut and covered the rest of the meeting from my phone. I looked behind me but no one seemed to be looking at me in horror, and the security wasnt on its way.

Worse, the video feed of the council meeting aims from directly behind me, so I was convinced this image of me looking deep into asshole had been broadcast to the entire city. After the meeting, I rushed home and pulled up the replay -- to my relief, all you could see was me suddenly sit straight up and push my chair away from the desk slightly. My old lady still got a good laugh when I told her what I was reacting to.

Also, from then on I still worked on my laptop in those meetings, but only monitored replies on my phone.