IKEA Live-in Wrap up

[Tons0fun]

Hey guys, sorry this has taken so long... Holidays and all.

Last Saturday, November 22, a group of 30 some odd FMA member met outside the IKEA in Round Rock, TX for our chapters first IKEA Live-in, which I was leading. Inspired of course by many, many other live-ins. In true Austin fashion though we made it our own.

At our pre-mission meeting locale, J.C Penny's parking lot, we were approached by marketers for a newly opened frozen yogurt shop and we all received coupons for a free treat. Bingo: mission report location! It was decided by the wet behind the ears leader that since we only had 30 or so people that we would try doing it all in one or two rooms in order to have a good impact.

Finally as the clock struck 3:15 pm we started filtering in the store and set up shop in a room that included a kitchen, dinette, and living room. People began "cooking", playing poker (with chips and all), and setting up for the boardgame night. Unfortunately this was broken up after about fifteen minutes or so.

Luckily they did not tell us to leave but just that we couldn't all congregate in one room. Taking inspiration from Agent Bumblebeepirate (who had been quietly performing yoga in the room next door) and Carmen & Stephanie who were knitting and writing a letter down the ways from the first room, we all nonchalantly split up and found our own rooms to live in. There we stayed undisturbed by employees for the following 20 minutes of the mission.

It was a great mission guys. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves, I know I did. Now I would like to hear your thoughts and experiences about this mission. Give us the highlights. Please, please, if you have pictures, share them.

[Netteee]

This mission was great, and I am no longer an Urban Prankster virgin!! Woo-hoo! =D

My favorite part of the experience was when I was working on one of those fake computers at a desk, doing some data entry, obviously, when a guy came up to me and asked, jokingly if he could use the computer when I was done! Then he asked, "Okay, seriously, what are you guys doing? Do you work here?" I answered that I was merely trying to get this data entered real quick and would he please hold for a minute while I typed up my report. He laughed, shook his head, and walked off. Awesome.

Thanks for putting this together. I'll see you at the meeting on Sautrday. :-)

[Agent Lost]

my first mission. super fun. there's nothing like hearing a person say "oh yeah, the chair that's right by the girl doing yoga" as if it was a totally natural thing to say in IKEA. It was fun to just sit and play games, using the space.

A tasty and unexpected surprise was that during our pre-mission meeting a girl came and gave us all free soft serves with two toppings at the soft serve place right next door. Delicious post-mission wrap-up.

[Agent Filkins]

last saturday's mission was incredible! i had a total blast and was happy with our evolution in definition of mission success. my highlights:

.my prop was an older corded telephone. i also brought a game of twister for the 2 rooms we were initially in as a group.

.after we split up into mini groups, i sat down at an office table with an IKEA keyboard and monitor, pulled out my phone and proceeded to settle in. agent adams happened to be following me and chose a studio across the hall from me, creating an instant boss-receptionist situation. i took some calls, asked her to resend some faxes (from the machine in her studio, of course) and sent some e-mails.

.my favorite passers by were not the ikea employees, who were very friendly, but the shoppers. especially the kids, who would stare at me as i was typing away at a blank screen with full confidence.

.i really got a kick out of the following interaction, which occurred right behind my shoulder:
shopper: "hey, um, do you guys like, pay people to live here?"
employee: "no sir, we do not"
shopper: "oh. well, i saw some people back there in rooms and they were just, like, LIVING in there, can they do that?"
employee: "not for very much longer, sir"

.on our exit walk we saw agnet smith's sister sarah snuggled up in a bed, with her prob, a box a trix cereal, munching away. i pointed to her and said, loudly "oh my gosh, what the heck is that girl doing in that bed eating CEREAL?" and agent adams agreed it was "no kidding, weird!". i asked some ladies about it who were sitting on a bed nearby, and they seemed engaged with it and started laughing to eachother. so good!

thanks for the report, agent tons0fun, way to go!