Monty Python Officeland

One of my former bosses said working with me was like being in a Monty Python movie... My current boss says we get along like a house on fire. With references like these how can I lose?

It's not that I'm funny, because I'm not, but I find a lot of things funny. Both of these positions were in the busiest offices I have ever worked in, but when the going gets tough, humour seems to abound!

Humour is a powerful stress reliever if done in good taste, but timing is everything. I think because I am over 50 I am not afraid what people think as much as I did when I was younger. I actually have fun at work, but I work hard and consider myself a professional. Really?

Even though I don't consider myself funny, funny things seem to happen to me. For instance, I went to the gym after work on a Friday evening, worked out and went back to the office to get my purse. I always take my gym laundry home on Friday to wash over the weekend so on Monday morning I was madly trying to find them while trying to get out the door on time. Did I not bring them home? Where were they? I left for work thinking perhaps I had left it in my gym bag at work. When I walked into the office and got to my desk, there they were -- on my desk with my bra sitting right on top of the bundle. Ugh!

Since I got in at 9 and my boss was in an hour before me, I knew he had probably seen it already so decided to suck it up and just go in and ask him. In between spurts of laughter, he said that he hadn't been to my desk yet, but I should go and see the junior lawyer because he had asked him to put a letter on my desk earlier. I left his office to the sound of his chuckles behind me. What a start to a Monday morning...

Proofing documents can also be funny. My former boss prided himself on being self sufficient and liked to type his own letters. I thought it was wonderful until I read one. He relied totally on spell check so you can imagine what typos were missed. He was a lawyer and in this particular letter he was writing to a prospective client. He wrote in one sentence that he had "expensive experience" instead of "extensive" and in another wrote "tits" instead of "its." Good thing I checked... I wonder what kind of service the client would have thought he was offering???

While walking from the bus stop to my office building one morning, I noticed a woman in front of me with a coat hanger on the back of her coat. It was hooked to her belt loop. She obviously didn't realize it was there, but I was wondering to myself how she could have sat on the bus and not noticed. I thought somebody ought to tell her, so I caught up to her and it turned out to be someone from my own office. She thought I was joking, but to humour me she reached back and with a look of surprise and dismay slowly brought out the metal coat hanger. It was a fun way to start the day and when the people at the office got wind of the story, we had a great time laughing with her about it.

When I was working as a hairdresser, I noticed one of the other hairdressers going to the counter to greet a customer. I was expecting my next customer so I knew it could be him. After taking his name and asking him to have a seat, my co-worker called out to me, "Pat, your John is here." You could have heard a pin drop as all the customers turned to look at me.

You see, working can be fun. Happy working everyone!