The Office Playground Blog

Bad Chips and Dip

It's ok to admit that you don't like all of your co-workers. There always seems to be certain people who are geniuses at irritating you. Would you like to learn a surefire way to get them to leave you alone? Serve them bad dip. Here's how it works:

The Preparation
Start with some basic ingredients used for making a tasty dip: sour cream, salsa, plain yogurt, guacamole or cream cheese will do. Next, add some not-so-tasty ingredients like pickle juice, suicidal hot sauce, cod liver oil, grape jelly, etc. At this point, most recipes instruct you to season to taste. Well, you sure as heck aren't going to taste this stuff. So, go heavy on the bad ingredients to be sure the dip tastes really, really horrible.

The Placement
Neatly display the bad dip in your work area along with some chips. The chips don't have to be bad, but using stale chips would be a nice touch. Now, you wait for annoying co-workers to approach.

The Payoff
Those little mooches will soon come around looking for the free food. They always do. They'll slither up, sniffing and eyeballing your snacks. They will ask you for some. With a big smile you nod your head. Don't feel guilty. After all, you didn't offer it to your co-workers. They sought you out. Cherish the precious payoff when they take that huge reckless bite of bad dip.

The Act
As the targeted co-worker begins to chew their first bite, they will recoil from the horrible flavors attacking their taste buds. When they say, "AGH! THAT'S AWFUL," you burst into tears, grab the dip and yell, "That's my grandma's recipe!" Then, run to your car and go home for the day.

The Rewards

1. Your obnoxious co-workers will never come around again.
2. You get a free half-day off work.
   (Maybe you should watch some cooking shows.)
3. You'll never need to make food for the office again.
4. Everyone will be extra nice to you for a while.

Make some bad dip and watch your lame co-workers eat it. It'll make you laugh.

Bad dip making is just one more tool in your corporate survival toolbox.

Sincerely,

Bill Ross
The Office Toy Guy
OfficeToyGuy@OfficePlayground.com

www.OfficePlayground.com
We help you play on company time.

Image courtesy of Megan Soh.

Your Guide to the New Halloween 2.0 at Work

Has anyone else noticed that Halloween is rapidly turning into Christmas in terms of celebrating the "season"? I drove my kids around last night to look at Halloween lights on houses. Remember when people only put out pumpkins and a few decorations? These days, we’re seeing full blown lights on the house and haunted scenes in the yard. Folks set up life-sized skeletons, mummies, monsters and graveyards. We went by one house that displayed a lifelike werewolf on the roof and a Psycho shower scene behind their front window. Talk about getting into the spirit. I can't decide if these people are cool or crazy, but either way, next year I'M IN.

Do you notice the growing amount of shelf space reserved for Halloween paraphernalia in the stores? Sure, there has always been candy and costumes. But today, the shelves are packed with all sorts of Halloween props and shenanigans. The entire month of October is dedicated to the last day of the month. Just like the entire month of December is geared towards Christmas day. Halloween is on a serious tear right now and I say bring it on.

This rapid adoption of Halloween spirit as the major contender to Christmas spirit started me thinking about what it means to people working in an office. Here are my predictions of what Halloween will be like in the coming years for the corporate world. I call these predictions Halloween 2.0 at work:

Halloween 1.0 - Plastic spiders on a chair
Halloween 2.0 - Real spiders in a drawer

Halloween 1.0 - Wear a costume on Halloween day
Halloween 2.0 - Wear costumes all throughout October

Halloween 1.0 - Dress up as a witch
Halloween 2.0 - Practice real witchcraft at your desk

Halloween 1.0 - Cute little happy Halloween cards from co-workers
Halloween 2.0 - Big Halloween bonus checks from management
                         (just kidding, that won't happen)

Halloween 1.0 - Collecting treats from your co-worker’s desk
Halloween 2.0 - Smashing pumpkins over your co-worker’s head

I hope this guide helps you be on the cutting edge of this booming holiday for years to come. What will Halloween 3.0 entail? Real chainsaws? Who's the boss now?!

Happy Halloween!

Spooky Wishes,
Bill Ross
The Office Toy Guy

www.OfficePlayground.com
We help you play on company time.

Image courtesy of Suzie T.

Stealing Food at Work

The purpose of this blog post is not to endorse stealing your co-worker's lunch. We are simply offering advice on how to be successful at it.

Times are tough and your company is cutting back; it's up to you to create your own perks. Stealing your co-worker's lunch is wrong, but you're not likely going to go to jail if you get caught.

Speed – You can't linger around in the kitchen. Get in and get out. The ideal kitchen or break room has two doors. You should enter through one, snatch a free snack, and exit through the other.

Greed – Don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Don't steal food every day or from the same person over and over. We understand that certain people have better food than others, but exercise restraint.

Mix it up – If you work in a large company, spread out your efforts across all kitchens, break rooms, conference rooms, reception desks (free fruit or candy), etc. By spreading out, it'll be hard to identify the totality of your work.

Redirects – Once in a while, bring your own lunch and put it in the refrigerator with your name written on the bag. Your co-workers will think "the lunch thief can't be him, he brings his own." Little do they know you're just that hungry that you'll eat yours AND theirs. If the office is on to you, you can secretly eat half of your sandwich and then make a big scene, "HEY, WHO ATE MY SANDWICH!"

Image courtesy of Stacita.

How Scary is Your Office?

It’s the time of year where ghosts, witches and goblins are making plans for their favorite day of the year, Halloween. Have you let them visit your desk yet?

Halloween isn’t just for children dressed as spooky (or sometimes adorable) creatures, going door-to-door asking for candy; you can have just as much fun at work! This year, bring the spirit of Halloween to the office. Here are some ideas for making your workplace "spooktacular"!

• Decorate your desk or cubicle walls with a row full of smiling pumpkins
• Host a number of spooky Halloween contests: Scariest Costume, Jack-o-Lantern Carving, Pumpkin Seed Spitting, and Best Decorated Desk
• Hide fake giant spiders in your co-workers’ desk drawers
• Ask each of your co-workers "Trick or Treat?" Give those who say "treat" a piece of candy; pull a fun office prank on everyone else
• Host a Halloween Fright Wind-Up race
• Bring a large bowl of Halloween candy to share or bake a batch of Halloween cookies

Adding a little Halloween spirit to your workplace can make your day a little more exciting and everyone a little happier. Try out some of our ideas and let us know how it goes!

Image courtesy of Elvia Dametto.

National Boss Day is Friday, October 16

National Boss Day has traditionally been a day for employees to recognize and thank their supervisor or boss. It started in 1958 when Patricia Bays Haroski, then an employee at State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois, registered the holiday with the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Ms. Haroski's purpose was to designate a day to show appreciation for her boss and other bosses. She also hoped to improve the relationship between employees and supervisors. She believed young employees often do not realize the challenges bosses face in running a business. Ms. Haroski chose October 16 because it was her father's birthday, and he also happened to be her boss.

During the early years of National Boss Day observance, the holiday was mocked as Hallmark Holiday. In fact, Hallmark did not offer a Boss's Day card for sale until 1979. Recognition for Boss Day has grown tremendously in popularity and Hallmark responded by increasing the size of its National Boss Day card collection by 90 percent in 2007. National Boss Day has become an international celebration in recent years and now is observed in countries such as Australia and South Africa, in addition to the United States.

Image courtesy of Luz.

Working with Aliens

Do you work with aliens? How would you know if you did? Finally there's help, here's a simple guide to discovering who among your colleagues are from another planet:

Food – Aliens don't eat normal human food. Look for colleagues who you've never seen eating. Offer them a slice of pizza because nobody from this planet would refuse free pizza.

Performance – Aliens are way smarter than humans and so they are typically successful. Look for those in your company who are high up in the organizational chart. Aliens are looking to run things, not be bossed around. For example, Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) are aliens.

Social Skills – Aliens are not very good networkers and never play the role of office clown. Look for the ones who don't talk much and have a very difficult time conducting a conversation. Aliens don't have hobbies, they don’t have "good weekends" and they don't say "TGIF".

Office Romance – Aliens don't mate with humans and thus the aliens in your office won't ever get caught up in office romance. That should eliminate many of your colleagues as potential aliens.

Limited Time – Aliens don't just grind away at the corporate rat race. They are at your business for a specific reason, maybe to run a few experiments you would rather not know the details about. If one of your co-workers just vanishes one day, instead of a new job, they may have just returned to their home planet.

Now that you know who the aliens are at your company, you can begin the process of uncovering the robots. Stay tuned...

Bill Ross
CEO
www.OfficePlayground.com

Image courtesy of Steve Jurvetson.

10 Office Faux Pas

In an economic climate where companies are tightening their belts, job security can be shaky. No one wants their name to spring to mind when an employee must be let go. Behavior in the office setting is important. It may be the deciding factor between keeping your job and joining the ranks of the unemployed. Stay clear of the following office faux pas:

1. Do not engage in gossip or badmouth colleagues.
2. Dress appropriately for your position. Clothing that is too casual, too revealing, torn or dirty will make a negative impression.
3. Mind your table manners at a business lunch or group lunch celebration.
4. Do not take food from the community refrigerator or lunchroom that is not yours.
5. Clean up after yourself. Do not leave dirty food containers or half-eaten food on your desk, the lunchroom table or in the community sink.
6. Control your emotions at work. Outbursts of tears, anger or frustration are not acceptable behavior in the office.
7. Do not make personal calls during work hours. Use cell phones for personal calls and only make them during breaks. Show consideration to co-workers by moving to a private location when talking on a cell phone.
8. Music or the radio should not be audible beyond your desk. Wear earphones and keep the volume low so that you can hear others when they speak to you.
9. Keep your shoes on. Never walk around the office barefoot.
10. Never microwave fish in the office lunchroom! Microwaving raw onions isn't a great idea either. (We speak from experience!)

Image courtesy of Wolfrage.

Business Decisions

Bad business decisions are something every company tries to avoid, but they happen. Some legendary ones include the makers of M & M's decision to not allow their candy to appear in the movie ET. Reese's Pieces were used instead and the sales exploded. Jerry Yang decided to walk away from Microsoft and missed out on receiving $44.6 billion of Bill Gates' money. Many book editors rejected the Harry Potter book series and Decca Records had the opportunity to sign the Beatles and didn't.

An example of important decision making can be shown through choosing stock investments. The Chicago Sun-Times wanted to illustrate the often chance nature of picking stocks, so they had a monkey sit on newspaper stock pages and make marks on five stocks. As of January 2007, the stock-picking monkey had beaten the market four years running.

If you don't have the resources to hire a monkey, perhaps a fortune-telling item such as the Wall Street Guru Ball, the Mystical Orb, or the time honored Magic 8 Ball may help. The Dartboard Decision Maker is a fun and active alternative.

Next time you're faced with a landmark decision, give the Affirmation Ball a shake; its response might be "Brilliant Idea!" However, the Sarcastic Ball might warn "Not a Chance!" and the Wall Street Guru might suggest "Ride it Out". The Dartboard Decision Maker offers many options. Give it a spin and toss the dart, which might land on "Take a Vacation," "Stay Late," "Call a Meeting," "Hire" or "Retire". A fortune telling ball or decision maker may not offer the appropriate advice, but it's sure to generate some lighthearted stress relief.

The Evolution of Casual Fridays

Fridays are probably every working person’s favorite day of the work week. Other than the obvious springboard to the weekend, another contributing factor may be the observance of Casual Friday. The custom of relaxing the formal dress code on Fridays started in America and spread to Canada almost immediately. Now, it is observed in many parts of the world.

Originally begun in the late 1950s, Casual Fridays were an attempt to raise worker morale in the new office-oriented white-collar working environment. The slowly spreading custom got a big boost in the 1970s when manufacturers of casual clothing launched a massive advertising campaign for comfortable inexpensive clothing that they labeled appropriate for business casual dress. During the Dot Com hey-day of the late 1990s and early 2000s some companies allowed workers to wear shorts and sandals to work. After the Dot Com crash, a whiplash effect rippled through many work settings and dress codes were reinstated.

Today, Casual Friday continues to evolve. Many offices generalize Casual Friday into a mini celebration of a successfully completed week. Refreshments often adorn the break room tables; coworkers go out to lunch; theme attire such as Hawaiian shirt day or funny hat day are initiated once or twice a month to infuse some lighthearted spirit into the office setting.

With the rough economic times of the late 2000s, stress levels are high in every level of working society. In addition to Casual Friday attire and refreshments, there’s an active trend toward addressing stress by allowing stress relief items on desks and personal decor in cubicles and offices. Maybe Casual Friday will evolve into Casual Thursday, then Casual Wednesday and Casual Tuesday, leaving Business Monday as the new custom.

Image courtesy of Kimberly.

Is the Lunch Break Going Extinct?

Today, it seems that the "lunch hour" is the biggest myth of office life. Many workplace experts suspect that even those workers who are allotted a half hour for lunch, often never leave their desks.

The move to shorter or non-existent lunches is in some cases self-imposed. Many workers remain at their desk and graze throughout the day. Those who do leave the office often dash around doing errands, especially women who must rush from work to pick up children. People are just too busy these days to take a leisurely lunch. They want to finish their work and leave at a reasonable hour so they can have some quality time with family and friends.

Giving up your lunch break could actually diminish your productivity, causing you to end up putting in more hours in the long run. The brain needs a rest in order to maintain concentration. Joe Takash, a business consultant, claims lunch breaks can "help boost creativity and profits."

People need the mid-day break. "They need to eat," demands Kathleen Hall, a stress and work-life balance expert. "Food boosts mental and physical productivity and regulates moods. Certain foods can also fight anxiety, stress and panic, which is good if you're having an especially difficult day."

Popular among younger employees, is lunch break computer games. Available online, these free games offer short, fun, stimulating diversions, but they don't provide a leisurely environment to eat lunch. Remember, the human body needs food, fresh air, exercise and relaxation to perform at its best.

Top image courtesy of Ziv Pugatch. Bottom image courtesy of Matt Seppings.

Nicknames in Business – Best Practices

Are you aware that 60% of all employees in America have a nickname? You shouldn’t be aware of that statistic because we made that up. :-) It grabbed your attention, right?

Do you have nicknames for certain co-workers or customers? Surely, you’ve got one for your boss. Doesn’t it make you feel better that you’ve tagged a secret nickname on a co-worker that drives you crazy? There's nothing better than the feeling of empowerment that nobody can take away from you. Here are some best practices for using nicknames at work:

1. Clones – People who look like others are "clones". Clones are the low hanging fruit of the nickname game. Let’s say your IT manager looks exactly like Bruce Springsteen. It's pretty straightforward—you'd call him "The Boss"!
2. Trust - Only tell others the nickname if you can completely trust they’ll use discretion and not tell the wrong brown-noser about it.
3. Redirects - Always redirect the source of the nickname and blame its creation on somebody else or as common knowledge around the office.
4. Verbal - Don’t ever write a nickname down on paper or, worse, type it into digital communication like an email. Nicknames are for verbal use only.
5. Acronyms - Use acronyms to ensure security levels. For instance, your boss is "Bloated Toad" and so you use "BT" to co-workers so you’ll never get caught. Just have an explanation for BT ready, "oh, that, it means Best Team worker". (Puke!)
6. Know the stakes – If your nickname is really negative and the person attached to it has power in the organization, you could lose your job if caught. If, however, you nail an amazing nickname that sticks, you could become the office hero. Your goal is nailing a nickname that is so perfect the recipient has no choice but to accept it. Go for a nickname slam dunk!
7. Do it right – Your mother always told you that "what’s worth doing is worth doing right". The nickname you create just might stick to that person for the rest of their life. Think this through before making an announcement to your trusted inner circle.

If you want your nicknames to be known for all to hear, follow in the footsteps of Sawyer, from the TV show LOST. He’s known for creating several nicknames for the other characters on the show and uses a nickname for himself. Some of the other characters attempt to use nicknames, but because of Sawyer’s delivery, it’s his nicknames that you’ll remember. He even has his own online nickname generator.

So go out and make up some nicknames; it’ll make your workdays just slightly more enjoyable. If you’re keeping the nickname a secret, just follow our rules above carefully and don’t say we told you do to any of this.

Need some nickname inspiration? Here are a couple nickname generators to get you started:

• Sawyer's Nickname Generator
• Get Nicknames

Bill Ross
Founder & CEO
Office Playground

Image courtesy of Alex Ruiz.

Extreme Workplaces

Eating lunch outside at the Googleplex

The Travel Channel's segment on Extreme Workplaces is mind boggling and dream inspiring. Showcased in the show and the article, "Thinking Outside the Cubicle" written by Erica Walsh, are seven businesses that go all out in providing uniquely designed workplaces and unbelievably fun perks for their employees.

Ping Pong at the Threadless Warehouse

While not all employers can provide such wonderland-type settings and expensive perks, fun doesn't have to be high priced. Small gifts given out at a meeting can make a big impression. Freebees are appreciated and the good will associated with them can help stimulate creativity that just might give birth to the next great idea for your business.

Office Playground's Meeting in a Box is a modestly priced box containing 17 fidget toys. These little toys add an element of fun to any meeting or workday. The briefcase shaped box makes it easy to carry and it will definitely be the center of attention when placed on the conference table and opened to reveal the variety of toys inside. Let the brainstorming begin!

Images of the Googleplex courtesy of Erik Hersman. Image of the Threadless Warehouse courtesy of Joe M500.