The Hump Day Humor-Gram
Good Deeds at Work Pay Off in Good Deeds!
Play it Forward? Research Says Good Deeds Are Good, Indeed!
Researchers from the University of California and Harvard
University found that kind acts really are contagious.
When a person receives a gift or favor, they are more likely
to be generous and pass along an even bigger gift to someone
else. The researchers found that one good act was often the
catalyst for three more good acts.
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
It’s St. Patrick’s Day so here are three simple ways you can
celebrate:
- Award a prize to the greenest employee or customer
- Hold a St. Patrick’s Day trivia quiz
- Award a prize for the best Irish accent
Got to http://www.wikihow.com/Celebrate-St.-Patrick%27s-Day
for more ideas and a fun video on how to celebrate in style.
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Quote of the Week
“The Irish treat a serious thing as a joke, and a joke as a
serious thing.” Sean O’Casey
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
In case you forgot, the Irish tradition of Kissing the
Blarney Stone is supposed to help you remove all your
shyness and give you the gift of the gab.
Happy hump day everyone. Keep laughing.
Stand up for the Economy?
Did You Hear the One About the Economist?
Yoram Bauman calls himself the “world’s only stand-up
economist.” Bauman has written a graphic novel, “The
Cartoon Introduction to Economics” and uses (gasp!) humor
to teach economic theory. Yes, this hilarious economist
(and you thought that was an oxymoron) can explain derivates
in a humorous way!
The lesson: if someone can make economic theory highly
entertaining then there’s no excuse NOT to make any of
your corporate messages a little more engaging, effective
and yes, even fun.
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Hold a Friday afternoon “team huddle” and review everyone’s
“plays of the week” and accomplishments of the week as a way
to end the week on a high note, build momentum for the
following week and remind folks that you probably
accomplished more than you realized. Or not.
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Quote of the Week
“The stone age didn’t end because they ran out of stones.”
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
Today is the “International Day of Awesomeness Day!”
Simply awesome.
Annoying Co-Workers are Really Annoying
It’s “Inconvenience Yourself” day, a day set aside to
remind ourselves how often we inadvertently do something
that is inconvenient for others (like when I recently
had a problem with a certain company, and to remedy
the situation they decided it would be best to make
everything as inconvenient as possible for me, just,
you know, as a way of saying sorry).
Speaking of which, a recent survey of Canadian and
American workers suggests employees are getting
increasingly bugged by annoying colleagues. Some of the
top annoying habits included, in descending order of
votes: gossip, messiness in communal work areas, potent
scents, loud conversations, overuse of electronic devices
in meetings, loud cell phone ringtones, leaving the
kitchen in a mess, eating overly stinky food, shouting
across the room and taking supplies without asking.
Wow. It’s like a jungle out there! I’m so glad I work
alone.
Seriously, here’s one very simple thing you can do to try
and put a dent in the annoying habits in your workplace:
Conduct your own survey and post the results everywhere
and send them to everyone. Often a little self-awareness
is all it takes for people to stop being so darned annoying.
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
As a fun way to remind everyone to stay humble and human,
and to remind everyone we were all just goofy kids at some
point (and yes, some of you, with luck, still are) create a
wall of pictures of your team when they were children.
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Deep Thought of the Week
“Best way to become an old dog is to stop doing new tricks.”
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
It’s also Tortilla Chip day, so please don’t inconvenience
anyone else by eating the last tortilla chip.
Creative Brainstorming – Are You Out of Your Mind?
Creative Brainstorming for Creativity at Work: Are You Out of Your Mind?
The Semco company, based in Brazil, has an official “Out of
Your Mind!” committee which meets to present “crazy” ideas
that don’t fit the agenda of a normal meeting. The guiding
principles of the committee are to present ideas based on
liberty, respect for others, the power of sharing, and the
sacred right of indolence. If other people DON’T respond
to your suggestion with a loud “You’re Out of Your mind!”
then the idea is considered too tame!
The committee has brought innovative programs to the
company with great success, such as the “Retire a little
bit” program, which allows employees to gradually cut back
on work and ease into retirement.
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Try out what P.J. Salvage of Irvine, California does
each day at 3:00 p.m. and add a little civility to your
workplace with a tea and scone break. If every day is a
bit much then try it once a week. Pinky sipping is a must. ============================================================
Deep Thought of the Week
“Best way to become an old dog is to stop doing new tricks.”
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
Some bloopers from job seekers’ resumes: “Dear sir or
madman,” “I’m attacking my resume for review,” “My
interests include cooking dogs and interesting people,”
and “I was responsible for dissatisfied customers.”
Copyright Michael Kerr, 2010, Humor at Work, www.humoratwork.com, www.humoratwork.tv
Manage Stress at Work with a Humor Flip Flop
Practice the Art of the Humor Flip Flop
A simple way to avoid feeling embarrassed and getting
stressed out during an awkward moment is to practice
pulling what I call a “humor flip-flop” – a quick mental
back flip if you will, that helps you reframe a stressful
event in a silly way. So, for example, if you trip in the
hallway, you can leap to your feet and confidently yell
out: “Wow! A 9.2 from the Hungarian judge. I’m off to the
Olympics everyone!” You can develop a repertoire of all
purpose flip flops as well, standard recovery lines much
in the same vein as comedians have ready when a joke bombs
or a heckler attacks. Lines such as, “Where’s my stunt
double when I really need them?”, “Is it tomorrow yet?”,
“I really didn’t order this”, or “It takes a very special
human being to do what I just did”, can all be used in any
number of situations. (and if you have any suggestions for
recovery lines, please pass them along and I’ll share
them with the gang.
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Collect company legends, amazing success stories and funny
tales on video tape for posterity. The videos can be used
in your training, in employee orientation, to kick off a
meeting, or played as part of a team celebration. It can
be a fun way to capture your organization’s spirit, keep
your history alive, and instill a sense of pride in your
people.
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Quote of the Week
“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old
because you stop laughing.”
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
This one just kills me: A British recruitment firm had an
ad rejected by a government job center because the ad
discriminated against people who “AREN’T reliable.” Yes,
their ad went too far by saying they were looking for
reliable people, because those poor unreliable people
would feel discriminated against! (Of course, if they
truly are unreliable, then you probably couldn’t even
count on them to mount an effective lawsuit anyways.)
Wow.
Humor in Ads and Fun at Work
Humor in Ads Shifts Behaviors Once Again
In an effort to keep wooing folks out of their cars and
onto public transit, L.A. Transit has resorted to using
the most effective weapon of all: humor. Ads featuring
“Miss Traffic” that tell transit users to wave and smile
at all the fuming drivers stuck in traffic, and a campaign
to select an official “Ms. Transit,” has helped increase
ridership by 29%, more than half the national average!
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Create an outrageous theme day or promotion for your
customers to not only add fun to their experience (and
yours),but to get free publicity for your company or cause
you are trying to support. For example: Mike Veeck, part
owner of the St. Paul Saints baseball team has generated
massive amounts of publicity with his wacky theme nights,
including a Tonya Harding night (where she dropped by to
sign baseball bats) and an “Enron-theme” night, where paper
shredders were placed at the entrance gates, the attendance
figures were “adjusted” and the players stats on the boards
were all wrong. They even changed the distances on the
outfield fence! And if your name was Arthur or Anderson,
you got in for free. Brilliantly funny AND effective.
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Quote of the Week
“When people laugh together they cease to be young and old,
teacher and pupils, worker and boss. They become a single
group of human beings.” W. Lee Grant
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
You’ve likely seen the footage by now: Some zoo chimps were
given a “monkey-proof” video camera to record their very
own documentary. The footage will air as part of a BBC news
report. Two thoughts. Shouldn’t a monkey-proof camera be
the standard for us higher primates as well? And secondly,
wow, does this ever explain some movies I’ve seen recently. =========================================
Copyright Michael Kerr, 2010 www.humoratwork.com
The SarcMarc: Best Communication Tool EVER!
The Best Communication Tool EVER!
I’ve spoken before about how the written word does not smile.
In other words, our written correspondence (a fancy phrase
for e-mail, because really, when was the last time you
“corresponded”?)sometimes gets misinterpreted when we use
humor. Because people can’t see the twinkle in your eyes,
they don’t always get that you’re trying to be funny.
Triply so for the use of sarcasm (which comes from a
Greek word meaning “to tear at flesh like a dog”).
But now, with the new “sarcmarc” emoticon, you can let
People know when you are being sarcastic! This is the BEST
invention ever! It only costs $1.99 to download, which I
did, and planned to show you, except it won’t work with
my e-zine mail list program. So now this is the biggest
communication blunder ever! Seriously. Because now you
can’t even tell if I’m being sarcastic or not!
Watch the goofy video and download the sarcmarc at:
http://tiny.cc/8iuO1 Your co-workers will thank-you.
(Once again, am I being sarcastic? Hmmmmm.)
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Employees of Jump Associates in San Mateo, California use
wire “voodoo doll” figurines with photos of employees
who work in other locations to remind themselves of the
bigger team. Every conference call they line up the dolls
to represent the people they are chatting with. (No word on
whether or not they stick needles into each other’s dolls,
but something like this is a simple, fun way put a face to
everyone in the company, especially when they are working
from afar.)
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Deep Thought of the Week (for “Mr. Safety Shoes”)
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in
their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a
mile away and you have their shoes.”
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
I hope you arrived at work on time today, because it’s
“Punch the Clock Day!” today! (Unless this means we are
supposed to physically beat up a clock?? That sounds mean.
And a little dangerous. Let’s go with the first meaning.)
Traits of Highly Creative People
AHA! Five Traits of People Who say AHA! a Lot
A study of 3,000 creative executives by Brigham Young
University suggests that if you want to be more creative
you should work on developing five skills that distinguish
highly creative people apart from not-so-creative types:
Rudeness Sucking the Fun Out of Meetings
Is Rudeness Sucking the Fun Out of Your Meetings?
Just thought I’d ask, because I’m noticing more and more rude
behavior in meetings. Even in my talks people in the front
row will talk on their cell phones or text message! Now it
could be that I’m just boring the socks off them, but I tend
to think it’s a matter of simple manners, or lack thereof.
Seems I’m not alone. An OfficeTeam survey found that:
- 66% of workers say it’s impolite to use a smart phone
during a meeting
- 48% say BlackBerrys should be banned from meetings
- 24% say Blackberrys should be checked at the door
What do you think? Go to www.humoratwork.com for our poll:
Should electronic devices be banned from meetings?
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Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Weave an unusual “word-of-the-day” into your next meeting in
order to win a prize from a co-worker. Two soap opera stars
from the Young and the Restless do this very game – where one
has to weave a word seamlessly into a scene to win a prize
(Okay, so I got bored in the checkout lane yesterday.)
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Quote of the Week
“If you give up having fun – you’re done!” Brenda Gooder
(Mike’s sister. And now she owes me ten bucks.)
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It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
Happy “Clean Off Your Desk Day” AND “Blame Someone Else Day.”
(So if you have a messy desk still at the end of today, I
guess you can blame someone else for it.)
Goal Setting and Workplace Motivation
1. Keeping Your Promises to Yourself
It’s that time of the year when we take out gym memberships,
fire up the theme from “Rocky,” and then turn on the T.V.
because there’s a 24-hour Three’s Company marathon playing.
Sadly, most New Year’s resolutions go in one year and out the
other. According to research by British professor Richard
Wiseman (and hey, he’s a wise man, so he most know of what he
speaks), people have been led astray by too many self-help books
that suggest all it takes is will power, dwelling on bad things
that will happen if you don’t achieve your goal, and fantasizing
about success. His studies have found that there is no SECRET
shortcut to success. Those people that successfully achieve their
resolutions do the following: they break the goal into smaller
steps; they reward themselves at each stage; they chart their
progress; they tell friends about what they were trying to
achieve; they remind themselves of the benefits of achieving
their goal. Sounds like a good recipe for workplace motivation
as well. Of course, I would also add the icing to the top of the
recipe: what’s fun, tends to get done!
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2. Mike’s Fun at Work Tip
Creating a team video is a great way to laugh and spark creativity.
So we’re launching a contest for a free Humor at Work workshop and
a Humor at Work office library. All you have to do is get your team
together and create a fun video, no more than one minute long,
showing why your workplace deserves or is in desperate need of a
humor in the workplace or inspiring workplaces workshop by one of Canada’s
most sought after speakers (that would be me). Send us
the link to where we can watch your video, and our esteemed panel
of judges will make the selection. The contest closes February
19th, and the winner will be announced March 1, 2010. For complete
details, follow the link: http://tiny.cc/0Iu6e
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3. Deep Thought of the Week
“My resolution is to stop procrastinating. I’m starting in early
February.” Anonymous
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4. It’s a Wacky, Wacky World
As seen on a sign at a tourist site: BOTTOMLESS PIT. 65 FEET DEEP.
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Copyright Michael Kerr, Humor at Work, 2010 www.humoratwork.com