Motivation Monday

Do you know how many times I passed this? One of the mighty cheddars at my old employer decided that to encourage people to use the stairs, employees would be asked to paint the stairwells. Various divisions were in charge of painting the different landings around the building (3 stairwells, each with 5 floors). Somehow only one group got into it. Oh wait, I remember why. Work time could not be used for stairwell painting. It had to be done between 6 and 8 at night, on the employees' own dime. Not even a pizza thrown in for their trouble. So I guess I should wonder why anyone did this at all. In any case, a few people did jump in, paintbrushes and cartoon sketches in hands. They painted a series of 3 foot tall cartoon figures. They looked creepily enthusiastic about their fates, frozen mid-stride while "climbing" the stairs, or caught in various types of exercise (helpfully labeled for the less observant employees).

These figures creeped me out, and actually made me want to use the stairs less, not more. But stuck in an office building all day, I figured I'd tough it out with the stairs. Which is why this stairwell motivation grated all the more.


(How can I feel motivated when the letters are askew and of varying sizes?) Mostly I was motivated to never come back to that job once I had Ada. Great decision, by the way. I have never regretted it. I regret that I didn't get some better photos of the stairwell of horror, but not about quitting. And if I ever did wonder if I'd done the right thing, I could just take a peek at these little gems and I'd be completely reassured. Much cheaper than therapy, that's for sure.