The Imaginary Barking Dog

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Used to work for an ESL company before but because of my busy schedule, I had to give up that. Since the pandemic started, I've been looking to re-apply to my previous ESL company or apply to a new one. Finally, got a chance to do a demo lesson for a different ESL company. After the system check, I got immediately scheduled for my first demo lesson but since I haven't viewed their demo lesson pointers yet, I begged off and said to the assessor that I will watch the videos so I'm more prepared. The assessor agreed and just advised me to log back in to their company page when I'm ready for my demo lessons. There are three demo lesson videos approximately fifteen minutes each but because of my current work, I was only able to finish watching all three after a day. Yesterday, I was able to finally secure a schedule for my demo lesson. I waited approximately an hour after I logged in before I could proceed with my demo lesson. The first one was a breeze. The assessor was impressed with my demo lesson and said it was near perfect. He readily endorsed me to my second demo lesson. So I waited in queue and this time, the wait was shorter at around thirty minutes. Before I began, the second assessor made small talk with me. Apologized for the wait and said that they have a large number of applicants hence the longer than usual waiting time. I said it wasn't a problem and made a comment about the pandemic being the probable cause of it. The second demo lesson started and although it went well, the second assessor gave me pointers on what I should improve on. He said that I should use my hands more often when teaching and that I should be using the chat box as well. In my first demo lesson, I kept my hand gestures to a minimum and did not use the chat box at all so I was fairly surprised with the feedback. Needless to say, I was thankful for it. The second assessor gave me a passing mark, slightly lower than the first one but still high enough to make it through the third and final demo lesson. This is where the imaginary barking dog showed up. The wait for the third demo lesson was the longest among the three, a little under two hours. I sat in front of the lap top and kept myself busy. When my turn finally came, the third assessor was all business. A little too strict and stern for my taste but it was all good. I started with my demo lesson, not five minutes in the demo lesson, it was abruptly cut. The third assessor asked if I had watched the demo lesson videos and I said yes. She said that I had made many mistakes at the start of the my demo lesson. I politely asked what those mistakes were. She didn't answer and said that she heard a barking dog in the background to which I politely said that I didn't hear any. She said it didn't matter if I heard it or not and said that I can reschedule another set of demo lessons after I watched the demo lesson videos again and she ended the call. That's the end of that. A couple of hours and an ESL company application wasted because of an imaginary barking dog. Have you heard any imaginary animal sounds lately?