Mel is a leader and a stranger. She sends spam and is consistent: she always sends it in the morning and never more than once a day. Intrigued by her subject lines I wondered what I might learn about her and so instead of deleting the emails or putting them in a junk folder, I started to pay attention.
The subject line of her first email was, “Take charge Tuesday here. And you?” Yup, now here was a take charge gal and her goal was to inspire the same in others. I thought, “Oh! Yes, Mel – I’m taking charge too.” Excited I started the day off inspired!
I found out she was either lazy or courageous, depending on how you look at it, for she announced, “I took a 7 hour lunch break” one morning – more than 6 hours longer than mine. And since it was morning where I was, she must live in another time zone.
Soon, I found myself concerned as she asked, “My clothes will not let me enter?” I worried that perhaps she’d run into a new security screen at the airport or perhaps she failed the dress code at a recent networking event.
She is very curious and one day asked, “How long are your arms?” You know no one has ever asked me that question. However I have had others interested to know how long my ears are. Go figure.
One day she wrote, “you know this isn’t real, right?” followed some days later with, “I’m a blue unicorn?” Was she asking me or telling me? Yes, she did live in another time zone, but had I entered the Twilight Zone? Then again, perhaps she was really a robot as another subject line read, “Cancel, cancel, cancel – reboot.”
Of course, for the last thirty-some days Mel has been trying to entice me to open her emails by her scintillating subject lines. I’m afraid her emails failed, but I learned or was reminded about:
- Leadership – She reminded me this morning, “walls are not fences, my friend.” The thing is we are not friends. She is part of the tribe called spam and my leader within says it is time to let her go.
- Personal Storytelling – It is so easy for us humans to make a connection about or with anything. So it is important to listen with presence and be aware of the connections I am making.
- Play – Playing around with Mel’s emails reminds me of the many ways there are to add a bit of play in my life and how useful and helpful it can be.
Perhaps Mel is like the character Little Red Riding Hood: asleep at the wheel?
What character does Mel remind you of?
– Mary
I celebrate typos typos here!
Edits:
- 1/1/2017 – edited for clarity, and removed and added an image.
- 5/31/22 – edited for clarity – yet again. Removed an image.
