One of my friends who's been a retailer for 25+ years always shares his wacky employee staffing stories with me. And when I say wacky, I mean wacky! Every holiday season he operates 25-50 kiosks across the country, and one year he told me that an employee actually took down a portion of the kiosk to bring in a few items from home, including a recliner, small refrigerator and TV. He was caught three days after he "re-merchandised."

Yesterday, I heard a story on our local news station about a young artist who decided to construct an apartment at the Providence Place Mall in Rhode Island. He scoped out the space during construction, started storing supplies and two years later constructed cinderblock walls to create what he called a "luxury apartment" in the mall garage. He went undetected by mall security for an outstanding four years! Take a look at his video… it's really crazy.

I talked a couple of months ago about how important I think it is to have a few laughs in the office (or your retail location). As I mentioned before, studies have shown that levity can lead to increased productivity in the workplace. With research supporting a few chuckles a day, I try to bring a joke or funny story into the office regularly. Our staff has followed suit and we have quite a few jokers here.

This morning my husband decided to circulate an image of two squirrels—one was giving the other one a back massage—along with a message that suggested we use the attached image in an email marketing piece. He sent the email out to six or seven employees, and in a matter of minutes everyone was screaming that the image shouldn't be used because it wasn't professional.

He then proceeded to email everyone and let them in on the joke. It caused quite a few laughs when everyone realized he wasn't losing it and it was a great way to start the day.

I encourage you to incorporate humor where you work… share a joke at your next sales meeting or post a joke of the day in a store journal.

If you've implemented this idea already, let us know.