No laughing allowed

We've all worked in that office where it's frowned down upon to date coworkers, be friendly with the boss, come in late, leave early, become to "friendly" with sources/clients ... but have you ever worked in one where it wasn't OK to laugh?

Me either, until now.

It's been a problem ever since I came back to this job ... and actually now that I think about it, it's a problem my predecessor had when she was here.

But if at any time, I get giggly with my coworkers, my boss will sneak up behind me and hand me some obscure assignment, a press-release to rework, or simply say something like "shh!"

Seriously, I feel like I'm at a sleepover and my mom has to work in the morning.

Only, I'm a grown woman busting my ass in a job that already pays me jackshit where I have no real benefits, and yet I can get "punished" for something like laughing.

Well, it kind of came to a head today when my friend/coworker and I were giggling about Jimmy Fallon's "Thank You Notes" (which is really funny and I recommend it, just maybe don't read it at work, haha) and all of a sudden she and I both got an ichat that said, "fyi, i know you two get along great, but be advised, this is a taxing morning. often we all can hear you too laugh. and that's normally fine. but huge mistake made in tab and we all need to fly under the radar. fyi"

That HUGE mistake in the tab wasn't my fault, and it wasn't my friend's fault. It was the fault of the new entertainment "Editor" they hired site unseen. She only has college experience and hasn't worked for a publication in THREE YEARS. She has no work ethic, no attention span, and cannot multi-task.

I was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, but it's been a month, and there are no signs of improvement or personality, therefore, I don't give a shit and I should not be punished for someone else's inefficiencies.

You see, the problem is, she fucked up. This caused our big boss, a retired Marine, to get snippy with her, so entertainment girl went to the features editor for a remedy, who went to our main editor, who also got snipped at by our big boss, and then our editor got snippy with us.

We got caught in their web of bullshit.

We were innocent bystanders trying to make work suck less by having a little laugh.

Laughing is like cussing — it relieves stress.

And working in news, there's a shit ton of stress and very little breathing room or time off, so let us just have this, this one little giggle in the morning before the craziness of the day starts.

Honestly. After learning earlier this week just how CRAPPY my employer provided insurance is, and being reminded how little I make, this is one of those straws that almost breaks the camel's back and leads me to want to job hunt. After all, I've been here a year already, by my standards, that's a record and usually means it's time to start looking.

I realize it's a small thing, but some days, it's the little things that count. (I realize this is a petty complaint, but since I can't have a laugh, just let me have this!)