TallFatSue
Well-Known Member
When are fat jokes harmless, and when are they mean-sprited? To be honest, the harmless variety don't bother me, because I take it as gentle ribbing, which is a sort of bonding. This morning one of the clowns at our company forwarded a list of words with funny definitions, and I took gentle exception to these two: 
Then I told him I loved this word, because as a confirmed wise ass my comments sometimes draw blank stares.
Naturally I found an excuse to visit the above clown, who was in another department. I mentioned with a smile that I would be *flabbergasted* if he thought I might *abdicate* my duties, and gently patted my belly for emphasis. After about a 2-second blank stare, the light in his head turned on, his face turned red and he stammered an apology. That's okay, I said, I wasn't offended because those fat jokes were harmless and I never wanted a flat stomach anyway, but I just wanted to tease him a little.
Then I told him I loved this word, because as a confirmed wise ass my comments sometimes draw blank stares.
It's *good* to be a manager, but ya gotta know when and how to take action. Sometimes a gentle tweak is all it needs. Besides, this gave me a good excuse to visit a different department to help maintain some personal contact over there.
