I went to the Doctor yesterday because I kept seeing Bingo Balls in front of my eyes. The Doctor said "Have you seen an Optician?" I said "Nope, just bingo Balls!" (groan).

Q: What's  black and white and screams "Yes Yes Yes!"
A: Penguin winning at Bingo

This is true! At my previous place of employment, there was an annual All-Staff event where we went along to hear how well we had done in the year, and plans for next year. These were agonisingly tedious affairs, full of NewSpeak and hip commercial and business phrases. One of the junior staff decided to make one of these events a little livelier by holding a secret game of "Bull Bingo".  He prepared 30 cards, each containing a selection of phrases and words that were likely to be used at the event.

As I remember (I've lost my Bull Bingo card!) the words included Synergy, Strategic fit, Core competencies, Thinking out of the box, Take that off-line, 24/7, Out of the loop, Benchmark, Value-added, Proactive, Bandwidth, Win-win scenario, stretch the envelope, Fast track, Results-driven, Task-oriented, Employee Empowerment, Knowledge base, At the end of the day, Touch base, Mindset, Customer Focus, Ballpark figure, Game plan, Building Blocks of Excellence, Leverage and the like.

Each time a speaker used one of the words or phrases, you marked it off your card. Because we didn't want to get caught being disloyal or poking fun at the Company, it was agreed that when someone got a full house, and all the words and phrases were marked off, they would emit a very loud sneeze, instead of shouting Bingo.

All went well, and a friend of mine duly let out a "Bingo sneeze" about an hour and a half into the morning of the Event. At the lunch break, we were all laughing and congratulating each other on having "got away" with the prank, and successfully executing it without being caught.  Sadly, we were wrong, a couple of Bull Bingo players had left their cards on their tables, and as they were being replenished with water, sweets, pens and pads, they were spotted and presented to the organisers.

The afternoon sessions began with an announcement that a childish game had been uncovered and that those responsible should be ashamed of trying to discredit the organisation! There were a number of red faces and shuffling of feet, and I can report that Bull Bingo was never again tried at an All-Staff event! However Bingo continues to be a major pastime and pleasure of mine, and some of the other offenders from the Bull Bingo incident!

Good luck and may the Building Blocks of excellence give you leverage in your quest for personal empowerment!