Cyndy Gabriel- PT

I love the thinking behind Mardi Gras beads. Even if you’ve never been to a full on Mardi Gras celebration, you probably know the general idea. You get a heap of beaded necklaces and toss them to people. The best ones have to be earned, which means the person has to beg, or dance, or make you laugh, or even show a little skin. It’s capitalism in its most social form, if you ask me.

I wish other things worked the same way. Imagine if you took the idea of Mardi Gras beads and extended it to other parts of life. For instance, you go to work and you have a big old stack of beads on you. “Hey, who wants to make a pot of coffee?” Toss them some beads. “Guys, can anyone do this meeting for me? I’m swamped.” Okay, that’s a pretty big favor – you’re going to have to toss over some of the really fancy beads for that one!

Of course, this kind of stuff can get out of hand easily. New Orleans has its infamous tradition of women flashing their breasts for beads, and because of that, most people think of beads as dirty. You’d probably get a pretty stern talking to from Human Resources if you tried to implement a “beads for favors” policy at your work!

Still, it would be a pretty fun couple of days before you got shut down, and you know what? I bet people would all work a little harder when they’re having fun.