Education & Work Work place shenanigans

Or hire staff with a sense of humour

 

Yes I even did it to blokes bigger than me just like I had it done to myself by blokes smaller than me. We just know how to have a joke on a jobsite.

 

You say your the boss yet your whinging about the people you hire yourself. Maybe try hiring people that have a sense of humour and know how to joke around but also know when it's time to get the job done.

I am a boss myself and I wouldn't hire anyone that doesn't have a sense of humour. Each to their own I guess.

 

A former boss of mine once went up to a contractor stuck out his hand and said "G'day mate, how are you going?". The contractor was missing his right hand and obviously couldn't shake my boss' hand. (could have used his left hand, I guess)
My boss claimed that it was an honest mistake, but none of us bought it.

 

We have Christmas awards at the end of the year for all the dumb **** the boys do during the year! Pretty funny some of them.

We also have a serious side at work too. Sometimes it's gotta be like that as some of my staff have spent more time in jail than out!

pinkboy

 

Asked a staff member to go to the bank branch and pick up a verbal agreement form.

 

Did you have to write it down for them?

 

That's making some assumptions, I believe HR would like to speak to you!

She could have been a mature age apprentice, ex bike and a weightlifter!

"bullying" is usually fair game in the workplace and general horse play. Rarely its blatent harassment or violence,those very few cases ruined it for everyone plus the people that can't handle it and the whingers

 

While we're talking about work... Happy Monday people! Some words of wisdom to get you started

"Mondays aren't so bad, it's just your job that sucks!"
- wicked camper vans

 

I worked for a year at our local Golf Club on the groundstaff when I was 16-17 (left school at end of Year 10 for a year, then went back to finish HSC).

Anyway; being the most junior on the team of 6, I was the punching bag for most jokes.

Three of note;
1. Filled my thermos of coffee with petrol. (not funny at all).
2. Nailed my tupperware lunchbox to the seat, and put a massive live beetle inside the sandwich inside the container..
3. Didn't tell them when my birthday had happened, and when they found out, they tied me onto the top of the deck of the grass slasher attached to one of the tractors, and then proceeded to drive me around and do things such as dunk me in water hazards, drive under low tree branches and scrape me against them, and did lots of vigorous up and down lifting/dropping of the deck, dragged it along the ground over bumpy ground...this went on for approx 1 hour - Happy Birthday!!

Had to go up the the hardware store on my pushbike for the usual things such as left handed spanners, cans of striped paint, glass hammers, etc.

There were many others, but all in good fun (I think? ), and I didn't die.

Of course; these days there would be a Worksafe enquiry/lawsuits into bullying and all this sort of handwringing garbage.

 

I'm all for a good practical joke but I think the petrol in the thermos was taking the joke a bit far. I guess that's what you get for taking a Tupperware lunch box to work lol.

 

Depending on how big the site you were working on sometimes people would steal your smoko lunch from the fridge mostly monday and friday maybe because they blew every cent on the weekend or on pay day as a lot did,,,was on this site many years ago,happened three times over a week all my lunch stolen,, wife cooks up a mud cake and we had a packet of triple action laxettes,i put half a packet into the mix same thing happened some one stole the cake,but it never happened again..

 

Yeah; luckily I don't have a ciggy with a cup of coffee.

 

That could have ended badly

 

Didnt mean to confuse you. My comment wasnt supposed to be read so literally.

I think practical jokes between friends or collegues can be funny and often good for morale, but im surprised how many people in leadership positions here don't understand the nuances of a workplace hierarchy. Or even understand what bullying is.

I think the case that 'ruined it for everyone' in Victoria was probably when 19 year old Brodie Panlock killed herself after constant harassment from her colleagues. No doubt if you had asked them at the time they would have justified it as horse play and her objections as whinging.

Bullying is now a crime in Victoria punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

Brodie's Law Foundation - The law against bullying in Victoria, Australia

 

Being the only female on a development team often the builders would place the showers block directly opposite the meeting room and then host meetings at knock off time or forgot to order an independent toilet so I had no choice to use the men's.

My own pranks have been mild. Love the taping up the sensor under a mouse so it does not work. Installing the blue screen of death on computers and my favourite was changing my CEO's mobile ring tone to the chicken dance and having it turned up loud during an important meeting.

 

I don't smoke, so I was more in danger of dying from the other practical jokes.

Mind you; I've also had some cups of coffee which tasted worse than petrol.

 

The problem is when the leadership role/s are filled with jerks, then they have hired jerks under them it snow balls. So when a decent person comes along the culture isn't friendly.

 

We got done over big time by the boss once. We told the new apprentice that it was his job to take all the dirty rags home and wash them (they normally just go in the bin).

The big boss man saw the apprentice loading them into his boot and asked him what he was doing. After the apprentice explained he told him he was an idiot then they came up with a plan. The boss hired an actress to play his mum, then the next day this actress came in the factory going absolutely mental, screaming at everyone trying to find out who had broken her washing machine. There was quite a few red faces that day.

 

We didn't have windows let alone a mouse in my early days. We had to resort to using a real (dead) mouse hidden in a drawer or other hiding place. After a week in summer it would stink.