Fun at work

We've been having a blast at work this week. One of my coworkers bought some Nerf dart guns, with little squishy rubber tipped darts. Today she got squishy darts with suction cups on the end. Then our supervisor got velcro tipped squishy darts. It will be quiet in the office for a few hours, then a shot will be fired. A dart will whiz through the room, past someone's head, and the battle will be on. All four of us sharing an office will spend five or ten minutes shooting darts at each other, or at each others' possessions. It's a wonderful way to blow off some steam, to take a break from really mind bending work, or to just have a good laugh as the dart sticks to the monitor across the room.

We were having a lot of worry-free fun until one of our customers walked in while we were having a battle. He laughed, but it gave our supervisor pause. What impression did our merrymaking have on the customer? Did he suddenly start wondering whether we do any work at all? Would he complain about the time we were wasting?  (Those are questions that ran through my head.) Thankfully it didn't dampen the spirit of the game, but it got me thinking, as stuff at work often does, about fun at work.

Is it appropriate to have a roaring good time in the office?  What does it hurt to do this? The only answers I can come up with are "Yes" and "Nothing".  It is appropriate for people who work closely together on stressful problems to find an outlet for the frustrations of their work that isn't detrimental to their health. Should people hold it all in and go out after work to pickle their livers? I think it's much better for our health and for office morale to be able to spend some time joking around and playing. It hurts nothing. As long as work gets done and we continue to make progress in new initiatives, it really shouldn't matter that we're laughing our butts off because someone pegged me in the back of my head while I was trying to work. 

I hear a lot that it's all about perception. Well, my perception of people who stick their noses into everyone else's business and complain about coworkers having fun is this: if you can pay that much attention to my job, you might not be paying enough attention to your own. Erroneous perceptions should be corrected immediately. Yes, you walked in to a bunch of grown children playing in the office, but those same people just solved a major problem and wanted to celebrate a bit. Or they are dealing with something frustrating or difficult and need to take a little break to refocus their brains. Or maybe those people who whine about fun at work really need to be asked what they are doing so far away from their desks during the workday.