Friday Funny

So what do you do, facility managers? Can you train your staff to respond to situations like this so they react "professionally" rather than instinctively? Is it possible to stifle the natural inclination to laugh when you see something like this unfold in front of your eyes?

While this has been knocking around for some time, it's still quite funny. Imagine if Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today. Their infamous sketch, 'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this.

The next time you want to make some sort of company wide announcement about a new facility management policy that may be slightly unpopular, you may consider the power of the pastel kitty and the strategic head tilt!

Genuine submissions of flashes of humor found in and around the workplace.

So the next time you're considering a restroom facelift, why not get creative like these folks did?

So often, the mall food court offers up a less than inspirational experience for patrons, employees, and people just passing through. But on November 13, 2010 unsuspecting shoppers got a big surprise while enjoying their lunch. Over 100 participants in this Christmas Flash Mob.

After discovering that a large number of people involved in CERN projects are accomplished musicians, ATLAS has taken the amazing step of recording and releasing an album.

For several decades, facility professionals have been told that technology will signal the dawning of a new age of efficiency and productivity. But anyone who has lost a presentation, a spreadsheet, a report, or an essential database due to a virus, worm, or other computer glitch would argue to the contrary...BIG time.

For facility professionals, restroom signs are pretty standard and straightforward. Or ARE they? Around the world, the universal language of biological necessity has a much more creative flair.

Now this prank has been knocking around online for more than a year, but I'm sure some people have never heard of it. It's pretty funny and purely harmless.

A series of viral, campy animations has been hitting the Internet over the past few months. These timely snippets come from the Hong Kong-based company, Next Media Animation. The latest covers the recent outbreak of bed bug complaints.

This Friday Funny actually ends the week on a bittersweet note, particularly for those who consider themselves fans of the late great Liberace. After 31 years of operation, the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas will close its doors this Sunday, October 17, 2010.

A German inventor has come up with the Intelli Chair—a chair that emits sounds from seatbacks and cushions to suggest when users should make posture adjustments or take breaks from sitting.

This past week, there were two interesting elevator related news items. The first was a piece examining elevator rider body posture. The second explained the safest way to survive a free fall in an elevator.

In the 80s, certain industries went a bit overboard with employee training videos in a desperate attempt to train the largest number of people in the shortest period of time (and at the lowest cost). The results were cringe worthy.

How did the facilities and operations people get 100 curious cats out—from behind walls (with power saws, apparently), exposed ceiling rafters, and all sorts of other unlikely places—in time to open one London area IKEA store to the public the next day?

Ever since computers became part of the workplace, users have struggled to keep their machines up and running. So what's a user to do? Call tech support. Easier said than done, as illustrated by this collection of "real" tech support nightmares.

Guests at Treehotel, which offers rooms incorporated into their natural surroundings, may need more than the most accurate satellite system to find their rooms in the sky.

Napo films feature characters in the world of work, faced with safety issues. Using a cartoon style and wordless language, they blend education, cultural neutrality, and humor.

What happens when the activities of a madcap group of overworked, frustrated architects is chronicled in the form of an old fashioned black and white comic strip? The result is a clever Web offering called Architexts. While originally created for the amusement of architectural professionals, some facility managers (and others in related fields) may also find it humorous.