”Too many people view their jobs as a five-day prison from which they are paroled
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every Friday ， ”says Joel Goodman ， founder of The Humor Project ， a humor-consulting group in Saratoga Springs， New York. Humor unlocks the office prison because it lets adults bring some of their childlike spirit to the job.
According to Howard Pallio， professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee，
Knoxville ， an office with humor breaks is an office with satisfied and productive
employees. Pollio conducted the study that proved humor can help workers excel at routine production tasks. Employees perform better when they have fun .
In large corporations with a hierarchy of power， there is often no outlet for stress， “Every company needs underground ways of poking fun at the organization， ”says Lynn N Mark ， the speaker on workplace humor for St . Mary's Health Center in
St. Louis . 7
Kodak's Rochester New York branch discovered a way for its 20 000 employees to uncork their bottled-up resentments . Their 1 000 square foot ”Humor Room”
features a “toy store”. ”Among the room's many stress-reducing gadgets， the main attraction is a boss doll with detachable arms and legs. Employees can take the doll apart， as long as they put its arms and legs back in place.
Sandy Cohen， owner of a graphic print-production business， created ”The Quote
Board” to document the bizarre phrases people say when under strict
deadlines. ”When you’re under stress， you say stupid things， ”says Cohen， “now we just look at each other and say that’s one for the Quote Board!”
9. What does the passage say about humor in the workplace?
10. What does the study by Howard Pollio show?
11. What can Kodak's employees do in the Humor Room?
