Fun at work

I used to work in Fresno at Valley Regional Office (aka VRO) of a company called McMahan’s Furniture Company. Our office supported the 30 McMahan’s Furniture stores in the valley district. All the purchasing and inventory control was done in our office, as well as all the accounting. About 35 people worked in that office, both men and women, and the office was designed so that most of the desks were in one big room. We were like one big happy family. Most of the employees were women, and when you get that many sisters in one room, you can bet it makes for an interesting day.

We had a saying among us, “You’re not here to have fun,” but in fact, there was not a day that went by we didn’t have some kind of fun. As another saying goes, “If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.” We’d laugh ’til we cried, and there was always something going on that would make us enjoy our times together.

I have many good memories of working in that office, and even after more than 25 years, some of us who worked there still occasionally get together. We stay in touch with Christmas cards, and through Facebook.

It is important to have a work environment that is enjoyable. We spend a good bit of our time in the workplace, and this is too many hours in a week not to have some time of laughter and fun. At The Madera Tribune, we are having monthly potlucks now. We have some pretty good cooks here. Tyler usually brings the meat, as he loves to barbecue. We all look forward to what he brings. Katrina is good at coming up with a theme, and she also always brings something delicious. Christy has brought some mighty delicious dishes she has fixed. Corrie has a habit of tempting us throughout the month with goodies she brings, usually fattening stuff, and puts them at the front desk for all to enjoy.

We recently started having monthly drawings. Every employee gets tickets with their paychecks each time they get paid. They may put the tickets in the jar for the next drawing, or they might want to keep their tickets and save them up so they have a bunch of tickets in one drawing. There are various prizes for these drawings. Many of them are re-gifting items from my house. Some of them are “white elephants” (one person’s trash is another’s treasure). This serves two purposes: 1) It is meant to be fun, and 2) It gets things out of my house and into someone else’s house. Sometimes, however, the prizes will not be items from my house. They could be gift cards or some items from our advertisers. It is interesting to see how much the employees enjoy this activity.

Whatever you do in life, appreciate each day and the people who share the days with you. Life is more enjoyable when we do what we can to make it enjoyable for others. Have a blessed day!

— My love to all,

Nancy

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“Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.”

I Corinthians 10:24