Applause machine in Switzerland: Praise for everyone in the old phone booth

A good deed every day – but nobody notices? In a Swiss village there is help for everyone who longs for recognition: a “well done” machine in an old telephone booth.

The village of Mettauertal in the Swiss canton of Aargau is promoting its very special telephone booth in a YouTube video. The now useless cabin was converted into something very useful two years ago: a “well done” machine. The principle is simple: if no one else has noticed what you’ve done great – the “well done” machine is guaranteed to give an appreciative pat on the back.

The idea came from mayor Peter Weber. He has always liked to honor benefactors or performers with a nice saying: “‘Now put yourself under the shoulder-patting machine’ – that’s the saying that I’ve had on it for many years,” he says. “And at some point someone asked: ‘Where is that, where is it?'”

And there it is now next to a bus stop in Mettauertal. Because Weber quickly convinced his local council of the idea, the praise machine was financed through crowdfunding.

A list of good deeds

The appreciative pat on the back happens virtually. The pay phone was replaced by a touch screen. “It’s a big screen, you press it, then it says: ‘Hello, what have you been doing?'” Weber explains. “And then you can either write something in or you even have a list available. You brought someone flowers or went shopping for someone, whatever – there is a list that you can read out.”

And as soon as the computer has recorded the good deed, applause comes via video.

The friendly applause machine has been around since 2019, but until recently it was hardly noticed beyond the village limits. But this fall, the German media in particular discovered the Swiss shoulder tapping machine – “Südkurier”, “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the dpa news agency – all of them suddenly celebrated Peter’s brilliant idea.

“A very important topic for our society”

It is quite possible that right now, at the beginning of the next harsh Corona winter, the longing for good news and people’s need for recognition is particularly great. Everyone should just get a lot more praise, Weber also believes:

I think our society would do well to just say a little more: ‘Hey, you did that well!’ We are always very quick to be criticized that one obviously prefers to criticize rather than praise. And I personally think that this is a very important topic for our society – especially now in the times we are in at the moment.

That’s the way it is. And that’s why you can’t praise Peter Weber and the Mettauertaler enough for their shoulder tapping machine.