The Hump Day Humor-Gram,  May 2, 2007        Issue Number 216 

SPECIAL HUMP DAY WARNING: Suppressing laughter in your office 
may cause excessive bloating, hardening of the attitudes and a 
desire to physically assault office furniture with a stapler.  
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1. Disarming Humor?            
2. Mike's Fun at Work Tip   
3. Deep Thought of the Week 
4. It's a Wacky, Wacky World 
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1. Disarming Humor?   

Here’s yet another darn good reason to play nice with ALL your 
customers, yes even those out to rob you blind. An FBI agent 
in the United States believes that excessive, good-humored 
friendliness often “freaks out” would-be robbers and causes
them to change their mind. The so-called “Safecatch” system 
has been taught to employees at 16 Washington State banks, 
and is credited with creating a substantial drop in the number 
of bank robberies in Seattle, Washington. And the good, 
non-robbing customers, well, they just think their getting 
amazing service by the most ridiculously friendly people 
they’ve ever met! 
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2. Mike's Fun at Work Tip 

Take a cue from American Idol mania and hold your own office
talent contest. Several companies have had great success holding
annual talent contests where every budding comedian, musician, 
magician, singer, dancer, ventriloquist, stupid human trick
person, strange noise-maker guy, or underwater juggler can 
shine in front of their office mates. OR, try a team talent
night, where teams compete for the wackiest production number.
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3. Deep Thought of the Week 

“I thought I made a mistake once, but it turns out I was wrong.”
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4. It's a Wacky, Wacky, World  

American neurologist Jack Panksepp and laughter expert Robert
Provine have gotten to the bottom of a ticklish matter. They 
have decided that the first primate joke (no, we’re not talking
about any of your co-workers here, but actual monkeys) was likely
the old, reliable “fake tickle.” So there’s your monkey business
trivia for the week. (And hey, if it works with monkeys, maybe 
it will work on your boss?) 

Happy Hump Day. Keep laughing. . . and watch out for the monkeys. 
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Copyright Michael Kerr, 2007. mike@mikekerr.com  www.mikekerr.com