Humor In Training
While facilitating a class for newly appointed managers, we noticed a few participants looked a little overwhelmed. We decided to lighten things up a bit, and started the session on hiring and managing personnel with the following true story.
The evening before the session started, my co-facilitator and myself met to discuss the agenda. When finished, we went sight seeing for a few hours. As the night wound down, we needed to stop for fuel and thought we may pick up some treats for breaks during the classes. My partner, a very sweet lady from Tennessee, decided to pick out the snacks, while i paid for the fuel. I was driving a dark grey Volvo. She was finished with her transaction before I was, so she exited the store. As I was at the counter, I noticed she was walking up from a different car at a different pump. She hopped in the Volvo laughing hysterically. I entered the car and asked the obvious. “Did you forget which car we drove?” She responded, now laughing so hard she was crying,”oh, it’s much worse than that!” At about that time, a young man in a dark grey Chevrolet pulled up beside me, beeped his horn and shouted over at me- “Now that doesn’t happen every day!”
I looked to my partner who explained that not only had she gone to the wrong car, but she had actually opened the door, sat in her seat and buckled up. It was only when she pulled down the visor to apply some make-up that she noticed it had a pretty intense video system wired into it. It was then she realized what she had done. It was also the same time that a very handsome young man opened the door and entered the vehicle on the other side. As he looked curiously at her, she exclaimed- “Honey, I swear I ain’t been drinking” “That’s all right”, he said, “I just thought maybe Santa brought me an early present!”
As we shared this with the class, the entire mood changed. They were much more willing to share some about themselves. We applied it by asking if anyone had funny stories to share about the subject we were undertaking- hiring and managing personnel Some were very entertaining. Like the girl who claimed she had worked in a very high security level at a previous company. Unfortunately for her, most of the security had been directed towards her when the background check revealed multiple felonies and run-ins with law enforcement.
Humor, in the right context can be applied to almost any situation. It just takes some practice to work it into the right place.
Do you have any amusing stories you can share?
