In the retail world, a playful / joking manner can be endearing and make customers feel comfortable in your shop or when interacting with your business by phone or email. But there is a line easily crossed (and of course it’s different for each customer). Today the cheerful shopkeeper down the road pushed things a bit far IMHO. Of course he’s looney so I’ll forgive him for it.
The question on my mind is: How do you instill a culture of joviality in a company while also ensuring you stay safely away from that line?