How to Change Your Perspective on Anything

Do you have teenagers or other patron groups that don’t necessarily loiter but spend time hanging around outside your facility? Are you concerned about the negative impression that might send to other customers?

The operators of one public recreation center, at the suggestion of a creative maintenance technician, simply changed the light bulbs near the building’s entrance. The new lights gave an unattractive hue to the teenagers’ facial complexions, which forced them to find a new gathering spot out of embarrassment.

Brilliant, isn’t it?

Instead of banning the kids or creating any number of potentially ugly scenes, management found an alternate, less conventional way to address and solve the problem.

Here are two more ways that taking a positive approach can change a negative situation:

• A middle school was experiencing problems with teenage girls applying bright red lipstick to their lips and then kissing the mirror in one of the girls’ restrooms. Every night, the cleaning crew was challenged with removing the bright red impressions. To resolve the issue, a female cleaning crew member made a conscious effort to enter the restroom during school hours, while the girls were in the restroom kissing the mirror. She took the mop, dipped it in the toilet and proceeded to wash the mirror with the mop. Word spread immediately, and the kissing ritual quickly ended.
• While visiting the dentist a few months ago, I noticed a sign with bright red letters on the dumpster in the parking lot: “SMILE! You and your license plate are on camera!” Out of curiosity, I looked around. Sure enough, on top of the building was a video camera aimed right at the dumpster. After inquiring, I learned that because the dumpster was located in a public parking lot, it frequently was filled with discarded items not affiliated with the dentist office. So the dentist mounted a fake camera and posted the sign. The unwanted trash dumping suddenly ceased.

Go figure.

(Photo by iStock)