Bling Your Badge

Many office workers have a badge of some sort that they are supposed to wear during the day.  Boring, right?  Why not "bling it out"?  There are lots of ways to wear your badge (unless it has been dictated to you to wear it a certain way - I know hospitals are strict since everyone, including patients, needs to be able to immediately identify a hospital employee vs. others).

Doing something other than the status quo with your badge is a great way to amuse yourself and a good way to interact with your co-workers.  Who knows - maybe you will find out you share interests  or an alma mater with someone you haven't really talked to before.  Let's explore some ways to bling out your badge:

• The standard badge clip.  Ick.  Noone likes these.  In my experience, these clips jab into your skin and also aren't kind to clothes either.  Stay away from these.
• Lanyards.  Most people don't like/wear lanyards but they can be fun.  You can use a lanyard to express your interest in something (your alma mater, favorite sports team, a charity you support).  You can also put other things on your lanyard if it's made of cloth (you can stick fun buttons or pins in it for example - like they do at Disney parks for pin trading).  There are tons of lanyards out there that are decorative (i.e. made of beads) and pretty.
• Retractable badge holders.  These are VERY useful and are my personal choice.  They usually have a metal belt clip that will slide onto your waistband, which is comfortable.  I have also seen these with a carabiner you can use to attach to a belt loop.  Since these are retractable, you don't have to remove the badge from your person in order to use it.  These badge holders come in different colors and I have seen some really cute ones (i.e. instead of the standard colored circle, there's a flower or a fun personalized button).
• Use a clear holder for your badge.  I have seen some of these that have some minor decoration that doesn't obstruct the actual badge.  An alternative is that you could create a fun border on the plastic that doesn't obstruct your badge.  Also, if you use one of these and have extra space around the badge, you could put pins into that extra space.  I use a plastic holder for my badge that does have some decoration on it, but I put the decorative part on the rear of the badge since it would have blocked my picture.
• Add a keychain.  Since I don't want to keep up with my office key, instead of attaching my badge to my badge holder, I attached a keychain.  I put my actual badge in a clear plastic holder that has a hole at the top which I slid onto the keychain along with my office key. 
• Add something else fun.  If you have room on your badge holder or if you added a keychain like I did, find something fun to add.  I happened to find a cute 1" plastic character that already was made to go onto a keychain, so that is next to my badge as well.  I have seen some cell phone charms that could easily be looped onto a keychain to bling up your badge.

Whatever you do, don't do anything to the badge itself.  I know putting a hole in some badges causes them to not work (i.e. they will no longer open doors or work on time clocks).

Find something that makes you smile and add it to your badge!  I'm surprised how often I get snapped out of a workday funk by looking down at my badge and seeing my tiny plastic Hello Kitty figure looking up at me.  I can't help but smile.

It's so easy...

For years after I started working (when I was first out of college), I felt like I was very guarded at work.  I felt like I couldn't reveal too much of my personality for fear of it being used against me somehow.  I also felt like I shouldn't make any friends with my coworkers; I felt like if I let someone that I work with in too close then it would come back to haunt me somehow.

I really shouldn't have worried about it so much.  Although there haven't been that many people I have wanted to stay in touch with long after employers have changed, I have made acquaintances (maybe even friends) with many co-workers over the years.

Having these relationships at work are very beneficial for many reasons.  Being able to talk to someone else in your situation at work is helpful to sort out issues or problems you might be having.  Seeing things from someone else's perspective is always helpful.  Also, having someone else to talk to is a great way to relieve stress.  You don't have to be venting about a problem to vent stress.  Just connecting with someone else and presumably getting away from your desk is a stress-reliever in itself.

Do you have any relationships like this in your current job?  If not, it's so easy to get started.  Is there anyone at work that you felt like you've gotten along really well with?  Do you find yourself talking to someone for more than just a few minutes in the break room?  There may be a good relationship hiding there.  If it's appropriate, ask that person if they'd like to grab lunch one day.  This is also helpful if you find yourself talking a little too long with them in their office (i.e. their boss sits next to them and they need to get back to work).