Have you ever considered what reactions your actions might cause? Have you ever considered the effects of a simple move by you? Have you ever done something that you considered worthy and noble only to have the outcome be a far cry from what you hoped it would be? Have you ever considered what really happens when you throw a stone into water? Have you ever considered the ripple effect?
The ripple effect is what happens when you throw a rock into a calm body of water. The ripples appear on the surface of the water, a few at first, they rapidly grow and spread providing outcomes that at first weren’t possible or considered. The simple action of throwing that one little stone has caused a great reaction. The tranquility of the water’s surface is disrupted. That same stone will also disturb the water’s floor this could cause sand and muck to rise into the body of water, causing what might have been a nice clear glass of water to become cloudy, and interrupted. So, by doing something as innocent as tossing a rock into water, you can cause a disturbance that you might not have thought possible.
A lot of things are subjected to the ripple effect. Gossip most certainly is, by the time it gets passed to the fourth or fifth person, it most certainly is twisted and disturbed. The fashion industry is a prime example of the ripple effect, given that they decide today what we will wear next year. Trends such as weather, music and clothing all follow the ripple effect.
But what about real life, how does the ripple effect exist in our lives? Well, I work in a restaurant that has a wait staff comprised solely of women. We come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are super –religious, others aren’t. Some of us are married. Some of us are parents. We’re mostly college educated on some level. Most of us are American born. Our ages range from 19 to 55. We are interested in different things, but some of us have things in common. Some of us don’t understand each other. And some of us wouldn’t be friends outside the job. All of us have worked together for over a year.
We are 10 women who work together to serve breakfast and lunch seven days a week between the hours of six a.m. until two-thirty p.m. We are a close-knit crew because we spend a lot of time together. It’s kind of like hanging out with a bunch of cousins and aunts. We share part of our lives with each other. I would assume that most people are close with some of their work colleagues. It’s hard to spend so much time with someone without being on good terms at the very least.
I wouldn’t say our working relationships are quite friendships, in some cases they are, but not always. In fact, this writer does not really associate with her co-workers outside of work. We do work close though, and protect each other. The reason for this is because we tip-pool, all the money goes into one pot and is divided up evenly. Some might find this idea appalling but it works because everyone helps each other out. This is our glue. The idea promotes teamwork, but sometimes it forces people who don’t see eye to eye to work together for a common goal. In some of our stores it’s a unifying trait that makes all the girls good friends. This really isn’t the case in our store.
Before I get to my point you must remember to think about what happens when you put a bunch of women together… There is going to be some mouth running, and some backstabbing. Gossip thrives in a feminine environment. When you throw a rock into our store, it causes a ripple that affects every employee.
The company policy, to be fair, is that every girl works a weekend day on the floor. We are allowed to get our weekend days covered if we need to but really, if you are scheduled to work, you are expected to work. Our rock, for this analogy, decided to take four weekends off in two months. Our rock started our ripple effect. First off, our rock had taken most of the previous semester off to graduate from college, a noble cause in all of our books. When she decided to put her career on hold she came in an insisted on getting full time hours from the boss. After getting the hours she wanted, then she started taking a lot of weekend time off.
The rock dived into the water.
On the weekends, there are four girls on the floor. On Rock’s day Brainy, Limey, and Punky work too. They started to get frustrated. Brainy needed time off to study. Limey wanted to see her child. And Punky had assignments to go on, but Rock had all ready taken the day off. Sweety always covers for Rock, taking Sweety away from her family.
Soon, the chitchat began between Brainy, Limey and Punky. She doesn’t need that time off, it’s not that important. It’s not fair; it’s a bad reason to take off work. Above all else, it was most certainly selfish of her to take all that time off and not sacrifice for her teammates, as they did for her when she was finishing up her degree. Chatting, the three left behind coworkers started to get angry. And face it, you put a bunch of frustrated women together, they’re going to gossip about it!
Slowly the ripples start to spread.
More ripples spread the following Monday morning when Rock shows up for work after all her weekends off. It starts with a “how was yesterday?” Followed by an “oh- my- gosh, let me tell you about my weekend. Do you want to see the pictures?” Punky gets on edge real easy. After having to work the weekends, without Rock there, the last thing the she wants to hear about is how Rock’s multiple weekends off were. She needed one of those weekends off and couldn’t get it. Limey and Brainy have been chirping in her ear about their irritations with Rock. And Punky has to open the restaurant on Monday morning.
The ripples keep spreading wider, disturbing a once calm surface
As the gossip continues to go between Limey, Brainy, and Punky, the frustration of the time off is getting the best of them. They learn the first time was for a family event, and the second time was an emergency. The third time was for a party and the last time was to see a loved one. Brainy felt that taking the day off for a party was ridiculous, and all the girls agreed that taking time off to see a loved one when they just left from being in town for a whole month wasn’t fair either. The gossip is getting more fueled by this time and Punky is getting really upset about it. Of course the other two girls are steadily feeding her stress.
The ripples continue to spread.
Punky is letting her emotions get the best of her. And it appears that the other two girls have elected her to go speak to Bossy about the problem. Her and Bossy have worked together for a long time. Sometimes the other employees seem to think that Punky has a way with Bossy because of their long time camaraderie, although that is not the case.
Bossy is forever trying to play devil’s advocate. So when Punky starts to tell her what she’s upset about, Bossy immediately starts to defend Rock. Punky recalls the early days of there working relationship, and recalls that Bossy has always been this way. Punky even feels that Bossy isn’t on her side, and doesn’t care what she thinks. She also feels that Bossy wasn’t interested in what Punky had to say. Punky didn’t get all of her frustrations out.
Rightfully so more ripples spread when Punky goes back to Brainy and Limey and tells them about her failed conversation with Bossy. This leads to more chitchat and gossip. Only this time, the three are fueled to find a solution. Ripples are going everywhere. How can we make Rock work more? Doesn’t she understand that she is ruining the flow of our weekend workdays? Plus, if we have to be there every weekend, shouldn’t she have to be there to?
Ripples are getting bigger. By this point, they are circling the entire body of water.
These ripples are phone calls. It’s amazing how fast news can travel via phone line. Punky calls Brainy, Limey and Hippy the weekend hostess. Brainy calls Limey and Bossy. Hippy calls Bossy too. There’s a good possibility that Limey called Bossy, and maybe even Rock. It’s possible that word got around to Sweety and Lovey too. This is a small ripple effect because this could cause problems between Punky and some of the other employees.
The ripples hit the waters edge.
Its Punky’s day off, and she’s out enjoying a beautiful day. Her red cell phone rings in her pocket. It’s Bossy. Punky doesn’t answer. Instead she chooses to call Bossy back later. Punky all ready knows what the call is about and she needs time to prepare herself for what is about to be said.
When Punky finally calls Bossy back she gets yelled at. Bossy is mad because there is gossiping going on amongst her coworkers involving Rock, and she’s not happy about it. Bossy was told that the gossiping and the plans for a solution started with Punky. Punky disagrees. She would have been fine had Brainy and Limey not been chirping in her ear. Bossy yells and says what she needs to say. She is in charge, if there is a problem come to her. Punky tells Bossy she felt like Bossy was taking sides and not listening to her true feelings. Punky also expresses why she feels it wasn’t fair for Rock to get so much time off without a word said to her.
Punky and Bossy exchange words in a language that they both can understand. By the end of their conversation, they are on better terms. Punky got to express all her frustrations to Bossy. Bossy got to do the same, and in the end, they met with a common resolution.
The ripples are starting to subside, and are almost completely gone.
Punky has to go back to work the following weekend. Rock is not there. Hippy, Brainy, Sweety and Limey are though. Punky’s hackles are raised because she got sold out to the boss and she has to work with the people who did that to her. Punky’s anger has subsided in the situation. Still, she no longer trusts the other weekend girls, and will probably never call or socially speak to any of her co-workers again. Punky feels that she was thrown under the bus so to speak by her coworkers, and that is not a position she wants to be in again.
The ripples are gone, the sea top has calmed.
Rock probably didn’t think that her taking that time off work would have such a strong reaction by the rest of the staff. This is a good analogy for the ripple effect because often times we don’t think about our actions before we do them. We hop into things and don’t care about the outcome or how it affects others. In this situation, the ripples spread and gave issue to almost ten people. It caused hurt, grief, anger, stress, and problems in an environment, which usually has none of those things. The ripple effect is a powerful argument for the way things work or for the functions of human nature.
So think about how ripples affect all aspects of life. If you throw a lighted cigarette into a forest, chances are the cherry will spark a fire; the fire will be small until it reaches an igniter, then it will spread. That one little cigarette butt can bring down a whole forest just because of the careless act of a human.
Saying something negative to or about someone can cause ripples in your relationship with that person for years to come. If you hurt someone’s feelings, chances are it will take them a while to forgive you. But do they forget? And do they really forgive? The ripple effect can affect all aspects of life. It can harm relationships, it can injure, it can scar.
The ripple effect can be positive too. It only takes one person to start a grassroots movement. It only takes one person having a good day to evoke good feelings in others. It only takes one person standing up for another to cause others to stand up for the same things. A smile can be passed on for days. Yawns are ripples too.
The ripple effect can have an interesting outcome as well. One day you might meet someone, who you meet again a year later. Someone who you spend a lot of times with while you’re with someone else, a 'someone else' whom you end up leaving. You meet someone over and over again in the year following. Then two and a half years you marry him. This is the ripple effect because the stone was the initial meeting, and the ripples where the further interactions between the two.
The ripple effect is a powerful thing. Often times, we don’t realize its strength until it’s too late. We never know the outcome of our throwing rocks into water. We never know how far our ripples spread. Sometimes, we feel justified with our toss, other times, the toss was worthless and a bad idea. Sometimes the tosses are good though, and the outcomes are well worth it.
Applying the ripple effect to everyday life could cause people to make better decisions. If you consider the eventual outcome of each decision before you make it, you might become more compassionate. If you knew that flicking a bird at a fellow driver could cause a chain of events with drastic outcomes, you might reconsider the motion.
However, if we always considered the outcome before we made an action, the ripple effect would cease to exist. If we always knew the outcome of a situation, and how it would affect everyone involved we would be more likely to make more rational decisions. Rational decisions have rational outcomes. These outcomes are unlikely to affect anyone because we make rational decisions for ourselves.
But most people don’t look before they leap, and that’s why we still experience the ripple effect. The outcomes of the effect are vast, varied, unique and unknown. It causes problems in our lives that we aren’t prepared for. It reaches out and touches more than one person. The ripple effect can be positive, negative or interesting. It can affect a restaurant full of women, an entire industry, trend, or life. We are lucky to have such effects in our lives, for they are what make life interesting.
