Fire from the Hip: Thoughts on Sports & Real Life

Photos: Unknown Persons

Today seemed a day like any other in my office out behind the Toledo Sports Arena. That is, until I was struck with a sudden epiphany while hanging up the phone after yet, another failed sales call. I was rejuvenated by an idea so brilliant that it trumped my immediate, more mundane task of making phone calls. The thought continued to reverberate inside of me like an aftershock. What we in the Toledo Storm front office needed was a gong that would be struck following each successful sale. The employee responsible for said sale would do the honors.

Giddy with excitement, I weighed the benefits and drawbacks to bringing a gong into work. First of all, the sheer excitement that a gong generates cannot be overstated. Moved to hit "that damn thing," people would push themselves harder than threats from a supervisor ever could accomplish. Second, it would contribute to a more light-hearted work atmosphere. How could someone ever become stressed at work when success is distinguished by banging on a gong?

Unfortunately, some drawbacks stand in the way of such a ludicrous, and thus brilliant idea of adding a gong to the work space. In attempting to gain all angles on this subject, I pursued firsthand information from people who had worked where bells and gongs has been used. A bell in the office space trivialized the work being done, which I am not sure is a bad thing. Either way, the thought process might go something like this: "I am calling these people in hopes of eventually being able to bang that gong over there...Are you serious?" Furthermore, an overt action such as banging on a gong recognizes the auspicious employee while simulataneously acknowledging, at least implicitly, the failure of his or her peers. As one friend in sales confided: "I hated listening to that bell ring, and I couldn't stand high-fiving the jackass with the toothy-grin who had just rung it!" So what causes this: is it a poor work environment that promotes a "dog eat dog" mentality or is it resentment that festers from being, in essence, put down in the work place?

I don't have all the answers just yet but I found the research educational. I became excited about putting a gong into the office for the sheer hilarity that I think would result from it. I don't like to take myself too seriously; more pointedly, I see a certain trivial quality to most jobs. In my eyes, a gong in the office reminds employees of the inconsequential nature of our responsibilities. And I think that can be an advantage in keeping an office loose. However, my limited research proved otherwise. That same friend who later quit added: "By the time I left there, I wanted to ring that bell right into somebody's face!"