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I never turn on my camera, and minimise the video feeds of everyone else (as in, tab away). Problem solved. I find some people are very pushy about wanting “ev

I never turn on my camera, and minimise the video feeds of everyone else (as in, tab away). Problem solved. I find some people are very pushy about wanting “everyone to have their camera on”, but I just make various excuses (I lost my camera, the laptop is upside down for better cooling, etc). 5 years now, top of the tech tree (to explain that this has not been a CLM), but still making those same silly excuses ;-) You’d think someone might have guessed by now.

torben-friis 2y ago
I used to have health issues that made sitting for long periods of time near impossible. As my team was aware, pretty much all meetings I had my camera off as I used the opportunity to walk around the house with wireless headphones. My health issues are fixed now, thankfully, but I intend to continue doing that if possible, as it makes the experience far less tiring and I feel much more focused. I think the lack of video is as important a factor as the physical activity.
blitzar 2y ago
Your coworkers run a pool on which stupid excuse you will come up with next.
- lll-o-lll 2y ago
  It would bring me great joy if this were true. One thing I have noticed is that regular meetups (such as standups and the like), everyone keeps cameras off. Gatherings of people who know each other less well, cameras are more likely to be on. I suspect this fatigue thing is why, but I’d never thought about it before.
zelon88 2y ago
I just say "no". And if they ask why because "I don't want to." The truth is; I move around a lot and I probably called in on my mobile anyway. But I don't owe anyone a reason. Capitalists tend to have unhealthy wordviews around selfishness and entitlement and expectations on other people. I don't participate in that. I value my cognitive capacity. Finding the email, joining, adjusting my environment, approving all the prompts, sideloading the app.... just no. Don't be pretentious. My time is valuable. Get me to the page with a phone number and lets make this easy. Then I can go about my day and we can have this conversation at the same time.
- prepend 2y ago
  > Capitalists tend to have unhealthy wordviews around selfishness and entitlement and expectations on other people. I find it funny when people make such sweeping generalizations. You think this is unique or more prevalent in capitalists? That’s curious. Especially since I think most individuals can’t even be classified into “capitalist” or something else. I don’t think I have a market theory as part of my identifiers.
  - zelon88 2y ago
    I characterize capitalists as folks who consistently and enthusiastically put the needs of an organization before the needs of people. You can call them businessmen if you like. My personal favorite is bootlicker.
    - bravetraveler 2y ago
      I'm with you. We tell children: "no is a complete sentence". Many can be noxious, filling volume like gas. Capitalizing! I will choke the next person who reminds me, a middle-aged adult with responsibilities, that humans are social creatures. I know all too well. I either don't want the company they're offering or owe mine elsewhere, thanks. Don't make it weird. It's often not out of genuine personal interest, but business :/ Also, finally: living here has required more capitalistic behavior than I would have chosen.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
prepend 2y ago
> I lost my camera, the laptop is upside down for better cooling It’s funny because I wonder how some coworkers can be so incompetent. And I work with programmers so it always seemed weird that someone who is generally competent would have continual tech problems. I’m not a fan of radical candor, but I’ll say “I just don’t feel like being on camera right now” as I think that’s better than feigned incompetence.
- lll-o-lll 2y ago
  > I think that’s better than feigned incompetence. Strategic incompetence.
Yizahi 2y ago
Our company thankfully doesn't demand video enabled, but on one of the semi regular meetings a low tier manager kinda half-jokes half-demands video enabled under pretext of teambuilding. Even in such conditions out of almost 100 people joining it, camera is enabled by at most 20-25 of us, sometimes less. This is the real amount of highly extroverted and plus highly hierarchical people. Others don't give a damn. PS: I turn on camera if it's 1to1 or similar meeting about me. But on any other meeting with more than 5 people video is only a distraction. Personally I don't even look at the video gallery and keep zoom in the background, working meanwhile.

torben-friis 2y ago

I used to have health issues that made sitting for long periods of time near impossible. As my team was aware, pretty much all meetings I had my camera off as I used the opportunity to walk around the house with wireless headphones. My health issues are fixed now, thankfully, but I intend to continue doing that if possible, as it makes the experience far less tiring and I feel much more focused. I think the lack of video is as important a factor as the physical activity.

blitzar 2y ago

Your coworkers run a pool on which stupid excuse you will come up with next.

lll-o-lll 2y ago
It would bring me great joy if this were true. One thing I have noticed is that regular meetups (such as standups and the like), everyone keeps cameras off. Gatherings of people who know each other less well, cameras are more likely to be on. I suspect this fatigue thing is why, but I’d never thought about it before.

zelon88 2y ago

I just say "no". And if they ask why because "I don't want to." The truth is; I move around a lot and I probably called in on my mobile anyway. But I don't owe anyone a reason. Capitalists tend to have unhealthy wordviews around selfishness and entitlement and expectations on other people. I don't participate in that. I value my cognitive capacity. Finding the email, joining, adjusting my environment, approving all the prompts, sideloading the app.... just no. Don't be pretentious. My time is valuable. Get me to the page with a phone number and lets make this easy. Then I can go about my day and we can have this conversation at the same time.

prepend 2y ago
> Capitalists tend to have unhealthy wordviews around selfishness and entitlement and expectations on other people. I find it funny when people make such sweeping generalizations. You think this is unique or more prevalent in capitalists? That’s curious. Especially since I think most individuals can’t even be classified into “capitalist” or something else. I don’t think I have a market theory as part of my identifiers.
- zelon88 2y ago
  I characterize capitalists as folks who consistently and enthusiastically put the needs of an organization before the needs of people. You can call them businessmen if you like. My personal favorite is bootlicker.
  - bravetraveler 2y ago
    I'm with you. We tell children: "no is a complete sentence". Many can be noxious, filling volume like gas. Capitalizing! I will choke the next person who reminds me, a middle-aged adult with responsibilities, that humans are social creatures. I know all too well. I either don't want the company they're offering or owe mine elsewhere, thanks. Don't make it weird. It's often not out of genuine personal interest, but business :/ Also, finally: living here has required more capitalistic behavior than I would have chosen.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

prepend 2y ago

> I lost my camera, the laptop is upside down for better cooling It’s funny because I wonder how some coworkers can be so incompetent. And I work with programmers so it always seemed weird that someone who is generally competent would have continual tech problems. I’m not a fan of radical candor, but I’ll say “I just don’t feel like being on camera right now” as I think that’s better than feigned incompetence.

lll-o-lll 2y ago
> I think that’s better than feigned incompetence. Strategic incompetence.

Yizahi 2y ago

Our company thankfully doesn't demand video enabled, but on one of the semi regular meetings a low tier manager kinda half-jokes half-demands video enabled under pretext of teambuilding. Even in such conditions out of almost 100 people joining it, camera is enabled by at most 20-25 of us, sometimes less. This is the real amount of highly extroverted and plus highly hierarchical people. Others don't give a damn. PS: I turn on camera if it's 1to1 or similar meeting about me. But on any other meeting with more than 5 people video is only a distraction. Personally I don't even look at the video gallery and keep zoom in the background, working meanwhile.