In Ann Arbor, Michigan, there’s a restaurant* called the Gandy Dancer.
I’d link to it but they play outstandingly annoying music on their website.**
Trust me.
Anyway.
The name is a slang term for early railroad workers. And the restaurant itself is right next to the railway station. In the restored Michigan train depot building from 1886.
This means:
During at least a couple different points during your meal, a train is going to go by.
Loudly. Because it’s pretty much right next to you.
Here’s what happens at the Gandy Dancer when a train goes by.
They ring this huge bell.
And then everyone applauds.
Every single time a train goes by.
You know what I can’t stop thinking about?
How completely freaking brilliant it is to turn something potentially annoying, disruptive and jolting into a ritual.
And not just a ritual, but one that’s communal. And fun.
They took something that people could (justifiably) complain about — “Sure, the food is good but a giant train rumbles by every twenty minutes or so.”
And drew attention to it. To turn it into something participatory, silly and joyful.
Unbelievable.
Applications.
Obviously I’m thinking about this in a business sense.
Specifically, how I would do something like this at the Playground.
But not just in a real live storefront space. In an online business too.
How many irritating aspects of Doing Business Online are there that are both predictable and unavoidable?
And which of those could be transformed into something that make my people laugh, conspiratorially, with me?
My mind. It is being blown.
But also outside of the world of having a business.
What things in my own life that cause disconnection and irritation could be turned into rituals?
What things that drive me crazy could be opportunities to ring a bell?
I love how this gives me the power to allow That Thing I Hate to morph into something that’s essentially a mindfulness practice.
And I love how much room for fun and play is in this.
Because there is no limit to how kooky your rituals could get.
Like?
Oh, I don’t know.
What if the next time my neighbor’s yappy-ass mini-doglet starts ruining my concentration, I didn’t shake my fist at the window?
What if I took that as a sign that it’s time to put on my feather boa and start doing jumping jacks?
Obviously, that doesn’t solve my “hey, I’m trying to record a teleclass” problem, but it solves something.
Or maybe my students will already know that whenever the barking starts, we all need to sing the Butt Monster song.***
But rituals. Silly, carefree rituals to turn distractions and horribleness into things that make us laugh.
And a possibly unrelated post-script.
We did this post-shivanautical exercise at Camp Biggification where we wandered around in our brain-altered state looking for clues.
And I kept getting this really clear message to Ring The Bell.
Which was getting on my nerves, because there wasn’t any other information after that. Just the same thing over and over again.
And also because then I couldn’t get that Anita Ward song out of my head. Disco!
Anyway, maybe this is one of the bells. At the very least, I need a new feather boa.
My goodness we have a lot of asterisks today.
* Yes, this is the second time I’ve written about places to eat in Ann Arbor.
** Yes, all music-that-starts-playing-when-you-go-to-a-non-musician-website is annoying but this is somehow especially annoying.
*** If you don’t know the butt-monster song yet, you should really come to one of my events at the Playground.
Play with me?
If you have ideas for ways this can be applied, or thoughts on where something like this might be useful in your own life, bring it on.
Any business or personal situation is fine.
Maybe we can brainstorm up some brilliant bits of something or other.
Worth a try.
Follow
Havi,
I have this vision of teaching this to the parents and children I work with. Every time the wee one interrupts the parent- mom or dad ring a bell and start dancing. The whole family would be laughing. Which is good for everybody! Imagine if instead of punishment parents started celebrating children…the world may be a little different.
There should be a waring though, behavior like this can lead to dancing in the streets!
.-= Stacy´s last post … Sum… Sum… Summertime =-.
Havi, I love your Ringing the Bell story and its many wondrous applications!
I’ve been doing something like this in my new home, where there’s been construction going on ever since I moved in.
Hammering. The screeeee-rik-rik-rik of power tools. Pop music from the workers’ boombox. It was fingernails-on-a-chalkboard crazymaking. So now, each time one of these construction things starts up, I take a moment to connect with the spirit of my home, with the Devas of construction and technology, and with the little kid in me who loves weird noises.
It’s transformed what was startling and annoying into connection and delight. 🙂
Thanks, Havi!
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … Can you wear your crown when you’re ill or in pain =-.
I need this for when my neighbors let their lawnmowers rip. Blasting some music and hula hooping? Making up a Loud Ass Lawnmower song?
How do you get around it, though, if you were in quiet read-a-book mode? Or resting-with-a-headache mode? Do you really get up and hula hoop anyhow? Maybe a lullaby version of the Lawnmower Song?
Huh, I’m kind of looking forward to making up the Lawnmower Song. That was a fast transformation! Thanks!
.-= Darcy´s last post … A day worth writing about =-.
Havi… perhaps every time your neighbor’s “yappy-ass mini-doglet” starts to bark you ring a bell… your neighbor’s DOOR bell! I jest of course. Would kind of ruin the spirit in which your post was written.
Then again, you install a fake train station outside your home and perhaps… just perhaps… every time your neighbor’s “yappy-ass mini-doglet” starts it’s ritual… instead of the bell being rung… a train comes by….
Sorry, I’m having trouble focusing this Monday morning!
Thanks for the great post… as always! Enjoy your week!
Ted
What a grand idea, Havi. We need more ways to turn frustration into joy. 🙂
.-= Chris Anthony´s last post … Show Me Your Weenie =-.
This is brilliant and requires more thought.
However, no thanks for putting that Anita Ward song in my head. It has got to be my most hated song of that period. At the time. Since. HATE IT. Now I need a ritual to get it out of my head 🙂
.-= JoVE´s last post … Summer contradictions =-.
Love this! I’ve been trying to do something similar when my little mutt starts barking… though I hadn’t thought of it as ritual-making, so haven’t been very consistent with it. It can be hard to have patience when I’m trying to work, and I know for a fact that she’s just barking because the neighbor shut his car door >:(
But you know what? I tend to overwork, and her barking could be considered a loving attempt to get me to take a break and rest for a few moments. I think if I look at it that way, frustration could become gratitude.
Plus, I know my puppy would appreciate a moment of silly play time with me 🙂
Heehee, now I’m gonna have that song stuck in my head all day… *wanders off singing the Butt Monster song…
.-= Heidi´s last post … Power Napping 20 =-.
Ok, first off, “yappy-ass mini-doglet” definitely could be a band of the week, even though he’s just one guy!
There’s this Pixar/Disney or I don’t know what movie where this inventor goes into his future and meets himself as a father. And in that house every time someone tries to invent something and it fails everyone in the family gets together and celebrates the failure, the bigger the failure the better. And they cheer and give out cake and hug and celebrate the failure of the invention to work. And they say with big smiles on their faces, “What a gigantic failure!” all excited like. I mean, imagine if we celebrated taking chances the way we celebrate “success”?! Totally mindboggling.
I know I’d like to live in place like that! 🙂
I need to figure out a way to ring a bell every time a cat barfs on my floor.
I sort of do this when Atlas barks. Which happens pretty much only in the car, and only when he knows where we’re going and is excited. My only rule is that if he barks, his head can’t be in the front seat because I like my hearing. Anyway, whenever he barks, I bark with him. It makes me laugh – because how can you not laugh when you’re going, “Arrooooof, Bark, Aroooooo” – and he gets the fun of barking. (This is also how I know if I’m taking care of myself because if I’m not – and am hungry or thirsty or tired – the barking gets old really really quickly. Otherwise, I can actually enjoy it.)
Business now .. that is interesting.
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … wild and precious =-.
Awesome!! This is so great.
We are surrounded by not one but TWO “yappy-ass mini-doglets” – to use your fabulous phrase. On both sides of the house. We usually just imitate them, or if we’re watering the garden, may accidentally get distracted and water the dog through the fence. Both are hilarious.
We also have a neighbor who chain smokes and has the most annoying, cloying, distinctive cough you’ve ever heard. My gentleman friend and I must imitate his cough about 10 times a day. Sometimes we integrate it into a song. Really, it’s too funny.
n.b.: Please don’t think we’re in any way harming the above-mentioned dogs with water – it’s just a tiny squirt through the fence, which most often doesn’t hit them, because they run away from it. And “cough-y guy” doesn’t hear our re-use of his vocalization, which is now actually kind of soothing to hear in its natural state (ie, when he does it) since we butcher it so.
There are probably far more lofty applications of this Ringing the Bell technique, and I’m definitely going to try to think of some.
.-= Dawn´s last post … All the Monsters Have Hearts =-.
We have an existing ritual around here that involves waving frantically and flattering stoplights when they refuse to turn green. It’s a long story though, better suited to its own blog post than a comment, so I’ll save it for now.
But…
Oh Oh OH!!
If I could find a way to “ring a bell” when I hit one of my freakouts (the ones that lead to long drawn out blog and social media silences like the one I’ve been in seemingly for-evah this year) and people CHEERED… that would be FUN. And there wouldn’t be silence, you know.. because there would be a (metaphorical) bell. Yes! Suggestions welcome, because I’ve no idea how to do this yet.
And Havi?
Has the Playground got a ship’s bell?
I LOVE that Ring My Bell song. I was so pleased to find it as an “easy” song for my Wii Just Dance video game. On the chorus, the choreography includes a lot of self-ass-slapping, which cracks up my daughter and somehow turns on my husband. The avatar in the game wears tube socks. Which is fun.
The bell ringing / annoyance ritual is a brilliant idea.
I could ring a bell every time my stepson chews with his mouth open. Although I have the feeling that it might turn into a violent bell ringing, and that I might want a church bell instead of a tinkle bell. Or a gong.
.-= lynn @ human, being´s last post … Tight underwear =-.
Oh…I should have commented BEFORE I read all the awesome comments!
Because their amazingness is distracting!
Celebrating failures with cake? AWESOME!
Ringing A Bell with the cat barfs? I’ll need a bell choir!
I have a little thing when I’m working online, that when I notice I’m drifting amidst the interwebs, I stand up.
I just do it. Sure, everyone at the coffeshop thinks I’m crazy, but it’s a great way of hitting the reset button on my focus.
My newest bell-ringing project is #funeveryday. I’m trying to do something fun everyday, but not just that! When I find myself falling into the doom-swirl, I stop and make a list of the fun things I want to do this week. Even if it’s just a mental list while laying-in-bed, it helps break the doomDOOMdoom cycle.
Oh, and I’m turning Mondays into Fundays (yeah, cheesy!)
Another thing: brunches. I want to start taking myself to brunch (or at the very least make some gluten-free pancakes) EVERY time I brunch something, no matter how big or small. And orange juice. And fakon (fake-bacon). I want to take the time to STOP and notice: hey, I did this thing.
.-= Tara´s last post … FunDay =-.
I love the idea of something annoying triggering a physical action from me. So it becomes a reminder to take a break, move, stretch…
Intolerable garden grooming sounds or other people’s unignorable phone conversations could be signs to breathe deep, hold a plank, do C2 or NKS-60 (just my abbreviations for some stretch sequences). Course that’s mainly productive. I could try singing or playing awesome dance music while doing those things to make it fun.
Or perhaps just go straight for the music and shoot a new groove sequence whenever something totally busts my concentration. Cuz celebrating the groove is all about fun.
.-= claire´s last post … Sketchbook- page 35 =-.
I definitely need to craft a fun, or at least calming, ritual for when one of my kids melts down. But what? I will have to think on that.
.-= Amber´s last post … Things my Toddlers Taught Me =-.
Havi, I LOVE the train – ring the bell ritual!
One of my monsters is always hanging around, trying to get me to get snitty and impatient. He’s a big fat guy who hangs around the pool in a lounge chair eating and drinking all day..while plotting ways to push my buttons. Such a freak! He’s so fat cause every time I get angry or impatient or cranky, he gets to feed off of all that intense energy I emote. He’s been with me for quite a while, he did not get this fat overnight.
So, we worked out a truce. Every time he feels hungry, he should first ring a little bell, you know, like summon the bar guy for another round. Then, when I hear the bell, (yeah, I know that’s crazy) I toss him a virtual snack, like peanuts or tortilla chips.
Seriously, there is NO WAY I can possibly lose my patience or get cranky while I am tossing crappy snack food at an incredibly ridiculous character as a bribe. So, I LAUGH. Usually out loud. People look at me weird. It’s good. It works. Sometimes. I just have to figure out how to not ignore the bell.
This. Is. Brilliant.
I live in this complex. School is out. Suddenly there are gazillion, okay maybe 35 children ranging in ages from 18 months to 17 running loose through the halls. They run up and down the stairs. They slam their apartment doors repeatedly which, even when I know it’s coming, always makes my body jerk in surprise. They’re loud. They’re having fun! They’re driving me out of my mind.
So brain storm bell ringing ritual: Hang a chime and every time a door slams I’ll jostle it and listen to the tinkle that makes me smile. YES! Awesome.
PHEW. I was pretty sure I was going to have to devise a way to pump….dimetap into the water system to quiet everyone down! Chimes are much better!
Thanks!
*Poofs back to lurking*
I think I used to do a lot more of this kind of thing than I have in recent years. I want to find my way back to it now. Thanks for the reminder.
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … Intention =-.
Oh yes!
Oh yes, this is gooooood.
In so many ways.
“yappy-ass mini-doglet” hilarious.
Ring my bell song……first annoying, then also hilarious
And then my own version just arrived when the first of a couple of annoyances kicked off.
I sing ‘Zip e dee doo dah, zp e dee day, my oh my what a wonderful day’ etc at the top of my voice and that makes me laugh and laugh…..
Thanks Havi, I really needed this.
“Zip e dee……”
.-= Pauline Esson´s last post … The Pleasure Report Week 22 The easy ideas edition =-.
We have an on-going “contest” of celebrating the biggest mistake at work. Except we just cheer and high-five until we’re done fixing the problem just created. Then we have a giant party. There are lots of ways to define “biggest” 🙂
Not exactly a game, but I type passwords eleventy-billion times a day – I make my password something fun, something I want or need, something that makes me smile…
Awesome!
I did something like this with my computer problems. My laptop has an annoying bug that noone can fix – every so often, the browsers lose the ability to access the interweb. Just the browsers – skype, ftp, etc are fine – but the browsers go down. And the only way to fix it is to restart the computer, which takes, like, ten minutes whenever this happens.
This bugged the crap out of me for ages – being a web designer, losing your interweb is very bad. And then I decided to see it as the universe’s way of letting me know that it was time to take a little break or have a stretch, or of pointing out that I’d got sucked into random surfing and had forgotten the thing that I’d meant to do before I got distracted.
Not as much fun as bells and trains, but, you know, mindful.
I shall be looking out for future opportunities to turn crap into fun!
Hmm… like, maybe… You could make fun of how lame and impersonal contact forms are by creating an actual robot to embody the form.
But I already did that! Ha!
Am I applying your advice before you give it? That’s weird. There must be more applications of this idea for online biz. Because there are so many things about online biz that are lame and annoying.
Ring a bell. Hm…
Man, these are all great.
So much good stuff here.
@Bullwinkle – I just collapsed in giggles picturing that. What a perfect way to approach … well, everything.
@Kathy – a monster bribe-tossing ritual! GENIUS.
@Tara – Just. Stand. Up. I kind of want to do that right now. Someone needs to make a just-stand-up permission slip. Hmm. Will talk to my designer.
@Lindsay – that sounds AMAZING. Does anyone know what film this is or want to look it up for me? I think I need to see this one.
@everyone – big love to all of you for all your ideas/support/encouragement. Hugely appreciated. Thank you.