June 2004 Food For Thought
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IN THIS ISSUE:

Political Correctness & Workplace Humor:
Can they coincide?

"Every man has his follies -- and often they are the most interesting thing he has got."
-Josh Billings

Confused when it comes to humor and political correctness in the workplace? You're not alone. While the concept of political correctness has provided a set of guidelines as to what is and isn't acceptable behavior, many employees feel they must fearfully watch every word that comes out of their mouths.

In order to bring some clarity to this issue, it helps to first push aside what is or isn't politically correct, and just look at the purpose of humor. As a general rule, healthy workplace humor should achieve healthy outcomes. Mainly, it should release tension, create of sense of acceptance and restore a positive perspective to a given situation.

Outcomes such as these work two-fold. They help create an atmosphere of fun and they are non-controversial. In other words, these outcomes are things everyone supports, regardless of their views on political correctness.

So good criteria for the use of workplace humor is to ask yourself if it promotes or undermines the outcomes mentioned above. Obviously, making jokes about religion, ethnicity or sexuality is not going to create a sense of acceptance, nor will it put a positive spin on a situation. So what's left to joke about" you might be asking yourself. Quite simply, there is plenty. Take note of the material below.

Yourself. Making fun of yourself, your flaws, your imperfections, etc. is a sure-fire way to get a laugh without offending anyone. For example, you can make light of your lack of willpower when it comes to your weaknesses" maybe it's chocolate, soap operas, tabloid magazines, etc. People will get a laugh out of that, and they will be able to relate to your "pain."�

Shared experiences and situations. Poking fun of the situations you all face, i.e. always-changing regulations and rules, the difficult patients you deal with, etc. is a great way to build camaraderie. A few words of caution here: be aware of your surroundings. You don't want to make a joke about patients if they're within an earshot. If you're at lunch with co-workers, this would be an acceptable time and place to use humor. For example, you could say something like, "Don't you hate it when patients think we're their personal assistants!"�

Things which you have no control over. There are things in life that we have no control over, and sometimes the best remedy is to just have a good laugh about it. Skyrocketing gas prices, long waits at airports, annoying commercials on the radio are just a few things that we can't change, but can joke about.

We are clever and creative beings. We have the ability to be humorous while considerate at the same time. Indeed, before the era of "political correctness"� it was easy to get a laugh by putting someone else down. However, we've come to see the error of our ways. We know that vulgar humor only creates negativity and hostility" and that's nothing to joke about.