TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Levity in the workplace From:Bill Bledsoe <bill -dot- bledsoe -at- CMS-STL -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 13 Jun 1997 12:24:44 -0500
Paul Branchaud wrote:
>
> All this talk about people not having enough time for their outside
> interests, needing vacations, being unhappy in their workplace, and other
> unpleasant stress-inducers has me wondering what people do to lighten the
> mood and prevent them from "going postal".
>
> I have been blessed to date, working with other writers who have a
> wonderful sense of humor and are able to make the best of a tough
> situation. I think it might be interesting to find out what others do to
> alieviate their daily pressures.
>
> Among my favorite pranks/mood lighteners was to "booby trap" my
> supervisor's chair: He had one of those seats with a "pneumatic" piston
> for comfort. I bought one of those greeting cards that "sing", removed the
> speaker and mini circuit board and placed them into the main "tube" of the
> chair's piston, so that when he sat down, it would trigger the music. It
> was hard to keep a straight face, when he sat down and music started
> emanating from his chair. :)
>
> Other classics were to "test" the attention span of the people doing our
> technical edits. One or two pages would be filled with random words,
> arranged to look like proper sentences. The funniest was a 20 page manual
> formatted with the Corel "kids" font that came back with edits, but no
> mention of the crayon-like font.
>
> How do you make your job fun?
Well... for one thing... we have an internal news group that we post all
of those... "internet jokes" we get from external sources... Thereby
limiting our email intake... and maximizing our "joke coverage." (That
sounds like something Kramer would dream up doesn't it???)
cheers,
--
****************************************************
Bill Bledsoe
Senior Technical Writer - CMS
Bill -dot- Bledsoe -at- cms-stl -dot- com or intlidox -at- anet-stl -dot- com
"I'm out on a limb where the fun begins"
Adrian Belew/The Bears
****************************************************
If Bill Said it, Bill said it... Not CMS. Got it?
****************************************************
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html