Can I help?

Before I came to New York, I was 100% sure that nothing could affect my personality, not even the toughest environment ever. I would normally feel a lack of touch but as soon as I was back to Brazil I would start hugging everybody I knew and suddenly it would all be normal again.

But in the real life, that’s not exactly what happened, and I just noticed that some months ago: I was crossing a street, completely late to my internship, when I saw a blind woman trying to find her way. I don’t even like to say it, but I kept walking after that. It took me one second to realize that I was wrong and turn back to help her, but she had already gotten some help. However, couldn’t stop thinking about it and asking myself why my first reaction wasn’t to immediately help that woman.

I can’t bring that moment back again, but I definitely can change for my future decisions. So, in order to redeem myself, I wrote in a white t-shirt “Can I help you?” and went around the city offering help to random people, like moms with their baby’s carts having to climb stairs and older people with groceries.

This intervention was performed by Daphne Levitzchi. We were at Times Square and wanted to show the importance of politeness and decided to try Holding Doors for strangers, smile often and offer Balloons. This was an issue already discussed though the graph “How to pass through a door” and we wanted to test if a performance would have a better result.

The plan was simple: stand in front of the door of high entrance place and hold the door for people while wishing them a great day. The way we would consider it successful would be if people reacted to us in a positive way. Once again, we wanted to track smiles. For the people who were leaving the store was harder to notice what we were doing, because we could be just trying to enter, but those who were entering the stores and saw us standing there and smiling seamed much more grateful and amused by the fact we were just there holding doors for them. They also wished us a great day.