As a student of BYU I respected the honor code. I agreed with a clean cut look that best represented me, after all. One morning, however, I woke up with a couple days growth and completely forgot to shave before going to our first intramural soccer playoff game.
The referee held me to the standard. I raced home hoping I could make it back by half. My goalie brother was upset. By the time I returned the other team had already scored a lucky goal on a bad bounce from a routine cleared ball he misjudged. We were down 1-0 and the other team had already gone into full defensive mode. We got eliminated, but my brother was sure if their coach and captain had started we would have won.
Fast forward, and I have been working for the BYU Harold B. Lee Library for almost 9 years. The same rules apply. It’s easy enough to keep from having a bad hair day, even in a pinch, as my spiky dew only requires a little water, but my 5 o’clock shadow can’t go more than a day; it looks a little scruffy the next morning. I sat in my office wondering if I could slip away at lunch without anyone noticing my sloppy look.
Of course my snarky boss showed up around 9:30am and didn’t miss the chance to make a wisecrack. It didn’t end there. He came back with a worn out razor. “I want you to shave. You need to present your rush process at our 10am meeting.” I thanked him for the offer and took the blade, but there was no way I was going to use it. I had completely forgotten about the meeting. It was a goal-setting meeting, a key priority meeting for the direction of our organization that next year, and this was the first I was told that I would be the go-to guy to lead out. Nonetheless, I was prepared. Ever since the soccer instance I have a hygiene kit in my car. I came in looking good and pulled off a smooth presentation.
