Oliver Widder. Used with permission, CC 2.0 Germany.
I take humor very seriously.
That's not to say I don't use it. I use it all over the place. Too much, maybe. But I try to use it strategically. It's a tool. It's for eradicating stress, nullifying hostility, and breaking logjam. It's for revealing possibilities and inspiring creativity.
It's good for a laugh.
Granted, there are appropriate times to be careful not to use humor. Nobody likes a joker at a funeral. The presence of a charismatic leader who's more serious than you is probably a good indicator that it's time to keep the Tom Swifties in the bag. And humor is hell on translating technical documents.
That being said, if I err (even on technical documents), I err on the side David Pogue recommended. We need more humor. Life is uninteresting and sterile enough. Laugh a little, dammit!
C'mon, seriously. I'm not joking.
Questions
How have you used humor in your office?
Can you share a time it helped? Or one that it didn't?
How have you used humor in your office?
Can you share a time it helped? Or one that it didn't?
See David Pogue's "A Product Manual Actually Worth Reading".
Note comments on "Humor Deficiency Syndrome" near the end. They're funny.
Note comments on "Humor Deficiency Syndrome" near the end. They're funny.
Logging you in...
TheNewMe410 · 779 weeks ago
Also, those that overuse humor really annoy me because I can never get a straight answer from them (my brother comes to mind.) As in everything, MODERATION is the key, along with common sense : )
TheNewMe410 · 779 weeks ago
Bev. Cooke · 779 weeks ago
I say this as someone who generally doesn't use humour as much as she should, by the way.
Using humour at work: yep. I've had it used at me and I've used it. I've seen it used effectively and I've seen it backfire. When it worked - our office (front desk at a small hotel) is going through major changes - both physical and procedural. We're moving from a paper based reservation system to a computer based reservation system. It's hard, especially since we're also physically rearranging the front desk office at the same time. I don't deal well with change of any kind. So to have to cope with both is really hard on me. The first day on shift after the office rearrangement, I couldn't find anything (I was on evening shift by myself, which meant nobody to ask.) And said so. Loudly and at great length. Without humour. Next time I came in, they'd rearranged some more, and one of the clerks pointed out that it was purely to annoy me. And that they'd keep rearranging every time I had a shift, just to bug me and they were taking bets as to when I'd blow up completely and go postal. It was a tease, and it was in fun, and it did defuse my frustration at having to cope with more change - and gently pointed up that I needed to back off some amount. We laughed about it and I'm coping less loudly. Or trying to.
When it didn't - during the training session on the new procedure. One of the clerks was making what she thought were funny comments while the manager was trying to instruct us in how to use the new computer system. It was distracting, frustrating and derailing the subject. She was trying to lighten the atmosphere, which was pretty tense, but it was backfiring because the tension was too high and wasn't being addressed directly. The tension was not being caused by the agenda in the meeting, it was coming from the way the manager was conducting the meeting, so the comments didn't help because it wasn't targeting the source of the tension, it was simply off topic, random remarks about whatever the manager was saying about the agenda topic.
jskogerboe 35p · 779 weeks ago
Katherine Rowland · 779 weeks ago
Katherine · 779 weeks ago
Or the time I made up another version of a kids' song because my lesson plans ran short.
Or the time I got dressed especially nice and then, as my first act of the new school day, poured my coffee down my shirt.
We've all been there. I like to think that my stories make me "everywoman." I'm a mom, I'm a daughter, I'm a wife, I'm an employee. I don't always know when my humor is working and when it's not, though I'd say some people don't always get that I'm being funny...and some people think that I can be funny at the drop of a hat. But I do know that this year I was told, "You're like a storybook character. I always feel like ANYTHING could happen around you." I'm going to take that as a positive sign.
Kelly Combs · 779 weeks ago
But humor, oh yeah. I started my women's retreat talk with 2 jokes, and it was great. (But I was worried about telling me joke, then hearing the crickets).
patriciazell 73p · 779 weeks ago