I-Laugh Archives
Your Working Humor Discussion List
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I-Laugh - Your 'Working' Humor Discussion List
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Moderated by : Eva Rosenberg mailto:eva@workinghumor.com
Assisted By : Gunjan Saraf mailto:gunjan@workinghumor.com
http://workinghumor.com
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17th October 2001 # 029
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"My problem lies with reconciling my gross habits
with my net income." --Errol Flynn
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IN THIS DIGEST :
Moderator's Comment -
~ Gunjan
_____________________
NEW DISCUSSIONS
Importance of humor in communication?
~ Gunjan
Getting to Know You
"Featured
Laughmate - Stephanie Allen"
~ Gunjan
REPLIES
Still Out Smarting Our Auto Mechanics
~ Eva Rosenberg
INSPIRATIONAL HUMOR
Come Again?
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Moderator's Message
-------------------------------------------------
Dear LaughMates,
Is I-Laugh fun? That's the thought that has been bothering me most this week since I got Sandeep's
post. Sure we didn't want it to be a joke list but a
serious discussion forum on the usage of humor. However if humor is as important as we think it is,
shouldn't we be discussing it humorously too?
Sandeep felt that we should add at least a couple of jokes and make the issues more interesting too. I wasn't too sure.
I was wondering how we were doing..... till I heard Akash narrating this joke...
A Captain and his deputy on a ship are having an argument. The captain feels sex is 50% pleasure and 50% work
whereas his deputy feels it's 70% pleasure and 30% work. After they've been arguing for some time they call their
favorite deckhand to help solve the dispute.
The deckhand listens to both their arguments patiently and carefully and then very gently and softly gives his
verdict - "I'm sorry Sirs, but I fear you're both wrong this time. Sex is 100% pleasure. If there was the slightest
element of work involved you would have had me do it on your behalves."
:-)
Since, still Eva and I have been having to do a lot of 'the work' I assume I-Laugh hasn't become a pleasure yet.
I'm positive we'll get there soon.....but..... only if you join the party ;-)
On a totally different note our wonderful sponsors, Phil and Clara are taking a well deserved (so they say :-)
break. While they're away until the 19th they've offered a 10% discount on all products that you order during this period
for delivery after the 20th. This may be an excellent time to replenish your stocks.
Just my 2 cents worth...
Gunjan
Please, send any comments to:
mailto:posts@workinghumor.com?Subject=laughter
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===== New Discussions =====
====> The importance of humor in communication
Dear Friends,
A lot of people are reluctant to use humor in business communications. Personally I find it pretty effective.
I remember when I was discussing with Eva the pros and cons of starting I-Laugh I had kidded that she'd
have to put up with lot more of my silly mail. She'd said she'd somehow live with it (Bet she regrets it now).
However some of the best communications are ones which are able to make you change your way of thinking. For
example I detest pop-ups... or to be more precise used to till a couple of days back, when I received Scott Adams
'Dilbert Newsletter'.
In it he has a section in which he lets Dogbert answer his mail for him (cause he is too polite to answer them himself).
The mail and reply which I enjoyed most was ...
-----
Dear Mr. Adams,
The pop-up ads on your dilbert.com Web site are annoying! Please
make them go away.
Tommy
-----
Dear Tommy,
People have learned to ignore Web ads that don't move, so lately advertisers are only willing to pay for pop-up ads. Someday, after
you learn to ignore pop-up ads too, then the advertisers will have to drive to your house and tattoo ads directly on your body. You'll
be nostalgic for the good old days of pop-up ads. Enjoy them while you can.
Or you can go to dilbert.com and sign up for the Daily Dilbert comic and have it e-mailed directly to you, for free, with no pop-up ads.
(Seriously.)
Sincerely,
Dogbert
-----
Now when I go to websites I enjoy, I make it a point not to ignore the ads. Even the pop-ups bring a smile as I visualize a picture of
goons catching me and branding my bottom cause I kept ignoring the ads.
I find it amazing how with a sense of humor you can get people to not just accept but enjoy things which sometime back they abhorred.
Regards,
Gunjan
www.workinghumor.com
Let your Humor Work for you !
Comments :
mailto:posts@workinghumor.com?Subject=communications
====> Getting to Know You
Featured Laughmate - Stephanie Allen
http://www.allen-nichols.com/
http://wz.com/food/ChilePeppers.html
http://wz.com/people/CreatingYourOwnFuneral.html
http://wz.com/arts/WritingYourLifeStory.html
Hi Friends,
Life according to Stephanie Allen is very simple. First you write your life story. Then you create
your own funeral arrangements and then kill yourself
with an overdose of Chile Peppers, ensuring a fiery and exciting death, tremendous sale of your books
and thus posthumous fame and glory.
All the LaughMates who haven't figured out I was kidding, will please wash their faces and then get
back after they are slightly more awake.
On a more serious note - I first got to know of LaughMate Stephanie Allen when she sent me the URL to her article
Loosen Up, Lighten up [http://www.writtenbyme.com/content/55917]
I liked the article, especially the parts where she discusses the benefits of developing a sense of humor. Her post and the
mention about her article were supposed to have been featured in our Issue dated 12 Sept. No wonder none of you got to see it.
Again after our issue 25 she sent us a lovely post containing a fantastic quote. Don't know how I missed it (Oh I remember,
the next issue was on condolence messages etc!) but I'll use this opportunity to include her post now.
To tell you more about Stephanie, she has practiced law, waited on tables, made candy, written articles/books, you
name it and she's done it... before settling down to her own business which is (any guesses?) to deliver training programs
and keynote addresses using humor via their website,
Allen-Nichols.com.
Stephanie is the WZ-ard (if you don't know what a WZ-ard is you've been ignore my signatures. A signature is to explore
not ignore.) of Chile Peppers, Writing your Life Story and creating your own funeral.
(You knew that? I wonder how? :--)
To sum up in Stephanie's Words "I truly believe that joy, humor, and laughter are critical
to a healthy, wealthy, and wise life, so another of my main goals is to bring more laughter to the world."
Well Stephanie I-Laugh is certainly a great place to start, right folks?
Thanks,
Gunjan
Comments :
mailto:posts@workinghumor.com?Subject=intros
====> Stephanie's post that I'd missed
In I-Laugh #25 Gunjan writes :
<< It's been 8 days. The last 3 of them I have spent thinking what on earth to say in this issue of I-Laugh and I still have
no idea. I know we have to restart, I know we need to get our humor back in place, I know humor is the strongest
defense mechanism. >>
I went through the same dilemma with our humor ezine. I liked what you did with yours. I thought you might
appreciate an excerpt from ours:
>>September 19, 2001
Hello, readers. It has been a little over two weeks since we sent our debut edition to you. As we created that flash ezine
for you early this month, none of us could have imagined what September would bring. More than a few tears have been cried
here. Whenever we think of how many hearts were broken on September 11, we feel sorrow.
So what do we do about this edition of our humor ezine? We believe humor and the comic perspective are always
important but today we are going to send you an edition that is perhaps a bit serious in places. We will give you a quote
about humor that we really like.
<snip>
First, here's the quote we really value from
'The Comic Vision And The Christian Faith' by Conrad Hyers:
"As Konrad Lorenz suggests in concluding his important study 'On Aggression', the survival of civilization depends
to a significant degree upon our capacity for humor. People who laugh together are less inclined to kill one another.
Humor, among other things, is a valuable mechanism for ritualizing aggressive impulses in substitution for the more
violent and destructive means available to us. And it can provide a larger perspective in relation to ourselves, our
scientific accomplishments and ideological persuasions.
Sanity and humanity, as McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), the affable rogue in Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's
Nest', understood the moment he entered the asylum, are impossible apart from humor."
Hyers refers to this statement by Randall Patrick McMurphy in 'Cuckoo's Nest' :
"That's the first thing that got me about this place, there wasn't anybody laughing. I haven't heard a real laugh since
I came through that door . . .
Man, when you lose your laugh, you lose your footing."
We hope that the workplace makes plenty of room for laughter so people may regain their footing.
All best to you,
Stephanie
http://wz.com/people/CreatingYourOwnFuneral.html
http://wz.com/arts/WritingYourLifeStory.html
===== Replies=====
[This is a continuation of last week's discussion about
experiences with auto repairs and their servicefolk.]
===> Still Out Smarting Our Auto Mechanics
===> Infinite Care
Having moved back to Los Angeles, it seems I had to rely on my car more and more. The best car I had ever owned, a
Special Edition Impulse was about disintegrate. (It had been totaled, no - accordion pleated, a few years back, but my very
capable attorney permitted them to repair my unibody auto.)
I needed a new car. Rick, with his meticulous mind, collected several books and magazines with comprehensive information
about the current crop of vehicles. We developed a detailed list of criteria, including cost - and he started his research. We came
up with a list of 6 cars/models that fit our needs - and went off to go shopping. (Meanwhile, I had called the bank and gotten
us pre-approved for a loan with a low rate.)
You'd roar if I told you about our experiences with some of those auto salesmen. Maybe someday, I will write a book
about our visits to all those dealerships. It was amazing how hard these guys worked to lose a sale. (Remember, we were
ready to buy, right NOW.)
Never mind. We test drove all the cars on our list. Didn't like a one of them. You see, that Impulse was so terrific - a sleek
sporty-looking car, with a hatchback and drop-down seats, so I could cart anything around; electronic reports about mileage
and gasoline usage; a good solid thunk when you closed the door; great handling; and it could turn on a dime. Nothing we
saw came close to what I had already had. And Isuzu wasn't making cars anymore - just trucks.
Just as we were about to head home, I saw a banner at the Infinti dealership. (Infiniti wasn't on our list - they were too
expensive.) It said something about leasing a car, with low monthly payments and a free loan car. The 'free loan car'
caught my attention. Until I saw that sign, I didn't realize just how much I valued that service. Once I saw that,
though, I knew just how much I wanted that accessory.
To make a long story short, we found a car we liked. Negotiated a price that surprised me. (We had just seen a
stripped down, gutless Toyota Corolla wagon with a firm price of over $22,000.) For this elegant burgundy luxury
vehicle with the creamy leather seats, I offered this woman $15,000 out the door, asking that she include a 100,000 mile
extended warranty and Lojack and tax and license. She agreed. (OK, this was slightly used. It was one of their loan
cars that they sell after about a year, when it has about 10,000 miles. But, they did promise to completely detail
the car, replace mats, and make it like new.)
Before we signed the contract, I insisted on visiting their service department and their service managers. They quoted
me low prices on service. But they assured me that, for most of the service and repairs during the warranty, I would be
paying nothing. Turns out, not only does Infiniti provide free
loan cars, their warranty is a bumper-to-bumper warranty. (Yeah, I believed that!)
With a touch of skepticism, we signed the contract. Over the last seven years, I've had the most terrific relationship with
all the managers in their service department. The three key people are still there. They treat me like royalty - or at least,
like a cherished friend. I never worry about how long they need my car - after all, I always have one of the latest model
Infinitis to drive. And as to service?
The only things I paid for in 100,000 miles were tires and brakes. (Even after the warranty ended, they found a way to persuade
the Infiniti folks to cover some of the more costly items for me.)
While that little G20 may be the most conservative, boring car I've ever owned, the accessories (loan car and service) are the
best I've ever had.
Your Humble Guide.
Eva Rosenberg
http://taxmama.com
http://www.adventive.com/lists/ihelpdesk/
http://wz.com/arts/WorldofComics.html
P.S. Infiniti got the last laugh. I am treated so well that I don't ever want to buy another car that can't be serviced at
that dealership. So that means... another Infiniti. (My husband bought a Dodge and their 'service' is an
embarrassment. We have tried 4 dealerships within a 30 mile radius and can't find fundamental 'service.')
=========== Inspirational Humor ==========
COME AGAIN?
A man realized he needed to purchase a hearing aid, but he felt unwilling to spend much money. "How much do they
run?" he asked the clerk.
"That depends," said the salesman. "They run from $2.00
to $2,000."
"Let's see the $2.00 model," he said.
The clerk put the device around the man's neck. "You just stick this button in your ear and run this little string down to
your pocket," he instructed.
"How does it work?" the customer asked.
"For $2.00 it doesn't work," the salesman replied. "But
when people see it on you, they'll talk louder!"
Comments :
mailto:posts@workinghumor.com?Subject=comeagain
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I
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