Bye Bye Batman!
 - By Rich DiGirolamo, The Big Kid

September 2006

Years ago my friend Maria made a comment to me – that I was always doing fun stuff. I couldn’t tell if it was envy, excitement, thought provoking for her, or just a comment. Not important. She made this comment right after I had been exploited as a “model” in a national marketing piece for Weight Watchers. Yes, that was when I was young, skinny and pretty. Now I’m just skinny.  

Just the other day I was having a conversation with a total stranger who shared with me that he never has any fun. I got picked up by the guy named Bruce sitting at a local cafe. As an aside, do you remember that game we used to play at bars when you were younger – who could get the most phone numbers? I actually played it just this past July in Orlando and won. Well, I play the reverse game. I go out every day trying to give my phone number to at least three people. I go out each day trying to get picked up. The purpose; to create a meaningful conversation that might lead to me wanting to offer my business card. 

So sitting there drinking my coffee, wearing my propeller, he made a comment along the lines of I must always be having a fun. I told him I do my best. Bruce started whining how he is always working and rarely has fun. I told him I was working right now, and I’m having fun. He paused. I paused. His odd look let me know he was trying to figure out how I could possibly be working. I asked him if he was having fun right now; sitting outside a coffee shop drinking his $8.95 double-mocha-hazelnut-espresso-grande-skim-soy-latte. He chuckled about my comment and said “not really, this was his time to escape his family.” Now I am not even going to get into my thoughts on that one. If you’re escaping your family, this is not a good thing.

 So I said to him, “You’re just not using your time right. What would you do for fun if you weren’t always working? Or better yet, what can you do to make your work fun?”

 “I don’t know,” was the response.

 Hold on to his response, I’ll be back.

This past Saturday morning I was out bike-storming; it’s like brainstorming but you’re on a bike. In this case I was alone. I also enjoy breakfast-storming, bar-storming, bookstore-ming and coffee-storming. Some of these sessions are alone; sometimes with other people.  Brainstorming to me conjures up thoughts of conference rooms and flip charts. I start to sweat and hyperventilate when I think of that environment. This is the year 2006; I want to do this with digital voice recorder in my cycling jersey pocket or PDA in hand; not paper and markers. I want an environment that is fun and cheery; not one with four walls, ugly paint, poor lighting and artwork that some chairman’s wife thought was attractive but makes the rest of us want to puke.

I was climbing a rather steep hill. Running along the side of the road was a stream. The stream was flowing hard and fast after three days of rain. All of a sudden I stopped thinking about my Permission to Speed program and had a flashback to my childhood. When I was growing up we had a summer home in Highland Mills, NY. I remember, after periods of rain, playing in a stream with my friends. We would place plastic boats, cups and my sister’s dolls in the water and send them downstream. We would run along side the stream to catch them if they got stuck or pluck them out when they finished the length of the run. What a great memory.

Attached to the front of my bicycle is a Batman action figure, a small one, about four inches tall. I thought to myself………………….Should I? Should I toss Batman into the stream and watch him go down. I can turn around, follow him, and pick him up a little further downstream.

Oh what the heck. In he went. I started to watch him ride the rapids. I was riding downhill alongside the stream. It was fun.

And then it happened.

Batman got sucked under the water…………………………………………. never to be attached to my bicycle again.

Stop reading right now. What are you thinking? 

Now be truthful here……………..are you feeling sad that Batman is lost or feeling happy that Rich had a good time for a minute. Be truthful. (Actually let me know I’m curious – rich@donewhining.com)

My hope is the latter. Yes, my action figure is gone. I can get another. But for a brief moment I came out of my working mode for some fun. Sometimes that is all it takes. I hopped back on the bike and continued my storming.

Let’s get back to Bruce.

I told Bruce that he needs to start having some fun “in the moment.” Instead of sitting around drinking coffee and escaping your family, how about spending more moments talking to strangers or laughing for a minute or two. How about reliving some childhood memory, even if just for a few minutes? I actually thought about the conversation with Bruce when I was asking myself if I should toss Batman into the river wild.

Fun can happen in a moment, in just a few minutes. Fun doesn’t have to be an all day affair, several hours, a week, or a vacation. Fun is a mindset. I spend my days looking for fun moments, or how to turn something boring and tedious into a fun moment. So can you. Try it. Today. It is one of the reasons I wrote my tip booklet 50 Ways to Have Fun at Work; to show people that fun opportunities exist everywhere if you embrace them.

It amazes me how many people wish they could have more fun, yet don’t realize that opportunities are in front of them all day long. If more people would open their minds and expand their thought horizons it would be shocking.

If you want to see your teams thrive, your relationships change; people respect you, your family like you, and most importantly you like yourself a bit more, look for a fun opportunity moment today. They’re everywhere. Perhaps take the team to a cafe for a meeting this week?

So what about Bruce? His response was “Yeah. Okay.” Couldn’t tell if his answer was envy, excitement, thought provoking for him, or just a comment. Not important. You, my readers, are what is important to me.

. I left. The cashier got quite a chuckle when I said, “Petco, where you can bring your dog to crap, but management doesn’t give one.” Read on……