Office Games

I like my job. I like what I do, as a skill and general effort. However, like any job, it can get mundane as one gets better at it. I can do my job efficiently and proactively with a bitchin' hangover or with the flu. So I'd give myself a solid pat on the back and vehemently state that I've become quite good at it.

Though, there's down time to. An efficient worker must break up the day with varying events of a somewhat excitable nature. This is why some studies state that smokers are more efficient. This is because they take breaks, those cancer-prone geniuses.

Work is fun if you make it fun. That does involve the hazard of mockery of others. Fortunately, my office complex provides plenty of opportunities for this.

My boss and I have developed several games that pretty much just involve predicting a specific individuals behavior based on 1) gender 2) clothing and 3) other behaviors (smoking, walking oddly, talking loudly, things of that nature).

Game #1: Open Sesame
There is a restaurant that is loosely classified as a "grill" in the first floor of the building adjacent to ours. It serves food that might make Denny's slightly envious. The levels of MSG are likely quite high and for some reason a half of a turkey sandwich makes 15 minutes to make. There is a door that is constantly left open by weary office-worker patrons, allowing the breeze to blow napkins about and my skirt up over my ass.

We've noticed that the culprits of leaving open the door typically have common features. The object of "open sesame" is to properly bet on and classify who is going to leave the door open and who is actually going to close it behind them. I'm currently at 12 of 20. I think I hold a strong chance of picking up my ratio in first quarter 2009.

Game #2: Re-Name the Adult Human
Many people are not properly named. Their parents may have had horrible foresight, or were unfortunately not aware of what pop culture references and characters may change the inference of their child's name. Damn them for not being able to tell the future. So these children, that are now adults, need the help of my boss and I to properly rename them. While this game has no way of "winning" or "losing" per se, it's an excellent time. Just wait to bring up a name like "Perry" which has no connotation other than "Luke Perry". Watch the laughs fly.

Game #3: Bait the Sharks
Being the marketing department affords the luxury of receiving gifts of food and goodies during the holidays and on birthdays. Office workers tend to love food, because, as previously mentioned, it breaks up the monotony of a skill that has been very well learned.

So why keep these lovely yummies all to ourselves? We share. We feed the sharks in the central office kitchen. Anything placed on the office kitchen is automatically up for the munching. The object of game is to properly estimate the amount of time it will take for the sharks to consume the bait.

This of course depends on a variety of factors: type of snack, amount of snack, number of people in the office at the current time.

Here is a typical breakdown of time until complete consumption:

Cake - 40 minutes
Cookies - 20 minutes
Fruit - 6 hours
Vegetables - 8 hours
Sandwiches - 30 minutes
Salad - 3 hours

I am very surprised at the amount of time cake takes until complete consumption. Oh well, perhaps I've overestimated gluttony.

I encourage you to implement these games in you own work setting. Report back with your fun Office Games stories.