Of Mystery Manila, Shake Shack and Making Manny Poor

Checked out Mystery Manila with the kids over the break and it's highly, highly recommended.  To the uninitiated, it's a "live escape room game" where a group of friends and family have 60 minutes to figure out clues in order to get out "alive" and win some minor prizes - shirts, pens, stickers.  It's fun, but, quite intellectually taxing.  

Actually, it would have been a much greater experience had our guide been more involved and not so bored.  I understand we'd probably been his umpteenth guests, but, still.....

As it was, we were scratching ourselves trying to figure some of the things he was saying.  It'd seemed he'd lost the raison d'etre for the whole enterprise:  To have fun. 

I'd dare imagine if it had been run by Disney or Chili's, instead.  

Or, a company called Shake Shack.  Shake Shack is a wildly successful burger joint that is going public in a few and one factor in its phenomenal growth (from $21 Million in sales 2010 to $140M in three years) has been its model of paying higher than the average to its employees.  Their filing with the SEC stated that doing so attracts "...higher caliber employee(s) and this translates directly to better guest service." 

Making Manny Poor  

Along that line, we've a game here at home we've come to call "Make Manny Poor."  "Manny" is Manny Pangilininan - all around rich guy and who's responsible for our water, electricity and phone - and the formula is this:  We've set our general electric consumption at P5,500.00 a month and water at P1,000.00.

Should we hit less than those amounts, the kids get 80% and the helpers 20% of the difference.   

We've been at it for five months and is it successful?  Mildly, I would think.  The lights still do get left on and showers taken a little longer than necessary, but, there's a slight improvement in the bills I've noticed.  I suppose in the long run kids will finally figure out the value they gain in this exercise.  

There is, after all, some value I think when all stakeholders involved in an organization are made to feel important.  The least, I think, would be great customer service. 

Written January 4, 2015