No doubt you have heard people pompously proclaim, “Me? Oh no. I never watch television.” What do you want to bet that, when no one is looking, they lock the door, pull the blinds, and watch “The Young and the Restless” or “Bikini Babes.”
It’s the same at work. When someone receives an e-mail joke, who hasn’t nervously glanced around to assure one is looking and then succumbed to temptation?
Sure, we all send jokes now and then, but senders beware. Many smart, serious folks glance at the time it arrived. If the funny makes touchdown on their screen between nine and five o’clock Monday through Friday, their esteem for the sender shrinks.
If you have something not related to business, hold it and don’t click “send” before 6:00 P.M. It doesn’t have to be a joke. It can be a sentimental story, a save the seals sermon, a warning about a nasal polyps plague, or photos of your baby from your wedding.
If your joke or even your personal message arrives during work hours, it is obvious to the recipient you are ripping off your boss. Anyone who screws around on company time—and then flaunts it—goes down a notch in practically everybody’s estimation.
Little Trick #78
Nix Nine-to-Five Jokes
Why advertise you’re goofing off at work? If you receive a gag during business hours, resist the temptation to forward it to your friends until after work. Envision yourself as their boss. Picture yourself above the glass ceiling looking down disdainfully at the sender. Now you are thinking like the big boys and girls.
Some years ago, when the send-a-joke epidemic was just starting to spread, I had a Saturday night date with great guy named Palmer. Imagine my thrill when I arrived at work on Monday morning and found a message from him. I anxiously opened it. Instead of a personal note telling me how much he enjoyed the date and how fabulous I was, it was a joke. My name was buried in a long list of other recipients. I was crushed. If only Palmer had personalized it with one sentence, “Leil, I thought you would enjoy seeing this,” I might have had a second date with him.
Even better, he could have sent an accompanying personal message: “Leil, I occasionally send out things I find humorous. I hope you don’t mind my adding your name to the list.”
Little Trick #79
Ask Before Adding Their Name to Your Jokes Recipients List
If you occasionally do mass e-mailings—that means to any more than four friends—personalize it the first time you send one to a new person. Otherwise, you make him feel nameless, which means he might want to forget yours.
Even better, ask if he’d like to be a recipient. Whatever his answer, you will go up in his esteem, and he’ll be waiting for your first communiqué.