Gag It!
May 26, 2008
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Funny Gags to keep the unexpected alive!
Jody Urquhart
If you want to have more fun and literally save your sanity just and look for ways to be a bit offbeat and do the unexpected. Do something that makes no sense at all, that’s throws off people’s expectations (and puts them in the moment, which is stress free). Remember the key to any humor or practical joke is to establish your competency first. I suggest you try any of the below fun things with people you know well.
For those of you who take yourself seriously or are skeptical here is why doing the unexpected literally saves your sanity:
Doing the Unexpected, Silly and sometimes outright Ridiculous:
- Puts you and others in the present moment (which is stress free)
- It balances your perspective
- Literally forces you to lighten up and not take things so seriously
- Produces Humor which makes you laugh, which has hundreds of positive benefits
- Increases creativity
- Allows you to play as an adult
- Mixes work with pleasure
The unknown freaks a lot of people out (me included) so just be cautious especially in the beginning.
Give yourself permission to take a risk, do the semi ridiculous and see what happens. If you feel silly remember that’s the whole point, so lighten up!
Here is an exhaustive list of unexpected things you can do to create unexpected fun. Some of them are rather prank- like and some are just plain funny
- Make up a word… and keep throwing it in now and again and see what people do. Or finish every sentence with blah, blah, blah
- Write someone a note to meet you outside in 10 minutes but don’t sign the note
- Wear something weird on the weekend. Mini skirt and leg warmers, if you’re a man
- Go up to someone and say” I support you no matter what other people are saying”
- Page yourself over the intercom and recognize what a great job you have been doing
- Walk around in circles around your office –look very perplexed People will wonder what you are doing.
- Add items to someone's written reminder list (-i.e. buy condoms)
- Make noises when people walk by
- Stand really close to people, stare at them and walk away
- Stand really close to someone and say…Did you do anything in the last week you would like to confess to? Do you have anything to tell me? Are you sure?
- Put outrageous price tags on office equipment. (i.e. - $30,000 for a computer mouse)
- March up to someone and tell them they need to help you with something and say. “If we don’t get this done right away were both completely screwed”
- Say there is a new sexual harassment policy that says you’re not allowed to make eye contact at work
- When someone wins an award the next day send out a memo to say the award has been discontinued
- Go up to a complete stranger and ask if you can have your photo taken with them
- Get some water guns
- Get up, jog on the spot for 10 seconds and then sit down again.
- Go up to a cashier and tell them your dog told you bad things were going to happen today and they should be prepared
- Give away your place in line. In a long line at the grocery store, I was second in line, I looked to the last guy in line and said “Heah, come here… “He sheepishly walks over, I said “here you can have my place in line”, and I went and stood at the back of the line. He was speechless and so was everyone else. Just for Fun!
- Make a funny face
- Be unreasonable. When your spouse says lets go to Costco say, I can’t possibly go there until I get my hair highlighted. (It makes no sense and that’s the point).
- Stand up at your desk and spell your name with your hips- do it right now we dare you
- Fill a phone booth with people
- Take an invisible dog for a walk
- Talk only in famous catchphrases from movies.
- Verbally Abuse your office furniture
- Stand facing the corner at work until someone asks you why
- Yell to someone, “here catch…”and throw an invisible ball
- Run franticly down the hallway
- Cut out photos and paste them on Popsicle sticks and have a puppet show
- Fake an accent
- Laugh out loud for no reason
- Write your name in permanent marker on all your underwear
- Break into a friend's house and clean it
- Give names to your body parts
- Kiss your elbow, if you can.
- Lay a long straight line of masking tape on the floor. Now spin around really fast then try walking on the masking tape.
- Let helium balloons float to the roof and throw stuff at it to pop it
- When someone comes out of the bathroom ask them if they washed up
- When someone talks to you say I know you are but what am I?
- Repeat everything someone says
- Make random observational comments (“I love pastrami” OR “Dryer Lint tastes bad”)
- Run up to someone holding your throat and say I swallowed a paperclip
- As soon as someone starts talking to you start talking at the same time
- When talking on the phone, start pressing the buttons
- Write a memo to someone and use horble spelling
- Walk into work and announce “I don’t know where I am”
- Speak excruciating slow
- Walk into a restaurant and order something not on the menu
- Tape a post it note on your back saying funny things
- Wear 3 outfits all at the same time
- Make a trash can a basketball hoop
- Using heavy duty packing tape- tape someone to the wall
- Sit at your desk with your left arm sticking out until it goes numb
- Snap your fingers for no reason
- Make the most trivial or confusing complaint to a coworker.
- Talk in circles
- Keep saying… “Like I said” and says the same thing over again
- Turn on the T.V. put it on mute and make up dialogue
- Every so often pretend to trip on an 'invisible' wire
- Find some crutches and pretend to have a broken leg
- Ask someone what there goal in life is and laugh hysterically (make sure you know the person well)
- Collecting all bad news from newspapers and making a ritual campfire to burn
- Have a lemonade sale at work
- Greet someone with “Happy Tuesday” when it’s Thursday
- Get food all over your face at lunch and don’t wipe it off
- Leave copious amounts of jujubes with your tip at an upscale dining establishment
- Bring your old clothes to work and give them to people
- Make gingerbread men and decorate them so they look dangerous
- Name every item in your workspace an odd name
- In the cafeteria dare someone to eat Jello without utensils
- Wear a tiara to work
It's a good idea to obey all the rules when you're young just so you'll have the strength to break them when you're old.
-Mark Twain
Jody Urquhart is a professional speaker who for the last ten years has motivated and inspired professionals to use humor to change there lives. Please contact us to see how we can recognize and inspire professionals at your next event.
Call Center Morale Boosting Strategies
April 29, 2008
Morale is deceptively important in the running of an efficient call center. The reason it is deceptive is because while most bosses acknowledge the relationship between morale and productivity, few call center bosses are able to accurately pin down a decrease in productivity as being directly related to a lowered morale. The reason it is important is the same; namely that a higher morale means happier workers, which in turn leads to an overall increase in call center productivity.
What does it mean to have high productivity in a call center? Well for starters it means a higher level of customer focus, as call center agents with higher morale are going to sound more pleasant over the phone. It is human nature to unconsciously let feelings show through and in a job that involves a large amount of telephone conversation, it becomes easy to see how an unhappy worker can result in customer complaints and unnecessary headache further on down the road.
More than just customer focus, high morale in a specific worker can lead to that worker contributing to a more relaxed working environment, which in turn can have a positive morale effect on another worker. This worker then contributes to an even more relaxed working environment and so forth. Morale boosting can create a positive feedback cycle that benefits the whole staff of a call center, thereby making things easier for everyone involved.
So how can one increase the morale of their call center staff? The first step is in understanding what causes morale drops in the first place. Call center employment, as far as front line services go, is the ultimate emotional roller coaster ride. A worker can receive a compliment from one customer that makes them feel great and thirty seconds later be in tears from an angry client using harsh words against them. While it is impossible to avoid angry clients, attentive bosses can take steps that diminish the impact angry clients and other potential obstacles have on the morale of their staff.
The best morale boosters are ones that understand how humans work and think. Incentives are a good way to start; a bonus for achieving a milestone (such as working a certain number of hours without receiving a complaint) is something that will make a worker feel special, as well as let them know that their boss is looking after them directly.
Recognition is another important form of morale boosting that is frequently overlooked by call center administrators. Human nature is such that even a simple thank you can last a long time. Call center staff that have been working the phones a long time develop a confirmation bias that magnifies one type of call and diminishes another in their memory. If their bias is toward positive phone calls, then half the battle if done. If however it turns out to be toward negative phone calls, they will need help to keep their morale high.
And that is where recognition comes in. Finding a way to recognize workers on a regular basis for a job well done can really keep them in high spirits, allowing them to get through that next bad day with less effort than otherwise. Remember what I said above about the positive feedback high morale can generate? Recognition is a simple way to start that loop.
In conclusion, a good way to view call center morale is to think of it as a tool of the trade that is used to increase worker productivity. Call center administrators need to be savvy enough to realize the important relationship between worker morale and worker productivity. High morale is one of the most important aspects of a good call center and with it the sky is truly the limit to what workers can accomplish.
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Michael Russell Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell |
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