Why don't shoppers read their coupons? If you read the disclaimers on a random sampling of coupons from major department stores nationwide, you would notice that they say virtually the same thing, exclude virtually the same merchandise/brands and stipulate the same "cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer" verbiage. If you repeated this exercise using coupons that were five years old, you would discover that the excluded brands may have changed, but none of the other boilerplate copy has. Why, then, do shoppers continue to insist they should be given a discount for which they have never been eligible and, in doing so, make themselves unhappy, make the people in line behind them unhappy and make the sales associate unhappy. Answer? They don't read.
WHATaMESS-age #1: Reading is a stress-buster. Don't read the fine print on your insurance policy and you'll be stressed when you learn you aren't covered for that fallen tree. Skip the recipe and your dinner party will be talked about, but not in the way you hoped. Didn't get around to reading the instructions on the defibrillator? Well, you get the idea.
There are two schools of reading: the optional kind and the required kind. Optional reading is my stress-buster of choice. Much stress in the world can be eliminated if people would get their daily optional read. A literacy pyramid for mental nourishment is called for. WHATaMESS-enger will work on this.
PS: Email at work (required reading) may present opportunities for stress, but not reading it will make life worse.
WHATaMESS-ing of the day: Relax with a book tonight. Pick up one of your children's picture books. Harry Potter made it socially acceptable for adults to peruse children's literature.
