An Introvert Steps Outside His Comfort Zone

Friday mood—or an introvert stepping outside his comfort zone…

In May 2022, my wife and I went to Club Med Cancun for a couple of weeks to celebrate my birthday. By complete chance, we ran into Harrison Dabbs, whom we had befriended in the Turks and Caicos Islands during our enforced isolation in March 2020. Back then, he was in charge of all the sports activities. By the time we met again, he had become the resort’s assistant manager. And when the manager went on holiday a little later, Harrison was left in charge of the whole resort.

I have written before about how Club Med resorts put on a show every evening, with members of staff as the main performers. One of the most energetic is Music Hits, which I jokingly call “Back to the Eighties”. The idea is to choose 20 or 25 well-known songs and turn them into a medley, while the staff dress up and humorously mime along as instantly recognisable bands.

As it happened, Music Hits was scheduled for the evening of my birthday. I asked Harrison for a birthday present: permission to take part in the show. He thought about it for all of five seconds and said he could see no problem with that. I was given a running order with my entrances marked on it (see the photo). My role was to play the guitarist in various rock bands.

Before the show, I found a leather jacket in the wardrobe that I could actually squeeze into. I was handed a plywood guitar. I picked the first wig I saw from a box full of them and ran out on stage.

The audience realised I was a guest just like them and cheered me on with applause and shouts. For my part, I tried not merely to stand there holding the guitar, but to put on a bit of a performance.

For my final entrance, I decided to change wigs, but in the rush I put the new one on backwards. At first, I was rather surprised by its exceptionally long fringe. Then I decided to turn it into part of the act: I pretended I could not see a thing, kept bumping into people and objects, and at one point acted as though I had forgotten where the audience was. With my back to them, I tried to engage with the screen instead.

When everyone came out for the final bow, Harrison pulled me into the centre of the stage, explained why I was taking part in the show and wished me a happy birthday once again.

I have never received an ovation like that, before or since!

P.S. Before we left, Harrison laminated the running order showing all my entrances and gave it to me as a keepsake.

P.P.S. A year later, Harrison and I celebrated my birthday together again, this time at another Club Med resort. I will write a separate post about that one day—unless people on LinkedIn pelt me with rotten tomatoes for posting too much off-topic material…