Let’s say as you are reading this, right this second, all of your clothes disappear leaving you fully naked wherever you are sitting/standing.
How bad would that be for you? How embarrassing? Hey, it might not be very much. Maybe you’re at home right now, alone in a room…or sitting on the toilet at the moment. Maybe you’re driving alone, in a car, and would be relatively safe until you got somewhere you could get clothed again.
Then again, maybe you’re in a room full of people or in an office or waiting room or on a public train or bus, in which case…sucks to be you.
I would be relatively screwed, as I’m at my desk in a cube farm. I do have a big shirt (usually worn to knock off a chill) hanging up and socks, drawers and a tee shirt in my desk (put there for bad weather/made a mess emergencies), so I wouldn’t be totally SOL to get home, but I don’t think my co-workers want to see that.
Fairly screwed. I’m sitting in the front window of a sandwich shop at the mall, facing out, watching people walk by. If I suddenly became naked the young lady at the t-shirt kiosk in front of me would get an eyeful. Then I’d have to walk through the mall out to the parking lot, in the rain, to get to my car. Then either return to my office or drive home. I’d like to think I’d be cool about it but would rather not find out.
I’m in my office. I’d have to run quickly and close the door. Then I’d be safe for awhile. I’d have to call my wife to bring me clothes, which might be an awkward conversation.
Right at the moment I’m sitting in a conference room with 20 or so other people…so it might cause just a bit of a fuss.
If we could wait a couple hours, I’ll be in my cubicle, which is about 4 steps from the stairwell, so I *might *be able to make it out the door and to the car without too many people noticing.
Of course, my car keys are in my pocket, so if those disappear along with my pants…
I’m at the office. I’m somewhat hidden from my coworkers by my monitor, so not immediately in danger of being seen. My coat is on the floor at my feet, and covers me to mid thigh, so the most embarrassing bits would be covered while I made a dash for my car.
If the coat vanishes, too, then last resort is the promotional raincoat in a plastic golf ball golf tournament giveaway I have in my desk drawer for a rainy day. It’s basically a white garbage bag with holes for arms and head, but in this emergency, I’d hope it covers enough to get me to my car.
I’m at my office. I’d be moderately inconvenienced. I keep a set of court clothes here in case I have to make an unexpected appearance, but I don’t have extra shoes/socks here.
I’m sitting on the sofa watching TV with my cats so no problem.
If I were at work rather more uncomfortable: I do carry a full set of clothes for my yoga class (minus pants/ bra!) so if it were just me and my boss, no biggie, I would think the magical disappearing act would be much more noteworthy than my nakedness. If the guy in the neighbouring office were in I would get my boss to shut his door while I got dressed.
If any guests were about it would be more embarrassing, but as before, I think that somebody’s clothes magically disappearing would be much more shocking/ noteworthy than seeing somebody naked!!
I guess I’m a complete rarity. I surf the web on my own computer in my living room, home alone. Sometimes, in the summer, I’m not wearing anything in the fist place.
I keep pants and a shirt at work for “emergencies” (whatever that means). Never had to use them, but I guess"clothes disappeared" counts as an emergency.
I’d be screwed if anyone were in my office or walking by at that moment. When the hallway is quiet, I’d definitely have time to sneak around the desk and close my door. I have some crummy old sweaters and a really old gym bag full of I don’t know what behind the door, and some terrible rain boots that hurt my feet. I’d look like some sort of deranged homeless person, but I could make it home clothed. Cold and wet, but clothed.
I’d be nearly totally screwed. My cubicle is near a busy corner in the office, and I have several co-workers whose cubicles can more or less see into mine.
The only saving grace is that I have a sweatshirt on the desk, and I guess in a pinch I could wear that and pull it down to cover my junk… I hope. It might just be long enough to stop right above it, thereby drawing attention to it.
I’m in Cubeland, but I also have spare jeans, underwear, sox, and a fleece hoodie in my cube (no shirt, shoes or bra though). Since my across-the-aisle co-worker isn’t in right now, I’d probably have time to jump into the spare clothes.
I’m sitting at work, so if anybody was looking at me or the camera feed, that would be embarrassing. However, my coat is hanging off the back of my chair (and not actually touching any part of my body, so I assume that exempts it from disappearance) and that covers me almost to the knees when I put it on, so I could get home without incident. It’s sleety and gross outside, though, which would suck with no shoes.
And no one else is home.