It’s Monday morning. You come back to your desk to find a manila envelope with office birthday cards inside. It’s for Bob in Accounting. You really don’t know Bob in Accounting. You stare vacantly down at the spots left on the card and your mind blanks. This is the third card to sign this month and you are running out of things to say. How can you keep yourself entertained as well as leave co-workers with a chuckle? Instead of the same monotonous scribbling, I came up with a few wittier comments to jot down that may get a little more attention. As an alternative to Happy Birthday Bob, give one of these a try…
For general birthday cards write “I’m sorry for your loss” or “my thoughts and prayers are with you at this time”. I have yet to build up the guts to write happy birthday in a sympathy card. How about “See a penny, pick it up, all day long, you’ll have a penny”. Or my favorite, simply cross out someone’s name who has already written something and put yours underneath. They can still read the message and see who it’s from but it saves time and may be interpreted as humorous. For someone who is retiring write “Quitter”! For just about any occasion you could jot down “Have a great summer”. Maybe randomly sign “It was a pleasure working with you on that weird pointless project”. The creative options are endless. This time leave Bob with a giggle or a puzzled look rather than another boring Happy Birthday.