A Day Without BS

As I woke up this morning to get ready for work, I turned on the news. My wife and I usually start our day that way. I noticed as the TV screen was coming to life faster than I was getting out of bed that the story being covered was “A Day Without Women.” Much like “A Day Without Immigrants,” I was unaware this was happening until the day of. That brought into question my listening skills and stream of consciousness while the news is on as I watch the news every day. Selective hearing I guess.

As I arose in an attempt to begin operating my day (I’m not a morning person) and was listening to the story about “A Day Without Women,” my warped sense of humor immediately steered my mind to wondering what that meant to all of the gentlemen’s clubs around the country? Chuckling to myself, I straightened up my bad back and ambled to the living room to check my phone to see if I had any important messages. The first item on my home screen was a news update from Yahoo about “A Day Without Women.” Around that same time I noticed my wife reaching for a cotton swab. I exclaimed, “What if this was ‘A Day Without Cotton Swabs’ would that then make us appreciate the swab more in its absence?”

Fast forward about 40 minutes when we began our drive together to head to our respective offices. My wife turned on her favorite radio station. You don’t have to guess what the news channel began reporting. It was as if the universe or some higher power was absolutely determined to make sure that I knew unequivocally that today was “A Day Without Women.”

It made me contemplate why a gender, or race, or group would feel they needed a special day, month, club, or even an exclusive greeting card? It reminded me of the crowd I hung out with in high school in the mid-80’s. Even though the school provided an Italian Club, an African-American Club, a Spanish Club, an Irish Club, a Polish Club, etc. we didn’t feel the need to join any of those. We just sat at the same table in the cafeteria every morning, waiting for first period, talking the same nonsense that teenagers do, without the need to call ourselves a club or an innate need to have a special day for whatever we might have called ourselves back then.

Even if there was a “A Day Without Caucasian Males” I wouldn’t participate in anyway. Besides, I probably wouldn’t even hear about it until the morning of as I was unaware of all of those other special days for specific sectors of society. However, if there were “A Day Without Middle-Aged Bald Guys Who Suffer From Bad Backs and a Lack of Patience” that I might be interested in. Of course more females would probably enjoy that day much more than “A Day Without Women” especially if it meant that us dudes would just get out of their way and not bother them albeit just for 24 hours.

That led me to think what if we had a day without something we really could do without? What if we had “A Day Without BS?” I need to ask my dad what he thinks about that idea. It reminds me of a time in my childhood when my father, a high-school teacher, asked me, “What did you learn in school today?” I answered, “We learned about allergies in health class.” I then asked my father, “Are you allergic to anything?” His reply: “Yeah. Bullshit. Now go do your homework.” I think even today he would be on board with “A Day Without BS” as something he and most individuals would thankfully be devoid of.

I often ask my clients or audience “What does that look like?” when they present a new idea. So what might “A Day Without BS” look like? Well in our daily life that day might look something like this:

• People actually driving courteously and using a turn signal without cutting you off on the freeway and almost causing a five-car collision.
• Patrons actually having a clue as to what coffee they want to order before they got to the front of the line and treating the menu like it was an application for a home equity loan while there are ten people behind them.
• Friends sharing their opinions because they want to hear them and they really want to share without having an agenda to change another person’s way of thinking.
• Kids that actually go to the skateboard park instead of riding down our block with a sign that states “NO SKATEBOARDING” and defiantly sliding up against my neighbor’s property.
• Parents that happily spend time with their children without allowing them to run wild in a restaurant while screaming, bumping into, and generally annoying every customer wanting to have “A Day Without Kids.”
• And waiters at that same restaurant bringing me a glass of water the very first time I ask rather than after my third request which seems to happen often.

What might “A Day Without BS” look like in the workplace?

• Employees actually arriving to work on time without blaming the traffic for the eighth time in a month even though they are fully aware of the concept of rush hour.
• Employees that offer solutions rather than arbitrarily complaining about a perceived problem to their boss with an attitude of “You need to fix this!”
• Managers that actually listen to those solutions rather than cutting employees off mid-sentence or thinking automatically “That won’t work here.”
• Managers that serve as mentors with the intent of improving an individual rather than simply barking orders.
• And an entire team of professionals that will celebrate their individualism while also looking for ways to align with the team for the benefit of all stakeholders.

When should we have “A Day Without BS?” How about March 31? Then on April 1st, after enjoying the effects of the previous day, we can all say “Just kidding!” I probably won’t realize that it’s April Fools’ Day until that morning either.

If you would like to hire a speaker without any BS for your next conference I would love to talk with you. Contact me at kbator@btcinc.net or go to the Speaking Engagements page on our website. If you would prefer the old BS presentations, I encourage you not to watch the video below.