Bosses typically don't have the best senses of humor around the office (mine not included, of course. He's simply the wittiest fellow in the building - the city - the state! And I'm not just saying that because he might read this. And I'm definitely not saying that to protect myself during any potential "sale" or so-called "layoffs.")

But most bosses would be less than impressed to discover you and a colleague had chosen to play an intense round of "white board magnet toss" to decide who was going to change the ink cartridge in the department printer.

Should a Friday afternoon office meeting devolve into Red Rover, Red Rover...well, HR might get called.

In the defense of office antics I must remind managers, directors and VPs across the state: Times are tough. The economy's in the crapper and unemployment is running as sticky and deep as the spring mud. We little workers need to blow off some steam. Shake it off. Laugh a little, even if it requires the sacrifice of a few trusty and hardworking staplers.

Maybe your office environment allows for a game of Extreme CD-RW Frisbee. Or maybe that kind of behavior isn't appreciated by your ER patients, political constituents or fellow librarians. So what then?

Enter Office Olympics at Jimmy the Greeks.

Every Friday from 6-8 pm, the folks at the Old Orchard Beach restaurant/bar set up a round of Olympic-level games like Sharpie darts and Wii bowling. Teams of four (officemates, friends or fellow unemployed) compete against one another for the title of Office Olympics Champion.

Last Friday, the games were kicked off with the announcement, "We're celebrating today. We have new bathrooms!" [Insert sincere applause].

My group's fourth still hadn't arrived when we were told the games' first event would be one-on-one Twister. After an exchange of "not it" went around, we three agreed that our late-arriving fourth would do the honors. We're good friends like that.

Victoria took the no-holds-barred round of Twister in stride and won (though not without a fight).

My team picked up a few more points during the mini-golf round (we call it putt-putt where I'm from, but it's hard to argue terminology with a plastic, child-sized club in your hands).

The final event, Office Chair Obstacle Course, was by far the fiercest of the night's competitions.

My team caused a rumble of mid-game protestations from opposing teams because we (read: I) failed to put the box of markers in the chair behind us as required by game guidelines.

Obstacle faux pas aside, we still we slipped into the finals. But following game rules was too much to bear and we lost time by not cheating.

The winning team continues their month-long reign.

So today, as you swivel restlessly in your desk chair and muse over the potential of "52 Paperclip PickUp," let me offer you an alternative. Let the office supplies be. Rescue your manager from the effort of reprimanding you. She may thank you later by, say, not pushing your name to the top of the "Fireable" list.

Save the Sharpie Darts for Jimmy's. Office Olympics continues through April.