Are you infuriated by the fact that rich bankers get Washington bailouts and six-figure bonuses while you’re still scraping by? You are far from alone. Tim Hunkin, an English man who runs an arcade in Southwold, Suffolk realized there was a market for people who wanted to take out their frustration on capitalist pigs – so he created “Whack a Banker,” a game based on the popular “Whack a Mole,” where little heads of men in business suits pop out of holes, and you beat the hell out of them with a mallet. Hunkin, who charges a mere 40 pence per turn, is already raking in the cash.
”It’s proving very popular. I keep having to replace worn-out mallets.”
”And, of course, the bankers never really lose. If you win the game a banker’s voice says: ‘You win. We retire. Thank you very much to the taxpayer for paying our pensions’.”
I have got to schedule a trip out there.
Yeah, I didn’t think there was a positive way to deal with anger either. But the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (we love his desktop meditations, one of which you can find here) inspired one author’s interpretation of how to cope with anger.
1. STOP: Don’t react right away. Take some time to assess what is going on.
2. BREATHE: Deeply. Cooling down will make it easier to come up with a strategy that will succeed.
3. LOOK: At the matter from another point of view. What are all of the possible explanations for why this is happening?
4. ASK: “What response is most likely to be effective?” It probably won’t involve blowing your stack.
5. GET: Help if need be. The problem may be too big to handle alone. Help can even be in the form of some feedback from another person.
Try running through these steps the next time your boss says “I NEED IT NOW.” And let us know how it works for you.
