How The Michelin Man Saved My Day
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Today was simply not my day.
When I woke up and realized it was that time of month, I wasn’t thrilled. When I realized my supervisor decided this would be a great day to casually drop in and watch me as I worked for 2 hours, I was a bit stressed out. When I realized 2 minutes into the drive to my client’s home that I had forgotten my water bottle (and I was running too late to retrieve it), I was frustrated.
Fast forward a couple of hours. At this point I have a headache, I’m very thirsty, and I’ve endured a tantrum on camera. Only 15 minutes remain in the session. My supervisor has logged out, and this time is being spent building rapport with my client. I knew we’d be watching commercials or logo compilations on YouTube, this is normal for us. I didn’t know my client was going to start rolling around on the floor and laughing in glee.
Seeing the children I work with smile is something that makes me smile in itself. My day immediately lit up. I smiled and looked up from the data I was recording, then asked what was so funny. To my pleasant surprise, he was watching a video of the Michelin Man. I personally also adore the Michelin Man; the fact that his body has more rolls than a bakery is oddly charming to me. I imagine he’s squishy and quite nice to hug. I’ve laughed at the thought of what It would be like to poke him since I was a child.
This moment of shared joy over a mutual interest was so simple, yet it was a total day changer. I then took a piece of paper and a pen and proceeded to draw. I decided that the fun didn’t have to end when Ms. Sperling and her computer left. I drew him a picture of the Michelin Man, complete with a personalized “hello” and the Michelin Man’s name.
My client beamed upon seeing what I’d done. At this point, it was almost time to go. When I left, he was proudly showing his mother the drawing and reading the personalized text aloud. Walking out the door, I realized that this encounter had made my day.
The Michelin Man had made everything better. Imagine that.
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