The Real Office Olympics

Even though I've written about this clip before, I keep coming back to it. Yes, those gentlemen are in deed rowing down the aisle, passing cubicle and conference desk. And yes again, this clip is still very funny.

And still, it gives me pause.

I was, at the time, Googling for some reference to the fun-work connection, thinking, as I am wont to do, thoughts remarkably similar to those that led me to writing an article called the "The Fun of Work," in which I muse on the fun that people report actually having whilst actually working. And, ironically enough, I am reminded of the non-working kind of fun at work illustrated in the image, and am forced to admit to myself how much more fun it might be.

One one hand, this Office Olympics idea veritably reeks of fun. A kind of fun that has been researched in depth by the department of Library Sciences at Kent State University, as documented in this Office Olympics 2000: The games from down under, wherein one reads about the inevitability of Periodical Ping Pong and the exacting performance required of the Rubber Band Archer.

And on yet another hand, I can't help but reflect upon what one might call the "Real Office Olympics" and the amazing, undocumented accomplishments of those business athletes who meet the challenge of the daily task-on-hand, and find therein delight.