Subiamawesomeliminal

Gary McKinnon faces no charges after hacking into US defence sites including NASA. Whilst he was scurrying around simply on the hunt for evidence of UFOs, he left a couple of messages commenting on the site's 'crap' security. One of the team for Brighton's Christmas Lights set-up left arrangements that, if looked at from a certain angle, reveal an 'I hate my job' message and a couple of perhaps inappropriate images. Toying with authority seems to be a temptation for some.

Sailing through life often alone means I get to observe how others interact not only with each other but with their surroundings. In bank queues on busy shopping days, I was aware of impatient people desperate to get their finances sorted so they could get on with their lives. In a stroke of genius, one carefree day I used the back of a deposit slip and one of the legendary little pens to leave a note in the queue to encourage a little more patience. I can't remember what it said but it had a smiley face and was enough to make at least one person laugh, I recall.

It's a human instinct to find faces in random arrangements of shapes, making cloud-watching sometimes entertaining. To find an intended anomaly, however, is far more satisfying. Like finding a photo-bomb or spotting the King of Time (3:13). When I watched Brighton's Christmas Lights video I thought it was hilarious when the reveal was made, particularly with the 'I hate my job' message. I should point out that I sincerely hope whoever did that actually has some joy in their life and that they can see the reaction of the world in contentment that they made a lot of people laugh. You go, random Brightonian.

Of course, marketing used to side with subliminal messages that flashed up for a millisecond to attack the subconscious of the consumer during TV ad breaks. With that being illegal, hidden messages are a lot less hidden. Disney are known for years of including things that cannot be unseen which I'll allow Google to enlighten you about if you're really that interested. If used in a light-hearted way that brings subtle mirth into the world, manipulating authority in whatever position you have is a brilliant way of injecting delayed fun on a daily basis.

Yesterday at work my piece of fun was knowing that I might have helped the increase of sales for one of our hot winter drinks with a shot of rum in it. Here's how I did it, in a long-winded explanation: We have feedback cards that we try to encourage customers to use so we can improve the business and provide more opportunities for customers. On those cards is a white strip in which our managers suggest we write our names, if the customer wishes to make a comment about our service. Having read these cards, however, I thought this makes absolutely no sense. I've had customers ask me why my name is written on there or who Vici is. Room for improvement in the methodology, then! As I'm now a pretty dedicated bartender, I don't offer the same service that the waitresses do. With a shorter period of time when I have direct contact with the customer, it's harder for me to push the cards. Instead, I've been writing notes on the white strip and leaving them on the bar. One of them was 'Spiced cider and Sailor Jerry's? Yes!'. This one was left in a prime position where most traffic comes through. Apparently it works. Subiamawesomeliminal!

Another version of a hidden message that cracks up myself and my housemates is brought to us by the wonder of Tivo. Pausing the TV to see a still of someone's face in an unexpected scrunch is apparently a joke that will never die. Seriously, try it. Slow motion talking can also bring about excellent results. For guaranteed hilarity, try any advert with Davina McCall, Fearne Cotton or Holly Willoughby. Pure gold.

Edit: I've been reliably informed that Brighton's lights were a hoax. Still would've been brilliant.