When people think of folklore, they tend to think of stories told around a camp fire, stories told to us by our grandparents and their grandparents before them; they tend not to think of the workplace as a place were folklore is created and transmitted. Folklore exists anywhere there is “artistic communication [within] small groups… It is that part of culture which is disseminated through time and space by many processes including visual or oral transmission, and imitation and repetition.” (Schoemaker pg 235) Folklore is everywhere, including the workplace. This type of folklore is called occupational folklore or workplace folklore. The DoIT Gault Award of George Mason University (GMU) is a perfect example of workplace folklore.

George Mason University is a suburban university made up of approximately 26,000 students and 900 faculty and staff members. The Division of Instructional and Technology support services (DoIT) is GMU’s technical support division. In August of 1999, DoIT created the Gault Award (named after Eric Gault a former member of the staff) to honor staff members who go out of their way to help other divisions fulfill their individual missions. The presentation is more than an award for service; it is also an opportunity for humor, to allow the department a chance to laugh at itself. Such acts of selfless attention to a team mentality have come to be known as “Gaultness”. This DoIT tradition of rewarding hard work, while at the same time poking fun at the winner, shows that folklore exists in the work environment and is a constructive and loved addition to the workplace.