Thought Provoking... Fish! Tales

When I started reading the book, FISH!TALES by Stephen Laudin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Philip Strand, I thought, ”How is this book going to be of any use to me?” as it mainly seemed to be for the people at a workplace but the more I read the more I felt it had everything to do with every one of us be it a student, an employee or an employer so I read on…

While reading the book I realized that many of the people around me have used the FISH! Philosophy may be knowingly or unknowingly whatever be it and I appreciated it but never really implemented it myself but now I realize its importance and I will try to implement it wherever possible.

I would like to share a few of the incidents from the book that really appealed to me and made me think and a few incidents that I have come across in my every-day life.

The FISH! Philosophies that was introduced by the fishmongers of Pike Place Market of Seattle are as follows:

Play: Make it fun:
"Play is not just an activity, it’s a state of mind that brings new energy and sparks creative solutions."
Work especially a serious one gets done more quickly when done in a lighthearted and playfull manner.
Two most important requisites for play are “that it must come from within” and the other is "trust".
The fishmongers instilled play in their work by throwing the fish from the table to the counter once the order was placed. Sometimes they even made the customer catch it!
As mentioned in the book a hospital may seem like a workplace where we may not be able to implement “play” but this incident clearly proves it wrong,
On a beach party day the patients were allowed to toss a beach ball to each other. What they did not know was that this was their therapy for which they may not have put in much effort if it was in their therapy room.
Similarly in college one day the usual boring practical was made fun when the teacher introduced it as a quiz among the three rows of students. We took more interest due to the competitiveness that was introduced.

Make their day: Go MAD (Make a difference):
"Making the customers day by acting on an intention by serving them."
This can be done by turning your attention away from yourself and connecting with the other person, customer, family member or friend.
The fishmongers "made a difference" by consoling a frightened little child and cheering him up.
An incident mentioned in the book speaks of a bus driver who used to greet the 70 students of the bus and have fun by singing “Happy Birthday” when a kid used to enter the bus and all of them including that kid would burst out laughing. This made them feel that the conductor noticed and cared about them.
Similarly once when we had gone to Pizza Hut, on knowing that it was one of my friends birthday the employees who served us danced for her while we cheered and clapped. It was very unexpected but very sweet on their part for making her day and making the lunch a memorable one. Every time the customers left all of them would scream in unision, “Thank-you” which “made a difference”.

Be there: Right here, right now:
"Being fully present for one another and doing it with wholeheartedness."
This is what is meant by "living each day to the fullest" and making each day a happy one.
One can feel happy after achieving something only by "giving your 100%" into any work you do.
The fishmongers gave their full attention to each customer and treated them not like a customer but like their best friend.
One such incident mentioned in the book that signifies this, is about an elderly women who was looking for blush in the optical store. The store employee could have just pointed towards the cosmetics shop but she took her time off to walk her to the adjacent cosmetic store. The elderly woman was grateful to her and blessed her with all her heart.
In college when a girl had come to do PR ing for her intercollegiate fest, she stopped me and my friends to give us information about the events while doing so she did not maintain eye contact with a few of us so I interrupted her and asked with a smile, “Cant we take part?coz your only looking at those few." After I said so she apologized and made eye contact with each one of us.

Last but not the least and the one that I believe is the most important because the previous three can be followed only if we have the right attitude towards what we want to do.

Choose your attitude: Making choices:
As William James rightly said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”
By choosing our own attitude we need not try changing others but make it known that they had a choice to do the right.
"Life is made up of many choices but some are made for you and some aren’t, it is our attitude that shows the path to the right choice meant for us."
Hence only because of the positive attitude and by making simple but correct choices, the fishmongers were able to keep up their reputation and their counter bells ringing.
The following incident mentioned in the book shows that choosing your attitude is also within the reach of a six-year old.
A six year old’s mother introduced the FISH! Philosophy to her daughter. A week later when the little girl was getting ready for school on a rainy morning she said to her mom,” Mommy its raining outside but I am going to have a FISH day.”
I am terrified of heights something I have developed recently, so during our college fest when we had rappelling as one of the events since I was the only one who had never tried it all my friends forced me to try it so it would remove my fear of heights but I refused immediately. On thinking now, I feel my attitude was wrong, the least I could have done was gone and put on the safety ropes and if I still felt scared I could have backed out. May be next time I’ll try it!

So this puts an end to the FISH! Philosophy that was introduced by the fishmongers of Pike Place Market and hence earned them millions of fans around the world who follow this philosophy in their everyday life and hopefully by me too!