Warteschleifenmusikopfer
One, with an abnormal fear of späteankunftschande who has dialed into a conference call so early — before the moderator — as to have to listen to the hold music. One with a profound sense of früheankunftfreude.
In popular culture
Die Warteschleifenmusikopfer, (Opus 27, No. 2) was a light-hearted opera by Brecht concerning the attempts of Iolanthio, a young paralegal at a Belgian investment manager who, when on holiday by the Caspian Sea, diligently dialled into weekly all-hands conference call. Forgetting the time-zone difference, Iolanthio found himself on the call an hour before it was due to start. Try as he might to disconnect the call there was something entrancing about the hold music and before long ...
“Schleifenmeister”, as it become affectionately known, was not popular on debut and never became a mainstream success but in later years acquired a cult status, especially behind the Iron Curtain. It is rarely performed in German nowadays but has been adapted, in English, for pantomime.