INTRODUCTION
A word before we begin
Okay, so you're considering purchasing, borrowing or stealing this book. If you do, the hope is it improves your health. Sceptical? Here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about laughter.
Short term
Stimulates organs, oxygen intake, heart, lungs and muscles; fires up and cools down the stress response; soothes tension and aids relaxation.
Long term
Improves immune response, relieves pain, increases personal satisfaction and connection, improves mood, and helps you connect with other people.
Apart from Mrs. Vukdivanov, the great loves in my life are football, music and comedy although, according to the gospel of Eric Morecambe, not necessarily in that order.
Office workers had far greater access to photocopiers and computers than their industrial counterparts, so the medium tended to be hardcopy or electronic, meaning jokes passed along with very little change to the original and offices were quieter domains that allowed a greater degree of subtlety to flourish.
During five decades working in offices, some of the funniest moments were completely unintentional utterances.
OVERHEARD • THE OFFICE FLOOR
"Did you get the thumbs-up?" a colleague asked, on return from a company medical.
Some were also entirely deliberate - the book contains a great story where one colleague took the view that life was a series of endless possibilities, which gave him a considerable advantage when it came to lateral thinking.
Comic strips shaped things too. Garfield arrived in 1978, a couple of years into working life, and was a game-changer for being clearly aimed at a wide audience. Calvin & Hobbes followed in 1985 often called "the last great newspaper comic" before Dilbert landed in 1989, instantly recognisable to anyone in a micro-managed office.
Over the years, several books' worth of material passed through these hands, gathered from joke sheets typed up and photocopied around the insurance industry, cartoons and visual imagery, e-mails once the digital age made things easier, and the odd bits and pieces that caught the eye along the way. The best of them are now waiting to be discovered by you.