diff --git a/plugins/chat/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/chat-user-avatar.gjs b/plugins/chat/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/chat-user-avatar.gjs
index 83f96bda4d4..d27ee2ba5ec 100644
--- a/plugins/chat/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/chat-user-avatar.gjs
+++ b/plugins/chat/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/chat-user-avatar.gjs
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ export default class ChatUserAvatar extends Component {
           {{this.avatar}}
         </a>
       {{else}}
-        {{this.avatar}}
+        <span class="chat-user-avatar__container">
+          {{this.avatar}}
+        </span>
       {{/if}}
     </div>
   </template>
diff --git a/plugins/chat/spec/plugin_helper.rb b/plugins/chat/spec/plugin_helper.rb
index df600159485..7ba1498efd9 100644
--- a/plugins/chat/spec/plugin_helper.rb
+++ b/plugins/chat/spec/plugin_helper.rb
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ module ChatSystemHelpers
           in_reply_to_id: in_reply_to,
           thread_id: thread_id,
           guardian: last_user.guardian,
-          message: Faker::Lorem.words(number: 5).join(" "),
+          message: Faker::Alphanumeric.alpha(number: SiteSetting.chat_minimum_message_length),
         )
 
       raise "#{creator.inspect_steps.inspect}\n\n#{creator.inspect_steps.error}" if creator.failure?