Your Image on Social Media

This story is from the COVID days, when — swayed by Rehan Allahwala’s advice — I started making videos. My freelancing journey was just beginning and I was still at the bank. My routine: up at 4 a.m. to watch freelancing courses, free by 6 to get ready for the bank, and before breakfast I’d record a quick video on whatever topic came to mind.

Village mornings are fresh and beautiful, and they gave the videos a lovely natural color. Now, I have one very bad habit — I don’t shave regularly. Still don’t.

Here’s the thing about working the front counter at a bank (I was the operations manager): your customers inevitably add you on Facebook. When you talk to people every single day, friendship is just the natural outcome.

So one day I recorded a video, uploaded it, went to the bank, and got on with the daily grind. Around 11 or 12, a very dear friend — the manager of a cotton factory — came into the bank for some work.

Before going to the cash counter, he walked straight up to me.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

I was baffled. “Yes brother, all’s well. Why, what happened?”

He said: “I saw your video. From your face, I thought you might be about to do something to yourself. Then I heard you saying something about freelancing and online whatever, and I closed the video.”

The whole issue was simply that my beard had grown way, way out 😁

The video is still up on Facebook and YouTube.