I declined to turn my Zoom camera on at work, was I wrong?

[igottabaldhead]

Simple story short: on a last minute client zoom meeting.

performing well, giving great input. Mid-call, boss asks me to turn camera on and I joke it off, because im 2 weeks overdue for a cut. My hairline and beard look homeless status until my barber appointment this friday. He gets annoyed I didnt turn it on and tells me after the call.

context: im the only breh, all my coworkers are 60+ YT ppl, They DON’T have a concept of a hairline or needing an edgeup etc they get haircuts once every 2-3 months and have no facial hair.

If I had a few days notice I would definitely arrange to be presentable for camera, but this was only setup 25 minutes prior.

Am I wrong for not wanting to show my James Evans minifro and homeless man beard on Zoom?

 

[old pig]

if your boss is black then yeah you could’ve just cut the camera on…if he’s white then he can go to hell

 

[Dwight Howard]

Depends on how annoyed your boss is. If the video request was serious and you denied cause of a haircut, that might not go over well. Why do you care about your male boss seeing you ungroomed anyways?

 

[South Paw]

Screen name don't match the story

 

[Food Mane]

You made your boss look like an idiot in front of a client. Why are you even asking if you were wrong?

 

[South Paw]

Real tho. Shouldnt you always be prepared to have to go on camera at a work zoom

 

[Ohene]

you shouldve just turned the shyt on
white people dont get the nuances of black male grooming and wouldnt have cared anyway

 

[karim]

Should have said you'd love to, but the internet connection is shaky and turning the camera on would probably lead to connection problems

 

[TL15]

If they have no concept of hairlines etc. why not just brush/or pick your hair and beard and look decently presentable?


But whatever, I don’t think it’s a big deal

 

[humminbird]

so if you had to go to the office what would you have done

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

I never turn on my camera so . Nobody needs to look at @Another Man to successfully do their job.

 

[JetFueledThoughts]

Play the mental health card OP, in any job where everybody WFH and on Zoom these days, bosses fall back real quick when that gets brought up.


Try to seem earnest and be like ‘yeah man.. the haircut thing was supposed to be a lighthearted joke because the client was on… but to be real I’ve just been dealin with stress and ________, and it just hasn’t been the greatest week. I didn’t wanna turn my camera on because I didn’t feel at my best, my bad. Guarantee you he’ll hit the like hey hey all good I understand. Let me know if I can help.


I did a slight spin on this a few weeks ago, I was in a meeting no camera. I told em I’m going no camera since I got the Covid booster the day before, and I felt like death / not presentable but I’m still working…. In reality it was just an AM meeting and I was crushin a breakfast sandwich

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

you shouldve just turned the shyt on
white people dont get the nuances of black male grooming and wouldnt have cared anyway

OP made it a bigger deal than it had to be. He should have took a few minutes before the meeting to get himself together professional wise as you never know when you will have to jump on the camera mid meeting.

 

[analog]

You have to learn to "maintain" yourself between cuts. Trim, shave, line ups, etc. on your own. Watch some YouTube videos, grab whatever equipment you need.

Being unpresentable shouldn't ever be an option.

 

[Pseudonym]

Screen name don't match the story