How do you feel when you see this photo?

I get a rush of excitement…

So clever, and yet so obvious.

So clever BECAUSE it's so obvious... but whoever did this saw the mystery behind the obvious and showed us what was already there.

It reverses our expectations and yet gives us exactly what we want at the same time: a mystery which must be solved which then opens up a whole new world of mysteries to choose from.

From a customer service point of view, it adds interaction with the product. It engages us. It makes us wonder. 

It amuses. It arouses. It makes us want to know what happens next.

Just like a good mystery novel.

When you first saw this did you think it was the work of a staff member or a customer?

I love it either way.

If a customer did it, she loves books and playfulness and being surprised.

If a staff member did it, he values his customer's experience.  

We're curious creatures. We want to know how things work. And yet we often get offended when we don't like the answers we find. 

There is always more than one way to look at the same thing.

Where one person sees a collection of similar books, another sees a delicious trick and turns the ordinary into a game.

Could a customer find a problem with this? 

Well, this is the human race we're talking about.

There's always someone willing to bitch about even the tiniest inconvenience to their precious routine. 

Where one sees short term inconvenience for an individual, another sees long term freedom for a community.

Some people have tram-lined minds, hearts and lives. Don't you dare even put your hand on the lever which might switch them onto a different track.

I know because at different stages in my life, fear has blinkered, hobbled and tramlined my thinking and behavior too. 

Now what if I told you the customer who took this photo summoned the manager and got the responsible staff member publicly fired?

Would you be surprised?

Now what if I told you the photographer summoned the manager and got the staff member a public round of applause and a bonus?

Would you be surprised?

Life is a bookshelf of upside down and ass backwards mystery novels.

Let's not be surprised when it surprises us.