A Unique Business Idea – or Form of Therapy
I’m fascinated by entrepreneurs – the passion and the energy and especially the love they have for their creations. It’s great energy of hope and movement. It’s like being in an airport with people coming and going (especially before all the security). It’s fun to be a part of, even if you just watch it go.
So this business caught my eye – the Smash Shack. You pay to break things – like fine china plates – in soundproof rooms. You can even write a message on the plate and hurl it at a wall while you play music (like Nine Inch Nails). Crazy. Can they make money at it?? Next thing they need to do is introduce some form of voodoo dolls – or punching bags (right now it would be CEOs of Fannie Mae, AIG, etc as well as politicians).
In college I was particularly mad at someone and I remember that I grabbed a handful of rocks and threw them at the ground. And it helped. Now I prefer going to kickboxing class. Doing something physical is a great way to blow off steam! Our world is full of pressure and expectations so providing safe ways for people (including children) to express anger and frustration is important. I’m aware that this is why some people love sports.
This isn’t coming up with solutions or blaming people, it’s simply getting beyond the feelings to thinking. I can’t think logically about issues until some of that pressure is gone.
So my idea is this – zuchini baseball and fruit festivals where people can throw rotten tomotoes. Last night I picked cantelopes and watermelon in fields that were going to be plowed under. Most were rotten, but we found the good ones and threw the rotten ones. We lobbed watermelons and jumped on mushy cantelopes and all went home feeling happier.
In Spain they have a festival at the end of the growing season where they throw tomatoes at each other in the street and the entire road runs red and people get covered in tomato. I think you should could pitch them and hit them with a baseball bat (or an overgrown zuchinni). Perhaps some of this comes by being married to a neat freak. Our home is beautiful and I love it. But sometimes I want to mess things up a little (without stressing out my husband).
I think there needs to be an outlet for people who deal with “customer service” (what an oxymoron!) agents who either don’t provide it or they can’t because their business only cares about profits (which for me recently has been Criket and Qwest).
Businesses who care about profit over customers usually fail (Google seems to be the exception here – maybe because they make such amazingly useful and practical solutions that are self-serve and let someone else do the service. Or because there isn’t any decent competition for what they do).
Employees don’t like working at places where this is the case and long-term I think it harms our world. The pressure is so intense that people lie about profits or they get so greedy that they lie. There has be room for both but profits may not be as high.
I will be interested to see if Smash Shack can make a profit providing this service. I’m wondering if I could or want to organzie a festival with the farmers around town. I think both would be therapuetic and fun – just like this post.