Well, fellow office workers, the most aggressively Monday thing to happen has happened, leaving a lot of Gmail users wondering why Gchat windows are invisible. Some users (cough, me, cough) have been experiencing a strange phenomenon where they hear a Gchat pop up on their computer and can see the most recent message from the sender bolded in the sidebar, but aren't actually seeing the Gchat itself. In fact, in the place where the Gchat should be, they is a faint outline of transparent box instead. It basically looks like Gchat is ghosting on you, which can get hella inconvenient if you work a job that depends on it (aka, all jobs in 2016).
So how do you work around it? This isn't simply a malfunction of "going invisible" on Gchat, a function users can take advantage of to disappear from other users' online lists. It seems to be a separate issue entirely, which can make it rather frustrating to deal with. If you are suffering from Gchat Imposter Syndrome, know that at the very least you're not alone — for some people it's been happening on and off every now and then, and for some it's been happening all day. Fortunately, there are some quick fixes.
1. Refresh Your Gmail Page
I know, I know. Big duh. But about half the time it'll fix itself, especially if you do it two or three times. I call this the "Old Man Shaking Fist At Cloud" method.
2. Close Out Of Your Browsers And Restart The Internet
"But I have 73 very important tabs open!" you protest. I know, friend. I know.
3. Send A Tip To Gmail
The faster they know it's happening, the faster the bug will get fixed. In the meantime, we can all just sit back and be grateful we aren't accidentally "mic dropping" out of conversations with our bosses anymore.
Images: Unsplash
