The classic high school students’ experience (yes, the very same one we’re plodding through) consists of 10 hour workdays, all nighters, and AP exams. Although some may argue high school determines the rest of your life, I’m here to reel you back into reality and say high school is not your entire life.  In fact, it’s nothing but a small speck compared to the boundless adventures  that your future holds. So, stop paying it too much mind. What would happen if I told you that life was not meant to be taken so seriously? Well, that was exactly the case in Mehrans Steakhouse – which was fully booked for months in a matter of days.

Mehran, a worker in the tech industry, kept on receiving amazing feedback from his friends on how phenomenal his steak was. As a joke, Mehran and his friends decided to change their address on Google Maps to Mehran’s Steakhouse, even leaving 91 outstanding reviews. The gag continued further when the friends decided to play around and create a plausible website for their so-called restaurant (they even constructed a waiting list on it.) Eventually, the joke got out of hand; their online website somehow attracted attention, and soon people were interested in Mehrans fictional Steakhouse. Due to the reservations totaling up to a total of 900 people, they booked an event space and started brainstorming ways to make the place flourish, even for just one night, so much that it would remain in peoples’ memories no matter what. The rest was something not so serious: a joke came true. 

With the $114 four-course menu prepared, the completely inexperienced business owners went to work to make this night glisten. The unexperienced and unskilled cooks’ plethora of “what if” questions was met with the lazy yet sly remark of “I don’t know.” However daunting the task at hand seemed, Mehran and his friends made a point to joke through it.  They played to their strengths and made a month’s worth of profit in just one night by capitalizing off of their relatable and enticing aura. Although some research (such as trying out different steakhouses and jot down notes based on the service) was conducted, Mehran and friends mainly used their own creativity to fuel their steakhouse. We have all written countless essays, whether it be for English or APUSH. We have all spent hours pressing little buttons that transform into meaningless letters on a computer screen. The essence of an essay lies within the creative circuit of our own brain. Not only does it add a sense of personalism to the essay, but it channels the prompt and shows the audience a fluid and fresh perspective. Back in 7th grade, robotics club, I felt that it was an opportunity for me to showcase my inner creativity through legos and code. What I loved so much about the robotics club is that it was not about failing or succeeding. It was instead testing my problem solving ability, and the ability to channel that into the real world. Mehran uses his imagination to assemble a night filled with staged wedding proposals, life cycles (the menu was meant to follow the life cycle of a cow), and Drake (yes, he planted Drake posters outside so the people waiting in the ever-growing queue would believe that Drake was actually inside.) All these crazy marketing tactics from a worker not even in the industry led to a roaring success of something that, by all rights, was initially a harmless joke. I have been to at least 100 restaurants in the span of 15 years and have never seen any one of these unique tactics being used by actual professionals. When we decide to forego the systemic lifestyle of our ancestors, and “follow our dreams” (however corny it may sound) the possibilities are simply crazyAnd now we’re back. Back home, back to school, back to studying for APUSH. But now that we ARE back, we can realize that getting a 100 by sacrificing our mental health maybe, just possibly, is not worth it. Although the typical process for any students repeated by their parents is to work hard in school, get into a good college, and become a doctor, it is remarkable how there is more than one profession in the world – and they are yours to freely choose. I will repeat it again and again, life is not so serious. Now I will leave you with this: what’s the purpose of working consistently with only 3 hours of sleep if we can’t enjoy any of it in the end?