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Subject:Re: Levity in the workplace From:Lynn Gold <figmo -at- RAHUL -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 18 Jun 1997 16:10:48 -0700
My ways of "having fun in the workplace" involve doing slightly silly stuff
with my work rather than intense games of nerf-whatever (some environments
aren't condusive to that kind of thing).
For example, I have a "magic wand" that lights up at the tip when you touch
it the right way. I've been known to go into meetings, wave my magic wand
when talking about producing documentation, and just at the right moment in
my presentation, touch the wand the right way to make the tip light up.
Another time I was meeting with a group of developers who were all late
with their input. I belligerently exclaimed, "I'm about to put the hammer
down," whipped out a "trick" hammer I'd set up in my atache case, and
slammed the soft plastic thing on the table, and it made a loud "crashing"
sound from its battery-powered speaker.
At another employer, an engineering manager wanted a copy of a manual. I
asked if he'd "like that gift-wrapped." He said, "Sure!", so I got some
cheap wrapping paper, made a "bow" from the outside wrapper of reams of
laser printer paper, and left it on his chair -- gift-wrapped!
Another writer I knew used to use flash paper at times when handing stuff
off to developers. She'd say, "this is hot off the press," hand the book
to the developer, and simultaneously use the flash paper to produce a quick
flame and a brief puff of smoke to "emphasize" this.
A related form of professional "fun" I've come across is the insertion of
"Easter eggs" in documents. One colleague of mine proudly brought a book
to dinner he'd just finished that had about as many Easter eggs in it as
pieces of information.
--Lynn Gold "net.fogey" figmo -at- rahul -dot- net,
Senior Technical Writer, TCSI (weekdays) or lgold -at- tcsi -dot- com
News Anchor, KLIV & KARA News (weekends)
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