Work is either fun or drudgery.

It depends on your attitude. I like fun. (Courtesy of Colleen C. Barrett). 

As mentioned in my previous post, I spent two summers and a winter holiday working in the Cosmetics Department of a department store. The first summer, I perhaps took my orientation training a bit too seriously. I didn't converse with a lot of my colleagues and didn't get to know them very well. This made work the very definition of drudgery. 

I came back the next summer and changed that. I started building relationships with the people I worked with, and my morale improved exponentially. I'm convinced they are some of the coolest people I have met and ever will meet. Work became fun. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that you ignore your duties and make work a party (though we did occasionally break out into song/dance in the middle of the day). But sometimes, it's a good idea to share a few laughs to break up the monotony. A fun way to do this is to share some inside jokes, or maybe watch videos on YouTube, force others to watch them, and quote them incessantly. We call this "homework." As in, "Here's the url, don't forget to watch your homework tonight and come to work tomorrow prepared to talk about/quote it."

Though I did this with many of my colleagues, Chanel James* and I had entire conversations made up of inside jokes and random quotes, probably to the great annoyance of others around us (sorry Ashley). 

Here's to you, James: HEPL M! Cheerleader, Whatsherface, Soandso, The Ugly One! That was different.

Left to right: Mandi, Viva, Pam, (Chanel) James

Ashley, Liz 

Second pic stolen from Liz! Sorry, it's a good one!

Aren't inside jokes fab? (Said in a Sarah Palin voice...that one's for you, Mandi). 

You guys have any good ones? Work stories? Jokes? 

*Use of prefix for Chanel James is to avoid confusion with my boyfriend, also named James.