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We dedicate this page as a memorial to a very special woman. She was a delight and honor to know. Her irreverent ideas will, at least, give you a chuckle. But don't dismiss these so quickly! Marianna was in great demand by Fortune 500 firms for her ability to train people through humor. She sustained herself for years against cancer with her wonderful attitude and energy. Clearly, you need to have coworkers with a sense of humor to get away with some of these. They might even border on the Politically Incorrect. Some might be unsafe in your workplace, or alienate customers; but maybe it's only your own perspective that stops you from seeing an opportunity for more fun and less stress at work. If you can establish a culture or environment where people can enjoy each other and their work, you'll find that productivity, motivation, teamwork and positive attitudes prevail! Try one of these ideas each week. Your customers might enjoy doing business with you more, and tell others about you. You could be known as a great person to work with! Invent your own ideas... and tell us about them! 1. Sing your complaints to your boss. 2. Wear Groucho Marx glasses and/or a funny nose (e.g.: clown or animal nose) to a serious staff meeting, or just to liven up the day. 3. Celebrate anything you can think of -- birthdays, holidays, being grandparents, an employee's first day on the job, Christmas in July, Secretaries Day... make up holidays! Give crazy awards or rent a limousine and let an employee feel like king or queen for the day. 4. Write with funny animal pens or vegetable pens whenever possible. 5. Give at least one compliment a day. In fact, give a standing ovation to someone who needs a boost. 6. Be as outrageous as possible on "dress-down" day. Wear crazy shirts. In fact, why not trade jobs, clothes, or offices with someone for an hour? 7. Use positive words (e.g.: "I'd be happy to..." or "I'd like to..." instead of "I have to..."). Stop complaining and being negative, or reliving your soap opera. Fine anyone who is negative $1 and donate the money to charity, or start a "fun fund." 8. Have a laugh break instead of a coffee break, and read or play something fun. 9. Have contests and get everyone involved (e.g.: bubble gum blowing, snowman building, messiest desk, weirdest lunch box, hula-hoop contest). 10. When there's a leak in the ceiling in the office, place a bucket on the floor with goldfish in it. 11. On the way to work, surprise and delight the people in the car behind you by paying their toll at the tollbooth. Smile, wave and act like you know them, or drive away quickly and keep them guessing all day. Or give the money to the toll collector to pay for his next toll. 12. Go to a Chinese restaurant and put your own fortune into your coworker's fortune cookie: "Confucius says you will be well advised to pick up the tab for this meal." Or simply add the phrase "in bed" or "the bed" at the end of the fortune you pick. (e.g.: "Confucius says, your troubles will be all over -- in bed.") 13. Play hide-and-go-seek at lunch and, if your boss can't find you, you can take the rest of the day off. 14. Slice carrots and put in in a goldfish tank. Grab one and stuff it in your mouth. Pretend you're eating a goldfish! Watch your coworker's reactions. 15. Bring in games, jigsaw puzzles, brain teasers, and toys to perk up the day. Have a treasure hunt. 16. On elevators, smile and introduce people to each other. Try this even when you don't know them. Act weird and talk funny. Face the wrong way. 17. Look for the humor around you that tickles your funny bone (stories, people, real life anecdotes) and share them with coworkers. Find at least seven humorous things each day. Keep score! 18. Juggle eggs that have been hard-boiled or had their contents blown out. 19. Plan an American Bandstand day and have one person dress up like Dick Clark. Why not have an Elvis lip-synching contest, too? 20. Meet a client or a friend at an airport dressed as a nun or a priest and carry an outrageous book, like "How To Hold Up A Bank." 21. Have fun on the phone -- answer the phone with an unusual accent or a cartoon character voice. 22. Carry a stuffed animal everywhere you go, and put it on your desk or the reception desk. 23. Put a humorous bumper sticker on a friend's or coworker's car, or put a cardboard skeleton at his/her desk, hunched over their computer keyboard. 24. Play a practical joke on someone (e.g.: put a real-looking rubber leg or arm coming out of someone's desk; put a whoopee cushion on a coworker's chair). 25. Create a laugh book where everyone contributes a cartoon, funny story, riddle, joke, or clipping from a book or magazine. 26. Adorn the office with flowers. Have a bouquet that someone keeps for an hour, then passes along to the next person. 27. Send a funny fax to brighten someone's day ("Be outrageous. It's the only place that's not crowded"). Send a letter with glitter in it. 28. Learn to juggle or do magic tricks and amuse your coworkers. 29. Paint a bar of soap thoroughly with several coats of shellac, so that it doesn't get wet, and hence won't lather. Leave it out in the lavatory, for your coworkers. 30. Spend your lunch hour in a toy store, and buy toys for yourself and people in your department. 31. Call up your local pizza parlor and send your boss seven pizzas. 32. Make funny faces into a hand mirror on your desk when you are stressed out. 33. Each day, secretly replace someone's plant with a smaller version of the same plant -- this will drive them crazy. Then on the last day, shrink the plant to a tiny seedling by leaving a packet of seeds in place of the plant. 34. Celebrate the beginning, middle and end of each day with music. 35. Keep funny photos of yourself and photos of fun times in your desk drawer, so you can peek at them during stressful times. 36. Buy a laugh track and play it in the office when it gets too serious! 37. Take photos of people laughing in the office and put them up on the bulletin board. Write humorous captions under each photo. 38. Write funny horoscopes for your boss and coworkers. 39. Fill a cupboard with Ping-Pong balls, so that the next person who opens it is hit with a tidal wave. Have your camera ready to record the victim as he/she opens the cupboard. 40. Do something different on a daily basis -- drink out of a different cup, take a different route to work, walk backwards. Be outrageous at least once a day and it will be contagious. "Be outrageous; it's the only place that's not crowded." 41. Have a baby picture contest with employees, trying to link the picture with the employee. 42. Have a "giggle buddy" who makes you giggle when you're stressed out. 43. Smuggle real barnyard animals into the office and watch the faces of your coworkers. 44. Spend your lunch hour reading funny greeting cards, stories, etc. to your work mates. 45. See how many people can roll their tongues, or other odd tricks. Pass out awards. 46. The average four-year-old laughs 400 times a day. If you're waiting for a reason to laugh, you probably won't. Smile and laugh more every day. 47. Dress up for Halloween (or other holidays!) and pass out awards for the best costume. Turn the office into a Haunted House. 48. Every day, do something kind, spontaneous, and anonymous for someone. Write notes, buy gifts, clean the snow off someone's car, or put money in someone's meter. 49. Bring food treats to share: something truly special or unusual that others would like. (chocolate truffles, ice cream, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, sushi, miniature candy bars, foreign sodas) 50. Bring noisemakers (kazoos, harmonicas, cymbals, etc.) and have an amateur band parade around the office at the end of the day. 51. Buy an unusual phone (a Mickey Mouse or Snoopy phone) to use at the office. Or get Mickey watches for everyone. 52. Surprise coworkers who eat yogurt with fruit: create vegetable yogurt! Cut the carton open at the bottom, fill with cut vegetables, then reseal with candle wax. 53. Hang silly signs, posters, and humorous quotes around the office and in the lavatories. 54. Uncork a pleasant fragrance. Research shows that pleasant smells put employees in a better mood, which, in turn, seems to increase their willingness to negotiate and cooperate with others. Natural essences (vanilla, lemon, peppermint, floral, in an oil) are preferable to synthetic air fresheners. They may also be better received than incense. 55. Have an impromptu party, for no reason at all! (Tickle your coworker's ear with the sort of party favor that uncurls and stretches out when you blow into it.) 56. Have a "kid" corner, where anyone can be a child again. Include Mad magazines, coloring books and crayons, comic books, yo-yos, magic tricks, pickup sticks, and Play-doh. 57. Smile at three people you don't know, each day at lunch. Invite new and unusual people to come to lunch with your coworkers, just to see how it changes the mood. 58. Have everyone go to a fast food spot for lunch. Have them all wear silly hats and sing songs. 59. Play with your food while having lunch with your coworkers. 60. Leave money where someone can find it and make his/her day! 61. Have a bubble gum blowing contest. Play with your gum. 62. Bring funny stickers, buttons, cards, Post-It Notes and coffee mugs to work. (My favorite is "Driven by a strong play ethic!") 63. Toss raisins (cereal, etc.) into the air and catch them in your mouth. Have a contest: toss them into each other's mouths and keep score. 64. On a windy day, fly a kite from your office. 65. Find out everyone's childhood nickname, and call each other by those names. If someone doesn't have a nickname, make one up for them. 66. Bring balloon bouquets to the office, to brighten things up. 67. Bring out the kid in you whenever you can. Find a snapshot of you as a child, when you were having fun (the sillier the better), and put it up where you work. If you can't find such a childhood photo, a recent one will do: go find a good photo op! 68. Paint each other's faces like children at a fair. 69. Read passages to each other from a funny novel or joke book. 70. Create a library of funny books and videos. Watch videos at lunch together. 71. Take photos from anywhere (your own, or from magazines) and post them with humorous captions. 72. During the holidays, dress in Santa garb and go out caroling together. (This has become a popular activity with members of our local Chamber of Commerce.) 73. Arrange for a singing telegram. 74. Take breaks at a local playground. Swing, slide, ride the merry-go-round. Hug a tree when you leave. 75. Set up a "Grouch Patrol". Anyone caught being grumpy is fined $5, and that goes into an office fun pool. 76. Put gold stars on people's foreheads for a job well done. 77. At the end of the work day, start a tradition of howling, laughing loudly, wiggle maniacally, or other foolishness to mark another day completed. 78. When a project gets completed, a big sale made, or other success, get everyone involved in celebrating: ring a bell, run laps around the office, do victory dances to a favorite song, and generally cheer the accomplishment. 79. Get everyone involved in a public activity, in a lighthearted way. In San Francisco each May, the "Bay to Breakers" run features people dressed in the most outlandish costumes, running across town. Many of these are "centipedes", made up of a team of people wearing one large costume. If your area doesn't have an outlet for such public silliness, create one! Charity events can also be a place to do this. 80. Put fun sound effects or celebrity voices on your voice mail. Everyone's bored with "I can't answer the phone now. Please leave a message." Duh! Like no one could figure that out? 81. Rather than commiserate with others about bad stuff, find ways to create levity and pleasure for everyone while you pursue your goals and handle unpleasant tasks. 82. Be silly. Be willing to be embarrassed. Laugh at yourself. Be more spontaneous. 83. Program your computers to make odd sounds to chime the hour, alert people to mis-keying, etc. 84. Rather than a Friday afternoon beer bust, have a BBQ and roast marshmallows, tell campfire stories, and set off fireworks. 85. For each holiday, have someone dress as a holiday character (New Year's baby, Cupid, Easter bunny) and pass out holiday goodies. 86. For a coworker's birthday, invite everyone to a wake. Have them dress in black and have a tombstone cake. 87. Share your laughter with others. Humor is like love: the more you give away, the more you will get in return. It will come back to you if you pass it on. 88. Insert a joke in each person's pay envelope. 89. Wear a funny hat to a meeting. 90. Staple a tissue to a bad news memo. 91. Pass odd notes to coworkers. ("Act normal. The police are watching.") 92. Have everyone write down their name, address, phone, birthday, favorite sport, favorite snack, etc., on a piece of paper. Have people draw these from a hat. Anonymously surprise your secret buddy with gifts, notes, good deeds, acknowledgments, etc. Wait a couple of months before revealing your identities to each other. 93. Invent an imaginary employee, and whenever anyone in the office gets an obnoxious "junk" solicitation phone call, tell them all such matters are dealt with by "Guilie Lead". Unfortunately, "Miss Lead" is always out of the office or occupied, so she'll have to get back to them. You might even create a dummy voice mail to route the person to. 94. Start Mondays mornings with short tunes or sound effects: a trumpet charge, a funeral dirge, Dolly Parton's "9 to 5".... 95. Count your blessings and greet each day as a gift to be unwrapped. Tell us the ideas you have for lightening things up where you work!
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POBox 9635