Humor Appreciation: Taking It to The Next Level

I sipped my coffee and listened to my friend vent about her company’s merger. “I was so stressed out about the new changes being implemented at work,” Susan explained while rolling her eyes. “Then someone said something silly and I just lost it.  I laughed and laughed until I was limp as a dishrag.  Nothing had changed, but I just felt better for having laughed!”

It’s becoming accepted knowledge that positive benefits can be acquired from appreciating humor and laughter. Psychologist Michele Newman supported previous studies that found humor has a buffering effect and reduces the negative effects of stress. This study extended previous findings by demonstrating that humor is beneficial even for people who do not typically choose to use it to cope with stress. This finding was consistent with the belief that the ability to use humor to cope can be acquired rather than being a fixed, unchangeable trait.”

“Humor appreciation involves responding to humor produced by others or being a good audience,” reports Newman. “On the other hand, humor production involves thinking of things on your own to amuse yourself or others.” When using humor as a coping mechanism, one cannot always count on being able to find an external reason to be amused.  “Of the two, humor production is the more portable skill,” says Newman and adds, “From the standpoint of coping, it seems to me to be less important whether you can amuse other people than whether you can amuse yourself.”

Through my years of studying humor and laughter, I’ve observed three basic levels of humor appreciation:

Passive humor appreciation: At this most basic level, we appreciate humor that happens vicariously: A coworker says something funny, we observe a child’s comical action or expression, or we experience some absurdity that happens by chance. With this most basic level of humor we enjoy many of the functions of humor and the basic physical benefits, although the humor may occur infrequently and is purely unintentional.

Active humor appreciation: At this level, our awareness level is raised and we intentionally seek humor opportunities. We make it a point to read the daily comics, we ask others to share a joke or story, we become aware of humor we might have otherwise missed if we had made the assumption: Nothing funny happens here. We incur benefits more frequently, although not necessarily on a regular basis.

Proactive humor creation: At this advanced level, conscious effort is involved.  We attempt to create humor opportunities. We schedule time for play and entertainment in our daily schedules. We purposely create situations to amuse others or ourselves. We establish goals to utilize humor on a regular basis and attempt to make humor a habit. We enjoy the positive functions and benefits of humor on a regular basis.
While we may gain benefits from humor and laughter when enjoying it passively, there are even more advantages in being active participants by producing a humorous state of mind for ourselves. By incorporating a ‘humor habit’, we gain maximum profit from the wide and wonderful range of benefits at our disposal. Why not get the most bang for your yuck? Make humor a habit!

Mirth Managment: Kudos to Cosmoflex

Kudos to Cosmoflex, Inc. in Hannibal, MO and to the ingenuity of Operations Manager, Max Nicholson and Safety Committee Member, Mike Allen.  The task: A 3-year safety certification required by OSHA for all 50 employees at the plant.  The creative solution: A rodeo with a forklift—No bull!

Over the course of 2 days, all four shifts at Cosmoflex (a subsidiary company of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.) participated in a certification process like none before.  Outside the plant, a course involving all the necessary skills for using a forklift was laid out and put into place.  Exercises included a ‘Loaded Figure 8’, the ‘Stack and Back’, the ‘Ram and Jam’ and removing a basketball from a pylon and dropping into a basket.  The safety committee judged the employees individually and as teams on knowledge, accuracy, speed, and safety.  During the competition, everyone enjoyed an outdoor barbeque, drinks and music.

The initial goal was simply to complete certification for all employees.  When asked if there were any unexpected benefits, Nicholson and Allen agreed that they hadn’t anticipated the amount of strategizing and teamwork they observed.  “You can’t force teamwork,” said Allen.  “We saw great communication and tons of enthusiasm.  People were hooting and hollering, and lots of laughing.” He added, “This really perked up everyone’s attitude, and in a small plant—attitudes are contagious.”

This year’s winner, Brad Pemberton (with an individual time of 6 minutes and 36 seconds), won a gift certificate for Lula Belle’s—a popular local restaurant/bed and breakfast.  Team winners enjoyed a pizza dinner at the plant.

Was there a downside?  Nicholson said, “Just that the employees didn’t want to return to their posts—they enjoyed watching their coworkers compete.”  Even though the certification is good for 3 years, Cosmoflex plans to repeat the event because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback.

What was he thinking?!

Obviously, he wasn’t. Thinking, that is. Michael Richards, better known to the world as Kramer, took his funny and light-hearted image he’d established over his successful career with Seinfeld, and flushed it down the tubes. I can just picture him skidding into Jerry’s apartment, shaking like an electrically charged, over-caffeinated baffoon, uttering “Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooo!”

“Oh no” is right. Whether you’re dealing with hecklers, irritable coworkers or cranky customers—insulting them is a bad idea. Comediennes anticipate that these things will happen, and they have comebacks that are so practiced that they can appear to be spontaneous—but few professional comics will leave those situations to chance.

There’s something you can learn from Michael Richards’ common sense infarct. We all have times when have to deal with hostility from others. A lot of times, if we’d thought about it, we could have anticipated these episodes.

And when those situations do arise, we have choices. In his book, The Light Touch, Malcolm Kushner suggests:
We can respond seriously to the complaint.
We can refuse to respond.
We can pretend to respond (picture the doctor that overwhelms the other person with medicalese or the lawyer that responds with legalese).
We can respond with humor.

All of these choices, mind you, are appropriate choices at one time or other. But not every one of them will fit every occasion every time. You have to use good judgment (which apparently some people lack).

When responding with humor, the idea is not to derail the other person so you can totally avoid the conflict. You want to unbalance the other person, even momentarily, so that you give yourself a moment to think, regroup, and then respond in the best possible manner to the situation at hand.

Take for instance the waiter who has forgotten your request for water. Twice. When you ask him a third time, an appropriate response for the waiter might be, “I’m sorry. My memory is really very good. It’s just very short.” (pause). “I’ll be right back with your drink.”

The waiter addressed the concern; used a quick one-liner (doesn’t have to be fall-down-funny) that he has thought about ahead of time, and then responded to the need.

In one of my workshops, a manager said that an irritable customer once demanded: “How long have you worked here?”
His humorous response: He looked at his wristwatch, smiling, and asked, “Well, let’s see… What time is it???”
The customer looked surprised and then smiled. From there, they were both able to move forward in a more positive frame of mind.

Anticipate and prepare. Comics do it. Politicians do it. And so should you.

Here’s your homework assignment:
Make a list of the hostile questions you might deal with at work.
Now come up with a list of humorous responses.
Force yourself to come up with at least 10.
The rationale? Because the first ones you come up with are going to be absolutely hysterical—and they’re probably going to get you in trouble! Flippant is funny—but in this case, you need to stretch further to find something that is funny but not offensive. It takes a little more work, but it’s worth it.

Use humor in your workplace proactively and you’re going to find that you have a lot more fun AND a lot more profit!

Mind if I Laugh? Humor When Tragedy Strikes

Following the events of September 11, 2001 and the terrorism that ensued, I’ve continued traveling around the country, addressing groups about the healing power of humor and laughter.  I heard a variety of comments:“I really want to laugh, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.”“I can’t bear to watch another news report—it’s sucking the life right out of me.”“I feel like laughing, but I’m afraid other people will think I’m being inappropriate.

Is it really okay to laugh yet?” Abraham Lincoln may have said it best: “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.”

Now more than ever, we, as individuals and as a country, need the healing power of humor and laughter to deal with the tragedies we experience.  Accompanying the levels of higher anxiety and stress are people suffering from a myriad of stress related illnesses and conditions: Headaches, stomachaches, general malaise, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, muscle aches, difficulty concentrating, depression, and the list goes on.

Humor relieves anxiety and tension, serves as outlet for hostility and anger, and provides a healthy escape from reality.  It lightens heaviness related to critical illness, trauma, disfigurement, and death.  It comes as no surprise that many people are utilizing humor to deal with the trying times.  But is the humor timely?  Is it appropriate?

“When tragedy and death cloud our lives, they darken our humor as well.”  (Karyn Buxman, This Won’t Hurt A Bit)

The truth is that we all experience tragedy on a variety of levels.  For some of us, it may be on a personal level.  At times, it may be on a community level.  And periodically we experience tragedy on a national or even global level. None of us will escape experiencing personal tragedy: Illness, accident, loss of job, divorce, or death in the family.  These painful ordeals can sometimes evoke humor that allows us to ventilate our frustrations about such unfair events in life.

Communities experience tragedies such as floods, earthquakes, fire, natural disasters, man made disasters (the coal mining tragedy in Utah), loss of industry or politicians caught in compromising situations.

Unfortunately we will witness events that have national ramifications, such as the Shuttle Challenger explosion, and even global ramifications, such as the loss of the World Trade Center in New York. With the technological advances in mass media, events that might once have been a local tragedies now impact people near and far:  At times, the humor demonstrated after the larger catastrophic  events was a ‘hoping humor’, a “let’s hang in there together and we’ll get through this together” kind of humor.  The focus of the humor was more situational and unrelated to the tragedy; the humor was used as a relief mechanism from feelings of sadness and feeling overwhelmed.  One survivor of the Oklahoma City Bombing commented, “I laugh because I’m cried out.”

The challenge: What is stress relieving for some is stress producing for others.  While some find gallows humor to be a positive means of dealing with their stress, others find these expressions of humor to be salt rubbed into an already irritated wound.  What’s appropriate? What’s not?  There is no clear-cut answer.  Gallows humor can be a positive means of coping with anxiety, but it helps if certain guidelines are followed:

Establish a bond: Gallows humor is less offensive when there is a bond between the initiator and receiver of the humor.  Often this is a type of ‘inside humor’ that is utilized within certain the boundaries of a certain group of people. There is an almost unspoken agreement: “I’ll not be offended by your sick humor if you agree not to be offended by mine.”

Be aware of the environment: The trick is to keep the humor within the confines of said group.  Once the dark humor escapes the confines of the group, it then may become hurtful.  Anyone who hears, sees or experiences the humor is part of the audience, whether you intended them to be or not.  Think twice before hitting the ‘forward’ key on an e-mail or blurting out a joke you just heard.  Will it be hurtful if unintended audience members intercept?

Be sensitive to the timing:  H. G. Wells once said, “The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.”  Generally it takes time for people to see any humor derived from pain or discomfort.  Some people never will.

Every person’s situation is unique and determined by their own set of circumstances and life experiences. Despite its multiple benefits, humor is always risky business. Try as you may to be politically correct, there will almost always be someone waiting in the wings to be offended.  The humor or laughter provides an excuse for him to ventilate about an unspoken and deeper issue.  That being said, if you choose to use humor to cope with difficult times and are mindful of the feelings of others then, more than likely, most folks won’t mind if you laugh.  Indeed, they may welcome the respite.

When Humor is Part of The Corporate Culture

I had the chance to sit around the table with the most fun bunch of people recently. They weren’t humorists or comediennes—but they were funny as all get out—kind of like Seinfeld meets healthcare. And they love their work.

Moe Green, founder of Classic Care Pharmacy started his business 10 years ago with a handful of people. Today he has over 120 employees and services 125 long term care facilities. The corporate culture is fun, and his staff and his customers are raving fans.

While having lunch with two of the team (Judy and Girish) they told me they hate to miss even a day of work. “There’s something going on everyday, and most of the time it’s fun!” they said. Apparently the rest of the staff agrees with them. The camaraderie and team spirit is palpable when you walk in the office.

As far as retention goes, people who come on board tend to stay on board. “We don’t brag too loudly to others about how good we have it here,” teased a couple of gals following my after-dinner entertainment. “We don’t want a bunch of other people vying for our jobs!”

From chatting with Moe, two keys to Classic Care’s success became obvious. First, he’s a firm believer in empowering his people. “When issues come up, I let them make decisions. There’s rarely an issue that is life or death.” Engaging his employees in company matters helps them to feel ownership. Once a month he holds a “State of The Union” address where he collects all 125 people and gives them updates on what’s going on and gets their feedback. And all of the executive team have an open door policy.

Second, fun is part of the corporate culture and it begins with the interview process. Moe is looking to hire for attitude and if the interviewee isn’t comfortable with the joking and teasing that goes on with the interview committee, then it’s made clear that this is part of the culture. If he or she feels uncomfortable, then perhaps they would be better off working elsewhere—the company isn’t going to change its culture just because someone doesn’t want to play along. Throughout the year, employees spend time together at potlucks, bar-b-ques, sports and just hanging out. They are an extended family.

The weekly executive meetings usually include gales of laughter. “Sometimes staff will come over and close our door because we’re laughing so loud,” Moe admitted.

What’s the result of all this? It comes as no surprise that Classic Care Pharmacy Ottawa was just named one of The Top 10 Employers in the National Capital Region (based on engagement, leadership and over-all employee satisfaction). This award was not just for healthcare but for businesses across the province. And Classic Care continues to grow at an astounding rate: 30% in the last 10 months!

When humor is part of the corporate culture, businesses can enjoy tremendous financial success—but that’s not all. George Burns once said, “Do something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” It seems that Classic Care employees will never have to “work” again—and with clients as fun as Classic Care, neither will I!

Improv Your Customer Service

My youngest son, Adam, is a student at Second City, the school of improve in Chicago, the springboard for so many of the Saturday Night Live cast. Finally people who can appreciate what his high school teachers could not—his comedic genius! (How many trips to the principal’s office for entertaining his classmates?)

Recently I asked him how he was applying his lessons at Second City to other areas of his life (hoping that my tuition dollars were getting the most bang for the yuck, so to speak). I was pleasantly taken aback by the wisdom he has acquired. He works evenings waiting tables (as many starving artists do) at a local restaurant/jazz club: Andy’s Jazz Club. (For those of you living or visiting Chicago, definitely check this place out—great food and great music [and amazing waiters—at least on certain nights…]).

He explained that the two most important rules of Improv are 1) Never say no. Whatever the situation, say yes—take whatever situation you’re given (especially the unexpected) and go from there—run with it.

2) Make the rest of the ensemble look good. It’s not about yourself—it’s about the others on your team.

So… how does that apply to waiting tables??? Adam explained to me that every seat, every patron is a “scene” and whatever request is made, the answer is always yes. (Oh, that all the waiters and waitresses in my past could have said “yes,” rather than—“we can’t substitute,” “it’s not our policy,” “you’re not my table” and other statements sure to ruin one’s appetite!)

Secondly, being a very funny guy, his tendency in the past was to entertain those at his tables—not a bad thing.  But what he’s realized is that there’s always at least one person in every group that enjoys being funny, too. Thus rule #2: Make the other person look good. Adam loves being funny, but now his goal is to make someone at his table appear funnier than him. “When I’m funny, I get good tips. But when I make the other guy look even funnier, I get great tips.”

Wow! The answer to almost all customer service challenges wrapped up in the first two rules of Improv!

Say yes to the customer’s request and run with it—make it work using creativity, imagination, humor and whatever it takes.

It’s about the other people, not us. Making our customers, patients, coworkers, bosses, spouses, family members, friends, classmates—whomever!—look good.  As my mom always said, “what goes around comes around.”

Way to go, Adam. Go to the head of the class.

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