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May 12, 2005

Food (and bed) for thought

One of the things our agency is known for, among the people who have visited our office, is the fact we have M&Ms everywhere. Bowls of M&Ms greet you as you walk in, while more bowls are distributed around the conference rooms and public areas of the office. Clients love it; students who come to visit love it even more. I think the UPS guy partakes as well.

Mandms_1

The story behind them -- and guys, correct me if I'm wrong -- comes from the early days of the agency, back in a time when advertising walked uphill both ways in the snow. One of the founders, upon reading that sugar makes the brain function better, started distributing candy around the office. Eventually M&Ms proved themselves quite popular, and ever since then we've had endless supplies of the candy that melts in our mouth (but not in your hand) around.

The question of whether the sugar helps our brains work better is answered every day in the halls of SHS. And that's why I'm wondering if, in the quest to make the agency employees more and more creative every day, and in light of the recent finding that subject studies solved problems better while lying down, the managing partners will let us expense a day bed or a hammock.

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Comments

@#*& those M&M's. They have singlehandedly added at least 10 pounds to my frame since I started working there.

I just read a study that seems to explain my problem with eating them. The researcher had two groups of people. One group had to memorize a 7-digit number. The other group, a 2-digit number. Then both groups were offered the choice of a bowl of fruit or a piece of cake. The group with the 7-digit number overwhelmingly chose the piece of cake. Why? Because the impulse control part of their brain was otherwise occupied with memorizing the number. They couldn't help it. So, since I'm the numbers geek, my brain just can't turn down the giant, bottomless bowl of M&M's. Makes sense to me.

The good news, however, is that I am much more creative when my body is full of sugar and fat. Just ask me next time I have cupcakes for breakfast.

The truth is that the candy is an everlasting tribute to the "Sullivan" of Sullivan Higdon & Sink. A warm, fun-loving soul who never, ever went to meeting with a bag of these candies. He is one of the reasons our mission statement has the following phase: "Having fun will always be a business goal."

As long as the company exists, so will the endless bowls.

HA! So I finally found the Americans which I can bug about helping me in getting some dark chocolate m6m's? :o))))

There's a great Simpsons episode that explores this very issue..

Here's the dialogue between Homer and his new boss, Hank Scorpio:
At work, Homer's wearing his Tom Landry hat and coaching his team, but they're quite exhausted from the work he's asking from them. From experience, Homer knows that fatigue requires only one solution: hammocks. He goes straight to his "boss".

Hank: Uh, hi, Homer. What can I do for you?
Homer: Sir, I need to know where I can get some business hammocks.
Hank: Hammocks? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Hammocks! Homer, there's four places. There's the Hammock Hut, that's on third.
Homer: Uh-huh.
Hank: There's Hammocks-R-Us, that's on third too. You got Put-Your-Butt-There?
Homer: Mm-Hmm.
Hank: That's on third. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot... Matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; it's the hammock complex on third.
Homer: Oh, the hammock district.
Hank: That's right.

Credit to the exhaustive SNPP archives

Now that's what I call lateral thinking!

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