Ep.99 - Play at Work Has Gone Too Far. Time for a National Serious Day?

Everyone's banging on about play at work. But what about the forgotten people? The ones who haven't smiled since 1985, who stare blankly at walls, who genuinely love a spreadsheet. Where's their day? In this Inbetweener, John and Simon make the case for a National Serious Day. An antidote to all the frivolity. A corporate liver cleanse to flush out the fun. A chance to finally celebrate the colleagues who have absolutely no personality, hobbies, or sense of humour, and have been quietly enduring forced smiles for decades. Proposed activities include: Mandatory silence for the first three hours of the day, with pay docked for any facial expression A meeting about meetings, with no outcomes, bring your own sandwich A team-building event where everyone reads the HR handbook out loud, line by line, footnotes included The ISO 9001 Quality Manual, optional second reading No jammy dodgers. None. Halfway through, John realises he actually quite likes the sound of this.  The studies, allegedly, back it up. A Romanian corporation has introduced No Laughter Mondays and it's now the most attended day of the week. One middle manager reports staring at her apartment wall, thinking about spreadsheets while her colleagues are out golfing, and she's never felt more efficient. Couples who switched to serious-chat-only marriages are going to bed at 9 pm and have never been happier. Children, fed in silence with no bedtime stories, are thriving. It's basically modern stoicism. Seneca would approve. The Occupational Philosophers think this idea has legs. Listeners are invited to nominate a date, suggest other national days, and join the movement. Just don't enjoy it. Stop playing, don't make stuff, stop having fun for goodness sake. Come back inside, open some spreadsheets, and knuckle down some serious work. Say Hello www.occupationalphilosophers.com  Substack https://occupationalphilosophers.substack.com/   Is your company innovative? Take the Scorecard for an instant report https://empoweringinnovation.scoreapp.com/  Their day jobs JOHN: https://www.bowlandconsulting.com/  SIMON: www.simonbanks.com.au  SIMON SHOWREEL: https://youtu.be/YZQdJI6qGvg