Foolishness at work

Every workday morning at half past eight, we all gather for our 8:20 meeting. It used to start at 8:20 but that's an even longer story than this one. The 8:20 meeting is where supervisors from all departments meet in the break room to communicate about the workday. Sometimes the meetings are filled with strife and frustration but usually they are lighthearted and fun. This morning was fun. There wasn't a lot out of the ordinary going on. The meeting ended and somehow in the post meeting conversation, someone suggested an experiment/bet. We bought a package of Raspberry Zingers and left them in the center of the large table. The bet or experiment was- How long will they stay there? One of the guys wrote down predictions. I guessed it would be gone by lunch. There were about ten of us in on it.

The 8:20 was over by 8:45 and we all went back to work. First break was 9:00, around 9:30 Bill checked out the break room and reported via email that the bird was in the nest. I imagine a few other people popped in to check. Some time before 11:00, Robin visited the vending machines and noticed that the delicious coconut Zingers were gone. A mass email trumpeted the news. It was decided that I won. What did I win? The underestimate the level of morality in your coworkers prize?

The next thing we did was start a rumor. We bounced a couple ideas around and landed on this:

The vending machine company asked us to remove the Zingers from the machine because there had been a recall. They were on their way to pick up the tainted goods.

Then we planted the rumor on one employee. The rumor spread like wildfire although there was some speculation about the authenticity of the rumor. Someone smelled a rat. By early afternoon, we had also figured out who the culprit was. Toward the end of the workday, someone got the idea to print a fake news story about a recall of Zingers.

This is what I came up with.

Dolly Madison Announces Snack Recall

Dolly Madison Bakeries Wednesday announced the largest product recall in the company’s 65 year history.

The announcement was made shortly after seven people in Southern Michigan reported similar symptoms after consuming Raspberry Zingers®.

“We need to look into this situation, it could be an unrelated issue but in the interest of public safety, we like to err on the side of caution.” Announced Thomas Heinger, public relations manager for the Wisconsin Bakery.

The recall is limited to a 4 state area where the suspect products were shipped and includes Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The two products that have been removed from the shelves are Raspberry Zingers ® and Donut Gems ®. No illnesses have been linked in any way to the Gems but both products came from the same facility.

Dolly Madison urges consumers from these four states to discard any Zingers or Gems purchased in the last two weeks and to go immediately to the hospital if they experience dizziness, nausea or anal bleeding after consuming their products.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

It looked pretty good. I took a Word class at the college and I have a few skills. I had a picture and everything. Then we planted the "article" on another mule (actually the same mule). That spread around the shop. After that, it kind of fizzled, the workday was winding down, everyone had a good laugh and the weekend was upon us.

I think I went too far when I added anal bleeding.