A Message from the President
Hi Everyone,
Springtime in Northern California is a gorgeous site. The Flowers and Fruit Trees around my office are all blooming. I have only a few more weeks to do some spring skiing in the Sierra; my favorite place is Lake Tahoe. The view from the top of the Mountain is breathtaking. I hope you will all take this chance to get out, plant your garden, and go on a hike to that local place you have heard about but never taken the time to visit.
The recruiters here at KPS are busier than ever. We have been very blessed with great customers and they keep coming back to us for the quality people that we know. People like you. I have been working on two tough assignments recently. Both positions are in Japan, my client needs a Sales person and a Technical Marketing person. They want these people to have a background in Litho. If you know of anyone in Japan or someone who would like to return to Japan, please call.
I have been seeing in our culture that we admire people who are Heroes. I would like to talk to you about a couple of mine. There names are Cindi and Linda. Truly, I couldn’t make it through the day without them. They are the most visible people in my organization. They keep me organized, motivated and energized. I am very proud of them and blessed to have them on my team. They intuitively know what needs to be done, how to get it done and frankly I would be lost without them. Probably the most important thing they do for me is to help manage and prioritize my time in the office. They keep me on the phone and handle a lot of my distractions, which believe me, can be a chore. To them I will be eternally grateful. We have a lot of fun at our job. Here is an example of some of the shenanigans that go on around here.
They put in a full day on March 31st, then they spent the evening here in the office with family and friends inflating over 2000 12 inch balloons of all colors. When I walked into the office on Tuesday, April 1st I got the nicest “April Fools” Day Prank. My office was wall to wall and floor to ceiling balloons. Check out the photo. I have full days in my office, we are real busy, and it was nice to be silly for a while. When I opened the door to my office I was totally blown away at the sheer volume of color and latex that greeted me. You can’t imagine the pandemonium that ensued as we started popping the balloons. What an explosive time. Thanks to Cindi and Linda and Matt.
I wish all of you a happy and prosperous second quarter of 2008.
I look forward to seeing you all at Semicon West in July.
Sincerely,
Kevin Keifer
Welcome to the New Reality:
Navigating the Quagmire of Humor and Political Correctness
by David Granirer MA, North America's
Psychotherapist/Stand-up Comic
Confused is how many people feel when it comes to the whole idea of political correctness and workplace humor. Some resent having to watch every word that comes out of their mouth, while others now feel safer knowing their vulnerabilities won’t be targeted for ridicule. The bottom line is that political correctness has brought a whole new perspective to what is and isn’t acceptable humor. And that’s not necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just a reality to which people have to adjust.
In order to bring some clarity to this complicated and emotionally charged topic, it helps to put aside the issue of what is or isn’t politically correct, and look at the functionality of our humor. In other words, what healthy workplace humor is supposed to accomplish, and whether or not the way we use our humor accomplishes those purposes.
Healthy Workplace Humor
My definition of healthy workplace humor is "acts involving some sort of surprise and/or exaggeration that make people feel good." Certainly this can take the form of joke telling, but it can also take many others. Leaving a cookie on a coworker’s desk, giving an unexpected compliment, and sending an encouraging e-mail are all acts that involve some form of surprise ("Hey, I wasn’t expecting that!") and leave people feeling good.
read the entire article
David Granirer, 3633 Triumph Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5K 1V4, Canada.
david@psychocomic.com.
