Feeling ‘Mo Beta

Feeling ‘Mo Beta

©Allen Merritt (2015)

Many years ago I worked in middle management. It was a rather large Customer Service department. As you can imagine, the environment was filled with diverse people with various personalities. These individuals came from many backgrounds, ages, skill sets (or lack thereof) and personality types from one extreme to the other. Some were more structured and needed to be told exactly how to navigate toward results. Others were more free-spirited and hard to contain within company guidelines. Moreover, these individuals varied in their care, apathy, energy, health and wellness, drive and ambitions, as well as abilities. 

Needless-to-say, it can be challenging to manage such an eclectic group toward meeting daily tasks. One thing I attempted to do more often than not was to instill a sense of esteem and confidence into every situation dependent on the person. I liked using humor as a means of lightening the moment and getting them through a hectic day. Injecting humor, confidence and positivity into a situation is necessary in difficult and taxing situations, but it is made more complicated among a group of individuals that hold a multitude of attitudes and beliefs. Some people don’t want to hear it while others do. In my opinion, we all need a healthy dose of something to make our day(s) interesting, fun and worthwhile.

Infusing humor and fun can be tricky in the work place. After all, it is a place of business and certain protocols, standards and appropriateness must be considered. Now, some of my methods may have stepped an inch or two over the line, but I found them impactful in many cases.

Here are some ideas that may help make the day better for yourself and those around you:

1)     Start speaking in a funny or goofy voice. I love this one. If people are not expecting it, it gets their attention causing them to smile, chuckle or laugh out loud. I even used various accents (British, Redneck/Southern, etc.) and changed it from moment to moment. It pulls in the attention of everyone in the vicinity long enough to spread the funny vibe. The effect is long lasting.

2)     Make up funny replacements for anything considered profane. Heaven knows dropping a few curse words in an angry way isn't going to make points with the boss or some colleagues. If it is necessary to express yourself in such a way, a helpful solution is to revert to making up a few new words. How about “Aw, sugar pop!”, “Dad-gummit”, “Fudge apples” or “Jiminy Crickets!”  Use your funny voice to make this more effective or even add a simple hand gesture such as a thumbs-up, mini exploding hands, etc.)

      3)     Use props! I used to stop at the convenience store and pick up a couple small bottles of juice every now and then. I specifically chose one called Mo Beta. I would also pick up my favorite flavor of Naked fruit juice.  Later, if I noticed someone having a bad day or walking around like the grouch who stole happiness, I would go get my bottles of juice (props in hand) and walk up to them and innocently say, “Having a bad day? Let me share something with you. (Cue props)  I always feel Mo Beta when I get Naked!”  Or, if I only have the Naked juice, I’d say, “I got Naked and you can, too!”  I treated the moment like it was a commercial and displayed the juice bottles like Vanna White showing letters on Wheel of Fortune. By using this method, not only would I have some healthy nutrition to boost my day, I could use these as tools to help others have a better day, too. There was no way they were not going to continue to think about this play on words throughout the work day.

Of course, the trick here is to not over do it and respect the work environment and its people. Find fun ways to serve others well in this fashion and I bet everyone will enjoy it and have a better day. So my recommendation is to go out there and get Naked and feel Mo Beta.

Juice!

I am talking about juice. (LOL)

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Cheers!