Since I set up my home office, I still like to e-mail my former cubicle inmates, most of whom are pretending to be working.
I confess: I miss a little of the office prattle. When I crack jokes in my e-mail with one friend in particular, she’ll respond with “lol”.
That stands for “laugh out loud.”
Or, when I’m really on my game, she’ll write, LOL. All caps. Bold.
I always feel validated when I would read those little initials, like I’m the Chris Rock of the virtual set.
Then, I read some startling statistics.
Did you know that 65 percent of the people who write “lol” are not laughing out loud? Did you know that 20 percent aren’t even smiling? Furthermore, 35 percent of those who wrote LOL are not laughing out any louder than those who wrote the little-letter lol?
It’s really a case of e-phoniness—the electronic form of the polite laugh, or the boss-told-a-joke belly laugh that is designed to giggle your way out of the downsizer’s noose or, at least, gain release from extra work over the holidays.
Well, I left all that office political intrigue behind the day I opened up my own business and I will not take any electronic brown nosing from now on. Not on my watch!
From now on, I don’t just take lol’s for granted.
I always respond with AYSYALOL IWP.
"Are you sure you are laughing out loud? I want proof."
And remember:
Your customers are always right. Even the crazy ones. Which should explain your mental state as a small business owner.
LOL
Stella
“Startup Stella contributes to this blog from her two-dimensional world, which you can learn more about by visiting this cartoon strip StartupNation created to share Stella’s quirky but classic entrepreneurial epiphanies with you.”
