20 Something Career Girl Rule #2

2. Mastering a faux laugh.

In the three years that I’ve been with my current company, I’ve really been able to master the faux laugh. The faux laugh is one that you need to force or fake because 1. whatever the person you are talking to said is not funny and there’s nothing more awkward than silence or 2. the person you are talking to is full of shit but he/she’s your superior so you are obligated to contribute to the boisterous conversation by “laughing” at their jokes.

I had a really hard time getting one down, but like anything, with practice comes perfection. Sometimes I can’t even tell if I’m really laughing or I’m faking it, yes I’m that good. LOL, jk.  I work in a classic corporate setting, you have your executives (Caucasian middle age male), directors (predominantly male), project managers (male), and then your administrative staff (100% female).  I’m not exactly administrative, however I do identify more with the girls than I do with the project managers or anyone else at that matter.

I remember when I first started out, fresh out of college, I was uninterested in my job, I was highly depressed about not being able to ditch work the way I would ditch class on a bright sunny day. I would be included in endless meetings that I didn’t know what they were talking about and the one thing that I zeroed in on during those meetings was that I needed to be laughing when other people were laughing.

I tried a few out on my boyfriend to see if he would notice the difference between a genuine and fabricated laugh. He immediately picked up on the fake one the first couple times but after some practice I was golden.

At one point in everyone’s life, you learn that you need to be able to laugh at yourself to be comfortable in society. I’m applying it to a large scale because it seems that laughter is required in every setting that I can think of. Laughter makes everything ok, even when it shouldn’t be ok.  I can go on an entire other tangent on why laughter in society but I’ll save it for another day.