I’m sure I’m not the only Black Belt who has conversations like these:

Someone coming to a meeting in the BB office/cubicle area for the first time: “Wow, I’ve never been to your office before. It’s not very… 6S’d, is it? Ha ha!”

Team member, at a meeting: “Boy, I thought you Black Belts were always supposed to be on time… 100% yield rate, ha ha!”

Team member, during brainstorming: “Well, let’s hear from the Black Belt now, you’re supposed to have all the answers, aren’t you? Ha ha!”

Significant other: “Honey, where are the car keys? Aren’t you supposed to have standard work or something for where you put them? Ha ha!”

Now, none of these jokes would play very well at your local Comedy Castle, but people sure seem to think they’re the soul of wit when they come up with these gems.

It reminds me of when I was working in a bookstore for a while, while I was laid off from a previous organization. The first time the books didn’t scan, I heard, “Well that means I get them for free, doesn’t it?” – Which was moderately humorous. The second, third, and thousandth time, it didn’t seem so funny.

So, it looks like the only thing we BBs can do, other than become Supermen and Superwomen, is to come up with our own brand of Black Belt Humor. Gary Cox does a great job helping us see the lighter side of our improvement efforts. Now, all we need is our own Rodney Dangerfield to give the rest of us some good lines! Any volunteers???