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Having fun! 1

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chiph

Programmer
Jun 9, 1999
9,878
US
A coworker and I had an epiphany today.

I'm celebrating a birthday this weekend (so many candles, so little cake), and a couple of close friends sent a "gorilla gram" to me at work today. Totally embarrasing, being serenaded by a guy in a gorilla suit holding a handful of pink ballons ... but lots of fun.

Well, we realized that that was something which had been missing from the office since the departure of our previous CTO, and the layoffs that happened earlier this year. What we needed was something potentially embarrasing, but fun.

For example: Last summer, most of the programmers bought little "micro bikes" and were riding them around the cubicles. And since many of us are very competitive, it ended up in a lunchtime race being held in the nearby courtyard. So here we are, riding these itty-bitty bikes, half-falling off, with "race numbers" pinned to the back of our shirts like "3/4", "-1", and "38100" (an infamous error code at the company), while all these folks in suits stood around and laughed with us at our antics (well, probably *at* us, but it didn't matter).

So, we're working on a development group outing to the state fair in a few weeks. We'll go ride some rides, play the rigged games, eat food that's really bad for us (and some that isn't, like the Emu burger), ride some more rides, and probably get ill. Should be great fun!

So, if your people have the blues, go do something fun with them. It'll improve morale and productivity.

Chip H.


If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first
 
Chip

If you can have fun and still make money you have it made. As you spend 33% (or more) of your life at work, you should have fun with it.

BR
 
How sad that there's only 1 reply to "having fun" and about 55 to "how not to motivate your staff"!
Read Richard Feynman. Fun <> lack of productivity (but it's hard to convince people).
Years ago one of my colleagues converted a huge cardboard box (really huge) into a plinth cage (he was utterly convinced a plinth was a sort of marsupial), complete with a sign &quot;please do not feed the plinth&quot; and a lot of paper shreddings as bedding. Fortunately no one ever seemed to mind.
 
If you want to attract the best programmers to your company, you need to make it a place that they'll enjoy hanging around it. Doesn't always mean that you need foosball tables or big-screen TVs, but just that it's a pleasant place to work at.

Which would you rather have: Decor from the 70's with harsh flourescent lighting with tiny cubicles? Or clean, attractive looking offices that have monitor-friendly lighting?

Chip H.


If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first
 
Inspired by a recent world record, we set about finding the office champion for eating m&ms - with chopsticks.

Big bowl of m&ms, a couple of sets of chopsticks and a stopwatch was all we needed to keep ourselves amused. It's amazing to see how such a simply bit of silliness can lift the mood dramatically for weeks.

*For the record: 53 in 3 minutes.

[sub]Never be afraid to share your dreams with the world.
There's nothing the world loves more than the taste of really sweet dreams.
[/sub]
 
The best we did a few years ago was dress up the office as a haunted house. Complete with dry ice, spooky music, hangman, chopped finger cookies, & strbes. The president was so impressed he got his kids school to visit!

BR
 
dwarfthrower -

That sounds like quite a challenge! I'm OK with chopsticks, with the exception of small mushrooms -- they're just too slick to grab!

One question - peanut or plain?
;-)

Chip H.


If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first
 
I had this one happen to me a couple weeks ago. I had overslept for the first time in my professional carrer. I couldn't believe it. The way I was awakened was by my boss calling to see where I was. I apologized like crazy and got ready and made my way to work. When I finally got to work I was expecting a long speech on &quot;how important it is to get to work on time&quot;. I made my way to my cubicle only to find duct tape over the opening with a sign that read &quot;Vacancy&quot;. I took the tape off only to find my cubicle filled with shreded paper. That's when I heard the first giggle. It was my boss who was the ring-leader of this whole thing. It's nice to see that everyone had chipped in a little time and effort. With a red face I cleaned up my cube (FYI, you can get shreded paper in the darndest places). I was told that it was not a big deal. I had worked at this place for over 3 years and had never been late. Let's just not make a habit of it.
I thought that was a great idea. Granted, everyone was having fun at a coworkers expense, mine, but I really don't mind. They DO know that should they ever be late, I will become the bane of their existance.
Just thought I'd share.
 
mnpnut...
Paper in the cubical... I'm guessing this wasn't a paperless office.

I remember one year the church group I was in (way back when I was 13; 9 years ago :)) toilet papered houses for kids birthday. I'll admit I was the master at it, planning, gathering, and executing the prank. Everyone knew my birthday was coming up and I knew they were going to try and get me and I did NOT want to have to clean that mess. So I went about a few days before I turned 14 and set up sprinklers everywhere and waited. Night after night I'd wait for them. Then never came so I gave up. About 2 weeks later my friends mom had me mow her lawn one sunday. While I was over there my friend and everyone else I had papered went over, got my parents to let me in and they filled my entire room floor to ceiling with cumpled up news paper.
The rollings stopped after that as I had to repaint my room, hand curtins back up. I didn't get sleep for a day and a half b/c I was cleaning. I found news paper buried in my closet when I moved out at age 18, and am still found some just last month that had ended up in my box spring.

Scott Heath
AIM: orange7288
 
chiph - Original, plain m&ms... I think the guy that got the world record a few weeks ago got almost 200 in the three minute time frame.

[sub]Never be afraid to share your dreams with the world.
There's nothing the world loves more than the taste of really sweet dreams.
[/sub]
 
Fun things we do at work:

1) Nerf wars.
2) Kidnap stuffed animals from offices/cubicles (complete with mailed ransom notes -- we want chewy sweet tarts -- and threatening voicemails).
3) Make grilled cheese sandwiches en masse for lunch (tomato soup, too)
4) Make prize-fight posters between employees (I take the ID photos, so it's easy to do)
5) Make ID cards for stuffed animals (the Aflac Duck's ID was a big hit; as was the Kung Fu Hamster's)
6) Chili cookoff (coming this Winter)
7) More Nerf wars. (Especially during our busy season -- Christmas/winter)

Who says non-profit work's no fun?

Don
 
Wow, this sounds like fun. I work at a college helpdesk so there's only like one or two people around at a time. Is there a way we could pull something funny off? I'm usually the most serious person here so I'm having a hard time thinking of something I can do.
 
mpnut...

Late for work? That's a way to not have fun. Fortunately, my manager doesn't care when we come in...as long as the work gets done in time. I mean, we're professionals, but we do have a life outside of our cubicles, and he understands that.
 
Im fortunate, they try to have fun here all the time. On the president's birthday, they took a picture of his face and had it made into a mask, for the WHOLE company. When he arrived we were all wearing his face.
 
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