Some employees in China have come up with a unique way to beat stress. They watch green bananas turning ripe, while at work. How? Well, they are doing this in their offices, right at their workstations. They simply get green bananas still attached to their stems, and keep them in water-filled vases on their work desks.
They monitor these green bananas for about seven days, till they become ripe and turn yellow, ready to be consumed. Apparently, this exercise fills them with hope and offers them a welcome distraction from the burden of work. Watching these green bananas ripen under their constant care has a soothing effect on their mind and provides the burnt-out professionals a lot of satisfaction.
That isn’t all; the ripe bananas are shared among colleagues leading to better interaction and more conversations. This naturally results in stronger sense of camaraderie. In fact, some employees scribble the names of their colleagues on the skin, to indicate whom they have reserved the bananas for. This kind of personalisation is also improving work relationships.
The idea has become very popular with more people like the same on Xiaohongshu, the Chinese equivalent of Instagram. The trend is being referred to as ting zhi jiao lu in Mandarin, which literally means ‘stop banana green’, implying it is time to put a stop to anxiety.
Now green bananas still connected to their stem are being sold online for this very purpose. In fact, Taobao, part of the Alibaba Group, has reportedly already sold more than 20,000 bunches. People are also wondering whether this is a gimmick to give a boost to banana sales.
