Re: Levity in the workplace

[Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET>]

>Is there anyone remaining on this list who still sits in his/her cubicle
>and turns out work; doesn't play nerfball in the workplace; understands
>that familiarity (in the bar after work) breeds contempt; spends a full
>eight hours working?
I've worked in both environments, and the nerfball environment is more
creative and fun. I get as much work done in either. I think the
adrenal of having fun helps the work move along faster. It also makes
it easier to get information out of people if you have a good
relationship established. You don't have to drink with them to
establish a good relationship.

In the most creative work environment I worked in (which produced
several million dollar products), we on occasion were known to play
elaborate jokes on one another. Some highlights:
- Tell new employees to carry a jar of highly
flammable-don't-shake-it-cuz-it's-explosive liquid to the back of the
shop (about a 1/4 mile walk). They'd get the employee to wear a shop
coat, gloves, and safety glasses. The shop guys would make loads of
racket during the walk. (They even got the company photographer to get
a picture.) When the employee got to the other end, someone would open
up the jar and throw a lit cigarette in the water in the jar.
-Fill people's cushioned chairs with water so they'd get soaking wet
when they sat down (usually reserved for birthdays)
- Ran plastic pipe through the ceiling with a hypodermic needle in the
end and drip water slowly onto someone's head.
- Remove the speaker from the phone.
-Tape down the thingy on the phone that means you've picked it up
(this isn't as much fun with the advent of speaker phones).
-Tape a row of zener diodes to the underside of a desk and run 120 V
through them when you sat down.

This same department is now falling to pieces, people are leaving, and
"it's just not fun." We just went to a going away party for another
employee. They haven't had a big product release in years. Some of the
loss of fun is people getting older and having more time pressures,
but some is from increasingly invasive management and bad
decision-making. The job is a drudge, and the products are a drudge,
too.

I prefer my work environment fun.

YMMV, 

Barb

Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
******

 I dwell in Possibility --
 A fairer House than Prose --
 More numerous of Windows --
 Superior -- for Doors --

 Of Chambers as the Cedars --
 Impregnable of Eye --
 And for an Everlasting Roof 
 The Gambrels of the Sky --

 Of Visitors -- the fairest --
 For Occupation -- This --
 The spreading wide my narrow Hands 
 To gather Paradise --

   --Emily Dickinson

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