8 am, my alarm rang. I woke up immediately because I knew this day would be exciting. How would the people in Mannheim react, if I ran around in a Freddie Mercury costume? Would they laugh at me, stare at me or ask me why I was doing this? Either way, I was looking forward to it. I couldn’t wait to see people’s reactions and I was hoping to get as much support as possible so I could help The Mercury Phoenix Trust. My main goal: to attract interest and attention so that many people would contribute by giving little donations. When I grabbed the costume from my chair, put it on and looked in the mirror, I had to laugh. “This is going to be a fun day”, I thought.
As I’m a student, I work in a café part-time. I talked to my boss a few days before to see if he could give me the day off. Instead of giving me a day off, he said “You know what Christian? Why don’t you come in anyway and work for 2 hours – in your costume? This way you can attract a lot of attention and awareness of our regular customers. They are going to love the idea of “Freddie For A Day” and I’m sure they are all going to be very supportive!” What a great idea!
So I started my day the way I’m used to. I walked through the park like I always do when I go to work. Also, I stopped by the little street-bakery shop I always get my morning brezel from. The sales lady smiled at me when I told her why I was dressed like Freddie Mercury. “That is such a good idea”, she said. And I had already found the first donator. I became very motivated and moved on though the streets of Mannheim. I went straight to work. My boss was already highly anticipating my arrival. It seems like he was at least as excited as I was. We put a little donation box on the counter and the reactions of our customers were amazing!! Some of our customers wanted to take a photo with me and also donated 1 Euro for every photo. Is there an easier way to have fun, make people laugh and to contribute to the Mercury Phoenix Trust at the same time? It felt great knowing that with just a little commitment and some of my time, I was doing something good.
After work, I went to various locations in Mannheim so that I could get the attention of many different people. I went into the universities’ library, a café, I went shopping and also on the street tram. People’s reactions were terrific and supportive, about 30 people donated in exchange for a picture with me. I almost felt like a Celebrity!
When I went back home, it was already 6 pm. I can’t believe how fast the day had gone past. All together, I raised 213 Euro for The Mercury Phoenix Trust. It feels great, I had so much fun! “Freddie For A Day” is such a good project. I would do it again anytime!
Christian Bethge,
Mannheim