humorless people suck, a tale in two parts

I.   Obviously I survived The Weekend From Hell. Thank goodness THAT'S over! I'm oddly disappointed to be returning to PseudoCorp given that nobody there is mean to me and I love the sustainability and civility policies (yes, there's an office civility policy--NOBODY is allowed to be rude to ANYBODY there, and visitors who are rude will be escorted from the building by security, FOR REALS), and after some thought realized that it's because the person I work most closely with there is, while perfectly nice, utterly humorless. I feel mean for saying this about the employee in question, who is cheerful and morally upright and volunteers their time for good causes and donates blood regularly, but the simple truth is that I have never in over a week of working with them for eight hours a day seen them laugh. And it's not that there haven't been funny things going on...this person just looks uncomfortable or even horrified when others are laughing, and I...well. I HATE that. And I'm frustrated by it, because I want to love PseudoCorp and can only feel lukewarm about the job at best due to The Wet Blanket.

II.   Today I was helping a customer at Weekend Warrior Job when he looked over my shoulder and his face fell. "Someone DREW on GEORGE!" he exclaimed, like he'd just seen someone kick a puppy. I looked behind me and saw this:

Figure One: Pirate George says "Aaaargh!"

   "Ah, yes, well, I guess he was a pirate for Halloween," I said.
   "That's a felony," the guy said.
   "Well, I didn't do it," I replied, smiling and holding my hands up, palms out.
   "Someone who works here committed a felony," he said grimly, looking around as if trying to pick out the felon and then at me, expectantly. I blinked. "Uh...have a nice day?"

   Humorless people suck. 

Comments

[Attorney At Large]

I think your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make The Wet Blanket laugh.

[May]

Oh God. Humourless people (What? I'm British. HUMOUR me). We have one at work and she's so very nice and yet, and yet. I have given up making any kind of even vaguely ironic, satirical, or frivolous remark in her presence, because the next ten minutes of EXPLAINING always make me want to bang my head on the desk.

Worse, though, is the dear person who has all the wit and funny of a breeze-block, yet persists in making 'jokes'. Verbatim repeats of something a comedian said on the telly last night, with absolutely no sense of context, pacing, or tone. Puns. Laboured, over-egged puns, with no real relevance to the conversation. And then he chortles madly and then he realises we're all smiling politely and it hurts his feelings and we all feel a bit guilty, also, like smacking him a tiny bit.

Pirate George for Halloween WAS funny. So there.

[K]

I have quite a bit of schtick--a little something for everyone, I like to think--and yet when I started my current job, found someone who laughed at NONE OF IT. It bummed me out.

HOW CAN YOU NOT LAUGH?!

I've decided it's freakish.

[Melissa]

I do not trust people who don't laugh. They surely have the mark of the beast on their person.

[ChaosRu]

Hmm, sounds like a social cue misfire of some kind. Maybe she is on the spectrum, too? Perhaps she wakes up in the night and laughs out loud when she finally gets the joke?

I try to give the benefit of the doubt but I am pretty sure most of these people need a good round of kicks in the pants. I think Jerry Lewis said it best that even the disabled can be jerks.