Sunday, April 5, 2009

How About a Little Sense of Humor!

Hi Psycho Donuts friends (and a few foes). Psycho Donuts has been open for exactly 35 days. It has been a whirlwind journey for us, and one of the most amazing life experiences. In this short time, we have managed to accomplish some insane feats. The buzz about Psycho Donuts has been building organically on the street and also on the web, and we're pleased to be an innovative, creative enviroment, adding to the colorful scene evolving in Downtown Campbell. We are not a nameless corporation stamping out cookie cutter stores - we're just a couple of guys who have self-funded a mom and pop donut shop, with creativity and originality in mind.

The name 'Psycho Donuts' came from the simple fact that our donuts are a little crazy - well, compared to any ordinary donut shop. We actually tested a 'sushi donut' back in the early days. And while that donut never made it into our display case, we knew we were up to some crazy stuff. We were also well aware that our economy has been a little insane (that's an understatement). So we consulted the thesaraus for the word 'crazy,' and 'Psycho' seemed to sum it up well. And that's the short version of the story, and how we came to create the clean, family friendly, and fun environment that is Psycho Donuts.

It's a shame that there are a handful of folks out there (most of whom have never stepped foot inside Psycho Donuts, no less California) who do not have a sense of humor. Follow me here - if our donuts are crazy, does that make us insensitive to the mental health community? Is El Pollo Loco insensitive to Crazy Chickens? Was Patsy Cline being hurtful when she wrote the song Crazy? Is it insensitive to call a donut bipolar? We might be insulting the flour inside of that very sensitive donut, but let's agree on one thing: donuts are not people; and the names of our donuts do not correspond to any opinion or pre-conceived notion about people.

To those who are spending countless hours building an intricate strategy against us, we have a simple solution -- go buy your donuts elsewhere. Or if you don't like donuts, go spend your time on the bigger problems in the world. North Korea is testing their Nuclear muscle; our economy is at the brink of disaster. Go find a donut shop you like, or focus your concerns on something other than two guys trying to sell donuts. But irregardless -- the crowds of people who have a sense of humor will keep coming, and these are our customers. We're glad that this represents the majority of society, even if their voices are not as loud as the individuals who are so easily ruffled. Our wonderful customers include families, schools, religious organizations, sports teams, college clubs and fraternities, the arts community, mental health organizations, and yes, even people with their own mental health challenges. People come in and openly tell us about their own stories of life with bipolar disorder; they even order a bipolar donut with their voice turning to laughter as they place their order.

In this day and age, all of us are a little crazy. 25% of Americans have some clinical form of mental health challenge - and our take is that the rest of us just haven't been clinically diagnosed yet! . We might make light of the topic in our store, but we aim to be a positive contributor to positive mental health. Psycho Donuts is a testament to the human condition, and a place where we can all accept our individual faults. If people can leave our store with a smile on their face, then we've done our part contributing to people's positive mental health.

Is it possible to imagine a place where everyone's faults are accepted, and where we can all laugh at the stress in modern life - which in many cases contributes to people's current mental condition? Is it possible that a little smile and laughter at Psycho Donuts can contribute to the cause in a positive way? If those who disapprove of us would seek to understand what we're about, maybe they'd understand why the other 99.9% of the community are such big fans. Everyone is welcome to their opinion, it's a free country. That freedom also extends to speech and expression.

But hey, what do we know? We're just a couple of Psychos...!