HICKORY -- Do you think you could go 21 days without complaining? The administrative employees of Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry are trying to do just that in an effort to increase feelings of support and teamwork in their workplace.

The group is participating in the Complaint Free World program, the brain-child of the Rev. Will Bowen, the lead minister at Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, Mo. Participants wear a purple bracelet imprinted with A Complaint Free World.org on one side and the word Spirit on the other.

The goal is to make it 21 days, the time studies have shown it takes to create a new habit, without complaining or gossiping. If someone complains, he or she must switch the bracelet to the other wrist and begin working toward their 21-day goal again.

It makes you aware of all the negative thoughts you have, said Executive Director Roger Baker. It 's amazing the number of negative thoughts you have in an hour.

The idea is to make a change in the atmosphere at the ministry, not that it 's bad now. However, as Baker points out, cooperative is part of the organization 's name.

A week into the program, the employees are finding the program challenging.

I knew when he (Baker) brought it up, I thought, ‘Uh-oh! What am I going to say? My conversations are going to be very minimal, ' said Health Care Center Coordinator Leann Shull with a laugh.

The employees are expected to follow the program at home as well as work. Shull said at home, with her children and husband, is a more difficult environment in which to watch her complaints.

Well, I have no problem when I 'm sleeping, she said.

Volunteer Coordinator Lillian Carte finds another place more difficult.

It 's hard to switch it (the bracelet) when you 're driving, she said with a smile.

The idea is to increase morale, team spirit and, in a what goes around, comes around spin, how people react to you.

Baker sums it up as the boomerang theory or the belief that what you throw out there, in large part, is what you get back.

Shull said her co-workers have already noticed a difference, although she has yet to make it through a whole day without switching her bracelet.

This thing should come with a warning - your wrist will become very raw! she laughs.

According to the Complaint Free World Web site, 5 million bracelets have been distributed in more than 80 countries.

April 12, 2026 2