Occasionally, a common workplace issue, such as lack of productivity on the Night Shift, can be addressed  using a surprise tactic. The other night, as K.Lo broke loose from her cubicle for the umpteenth time in a week, and the CEO grouched about having to get some work done for his Other Job (tell me about it!), I jumped in and took over. The little employee, wearing a Night Shift uniform of an oversized T-shirt and whale-patterned pajama pants, wore a look on her face that was equal parts defensive and worried. Defiant, yet pitiful. I said to her, "Come with me. You're going to help the Kitchen Staff."

For the next half hour or so, we made the first part of a cake for the next day's company holiday celebration. After a shade of initial skepticism that she really wasn't being punished for her ECC violation, K.Lo proved to be quite an enthusiastic apprentice in the Company Kitchen. She stirred up the strawberry Jell-o until all the ice cubes melted, she placed all 10 slices of pound cake into the pan, lining them up just right. And for her grand finale, she dumped 2 cups of blueberries and chopped strawberries into the Jell-o. As it does for The Manager, work in the Company Kitchen seemed to calm my employee right down.

Afterward, we returned to business as usual and marched back to K.Lo's cubicle, where I caught up on paperwork until the employee fell fully asleep at her desk. I'm pleased to note that she didn't complain this time, prior to clocking back onto her shift. And bonus, I was able to soak up some unexpected quality, one-on-one training session time with K.Lo. Totally a win-win.