I first heard about AwesomenessReminders.com about a month ago and assumed it would garner 10 followers. Then it would land on obscure marketing websites, listed as one of the silliest ideas ever.
But I was wrong about one thing: It now has more than 1,000 subscribers. And at about $20 a month (the site offers several rather confusing payment plans), it seems to be a viable business—of sorts, anyway.
Let me back up for a minute: For a small fee, you or someone who loves you can hire a person to call you daily and tell you how awesome you are. But don’t take my word for it. Listen to the two sample phone calls on their site.
Surely this is a gag I thought. And it is, in part. Also from their website:
Q: No, seriously, is this a joke?
A: Yes and no. It’s a real service but we take ourselves lightly. As Buddha says, ‘Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.’ Happiness never decreases by being shared.
They do have a point, I suppose. To share happiness and encouragement doesn’t cost the encourager anything. And in this case, sharing the “love” might actually even put a roof over the site creators’ heads and food on their tables. But I still can’t help but think that, joke or not, paying a perfect stranger hard-earned cash for utterly superficial praise—for yourself or for others—is less funny than it is confusing. Maybe even sad.
Whatever happened to real friends daily encouraging one another?
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