Good on yer Frank you and the Irish whether Catholic or Protestant, could teach some of those who can't seem to take a joke, a thing or two about humour.
I used to work for BT and to start with there was no problem with personal emailing and there were jokes flying all over the place. However around about 2005 my line manager tipped me the nod that management were doing random checks on emails and to be very careful of the content. Within a few weeks a couple of people had been suspended and given formal warnings. I understand that the people in the BT call centres have very difficult performance targets to meet and management (whose bonuses are target driven) would definitely frown on any activity not work related.