Remember mood rings? These were rings that had a stone that changed color, allegedly based on your
mood. Most of the original rings came with a little color chart that detailed,
with I’m sure great scientific accuracy, the meaning of the various colors—black was anxious, yellow was stressed, green was mixed emotions, light blue was
love, dark blue was relaxed, purple was passionate, and so on.
Every one I ever put on immediately turned black, which demonstrates that they
work GREAT.
Now think about it: what is the main question that comes up over and over in any
workplace?
That’s right: What kind of mood is the boss in today?
We all want to know that. Nobody wants to run afoul of a boss in a bad mood.
Nothing good can come from that, but until now there’s been no sure-fire way to know without the risky gambit of striking up an
actual conversation.
A mood ring might provide the answer to the critical boss-mood question, but it
has a fatal flaw: if you’re close enough to see the color on the ring, you’re probably already too close if the news is bad. You can end up with a bad
assignment, or have vacation time turned down, or who knows what kind of bad
thing might occur.
That’s where my idea comes in: Mood Suits.
Mood Suits could come in both men’s and women’s models, and could be woven from fabrics with the same color-changing
properties as mood rings. They could be cut in the latest styles from Paris or
Milan, or they could look like real boss suits from J.C. Penney or Macy’s.
Doesn’t matter where they’re from, the crucial difference is, they’re Mood Suits, and since they’re suits, instead of rings, they can be seen from far away.
Imagine it: You’re wondering what the best time is to ask a favor, and you see the boss coming
down the hall from a distance, her Mood Suit all yellow. You quickly consult
your Mood Suit color key and see that yellow means stressed. Bad time! You duck
into the break room and avoid contact with a stressed boss. Better to hold off
until the suit is a nice dark blue or even purple.
Or take the opposite situation. Suppose you want to put in for vacation time and
you’re afraid it may not be approved. But you’re crafty. You take a quick look and see that the boss’ mood suit is aglow with the telltale dark blue—relaxed and at ease. Bingo! Book your trip!
This could be the greatest breakthrough in office personal relations since the
invention of the coffee pot.
I may even set my sights beyond the workplace, to our nation’s highways. Coming up next: my next big idea, the Mood Car ™. See what kind of mood a driver is in BEFORE you cut him off in traffic.
I’m telling you, when I’m this inventive, I’m dangerous.
Follow Wayne on Twitter: @woodw
