The “Take A Smile” Experiment

A few weeks ago, I posted about an image I saw on Pinterest of a sign that had a row of smiley face tabs with a caption that read, “Take A Smile,”  (see Free Smiles).  I was so inspired by this project, I decided to make a similar sign and post it at work.

I hung the smiley face invitation on the bulletin board in an area where everyone stops by at least once a day to eat lunch, pull something off the printer, or heat up their coffee in the microwave. For two weeks, the sign remained completely intact. Either no one needed a smile or they simply didn’t know what to make of such a thing!

Then, one morning I walked in to heat up my coffee and I noticed a smiley face tab was missing. Someone finally got brave enough to use the sign as it was intended! I was so excited to see a little piece of joy had migrated to a new place. Three days later, a second smiley face tab went missing. And then this week, another tab was torn from the sign. I guess all we needed was for someone to break the ice!

Three smiley faces have found a new home!

I never said a word about hanging the sign, but I’m pretty sure everyone knows it was my doing.  I have another one ready to go as soon as all the tabs are taken from the current sign.  It’s nice to know something so simple can do so much to brighten someone’s day.

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c.b.w. 2012