# Oddest item currently found in your work desk **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 25, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471 "2003-02-25T20:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/41 "2003-02-26T02:51:17Z")
An Asterix hard cover comic book, a Dietzgen triangular white edge chain scale, a Nikon digital camera, a Mitutoyo digital vernier scale, an empty Original Celebrated Curiously Strong CINNAMON Altoids can, a Linksys 2.4 GHz wireless hub…which one is the oldest…I think the Altoids can. ---
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/42 "2003-02-26T02:58:10Z")
On my desk: a dried lizard, a human skull, a chunk of frito seasoning the size of a walnut, someone’s left tennis shoe, a decapitated teddy bear/pencil cup, a plaster birthday cake with goldfish, mice and butterfly sprinkles (my cats just turned two!), a Ben and Jerry’s pint container with wings and legs attached, and a giant eyeball made from a beach ball. Most of the stuff in my desk is pretty dull, with the exception of the 18 inch long dildo I confiscated last period today. Gonna be glad to turn that puppy in to the office-- there’s something worrying about a penis that size. ---
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/43 "2003-02-26T03:04:39Z")
On my desk: a dried lizard, a human skull, a chunk of frito seasoning the size of a walnut, someone’s left tennis shoe, a decapitated teddy bear/pencil cup, a plaster birthday cake with goldfish, mice and butterfly sprinkles (my cats just turned two!), a Ben and Jerry’s pint container with wings and legs attached, and a giant eyeball made from a beach ball. Most of the stuff in my desk is pretty dull, with the exception of the 18 inch long dildo I confiscated last period today. Gonna be glad to turn that puppy in to the office-- there’s something worrying about a penis that size. ---
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/44 "2003-02-26T03:07:08Z")
Ack, my hamsters are acting up tonight, sorry for that double post! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/45 "2003-02-26T03:12:33Z")
A plastic angel. Wind it up and she flaps her wings. I’m awfully glad for the OP. Because of it, I found a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups that I didn’t know I had. ---
**Author:** ![Jessity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jessity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jessity)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/46 "2003-02-26T03:29:03Z")
I’ve got a Wonder Woman Pez dispenser, fuses for my car, seven rolls of undeveloped film in my drawer. On top of my monitor, it’s a pair of plush Gumby and Pokey dolls. With Gumby riding Pokey. ---
**Author:** ![dono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/47 "2003-02-26T03:29:53Z")
My bottom drawer is half full of pennies, which I add to daily. I call it my “retirement fund.” But the oddest thing is my carved wooden nutcracker. It probably dates to the fifties or so - I found it in a box of crap I bought at an auction. It’s in the shape of a “native south-seas-island girl.” She’s topless, and her legs are hinged to - ahem - crack the nuts. Positively Freudian. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/48 "2003-02-26T03:48:29Z")
Being a high school student, I have a backpack instead of a desk. Same idea, though. I have at least 5 bouncy balls, a miniature mannequin wearing a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt that I made (his name is Jeremy), an egg of Silly Putty with 2 colors of silly putty mixed together (I also have a needle stuck in the silly putty. It’s just a good place to keep it), a squishy star, a badge with my name on it and my homeroom teacher’s name from last year, and a bunch of beads from various broken pieces of jewellery. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/49 "2003-02-26T04:47:04Z")
Best I can do is the Killer Tomato™ that lurks on top of my nameplate. Boring. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/50 "2003-02-26T05:00:39Z")
A bottle of out of date medication, 3 packs of flower seeds from 1997, one of those squigey stress balls, a pincushion bristling with pins, a new pack of white shoelaces, 2 sets of chopsticks. Dull, dull, dull ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/51 "2003-02-26T05:22:05Z")
An eight inch high grey gargoyle with spread wings given to me by my daughter six years ago on father’s day. A bunchteen reference books, including the Video Hound guide and various Billboard record guides from 1940 through 1995. Perhaps fifty official reporter’s notebooks. A two foot by three foot architect’s drawing of a former grocery store that is being converted into doctor’s offices by our local hospital. A huge fat-bottomed plastic FedEx cup (gift from my sister-in-law who drives a route for them). A ceramic cup with “Good @#$%^ Morning!” on it (also a gift from my daughter, come to think of it.) A magnifying glass. Three books waiting to be read for reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/52 "2003-02-26T07:16:53Z")
A servo-motor from a [V2 rocket](http://www.islandhosting.com/~twinsix/v21.jpg). It was situated in the tail, and adjusted one of four vanes to control the attitude of the rocket in flight, as directed by a gyro in the nose. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/53 "2003-02-26T08:14:08Z")
Not on the desk, but under it - a small plastic cage with a pink top. This is at my AM job. We had a mouse in the office and spent ten minutes one shift chasing him around. I think once he realized who he was dealing with he ran for his life. Never did get him. I don’t have a desk at my PM job, but there’s a pink comb and brush set in my area for the long-haired guinea pig. Unfortunately it’s a male pig. Oops! I also carry a backpack to both jobs and the oddest thing in it is a full emergency kit, including food, shelter and cooking equipment. No, I’m not afraid of the War, but I am a bit worried about earthquakes. I was at my AM job when the Seattle quake hit and we could feel it quite strongly. I live on one side of the Fraser River and work on the other, so it’s very possible that when the big one hit’s, (they say it’s way overdue), I may not be able to get home for several days, if the bridge goes. The oddest thing on the desk at home is an old, non-working five inch B&W TV, which the monitor sits on to raise it to eye level. ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/54 "2003-02-26T11:13:58Z")
All four of the Handy Hindu Finger Puppets. Finger puppet versions of Kali, Brahma, Ganesha and Garuda. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/55 "2003-02-26T12:12:26Z")
A tiny rubber skull A tiny AIBO keychain (he and the skull watch me from on top of my monitor) Copies of _The Illuminatus! Trilogy_, _The MovieHound Guide_ and _Contingency Cannibalism_, which contains some rather tempting recipies. A rubberband ball, but after reading about **Caricci** ’s, I feel pretty inadequate. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/56 "2003-02-26T13:14:42Z")
Not mine, but something I found in an abandoned office down the hall (which looks as if no one has entered it in decades, which was apparently when aliens vaporized the owner, because _nothing’s_ been moved): A road map of Boston circa 1960, before they bulldozed the North End and put in all the interstates. ---
**Author:** ![Kamikazee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kamikazee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamikazee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/57 "2003-02-26T13:48:26Z")
Gator head, metal dental tool for getting between teeth, and full size gold brick. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/58 "2003-02-26T14:12:53Z")
I’ve got a few strange things: a shirtless Willie action figure, A book on the music group the Scorpions, in German, from Germany. I brought it in to find out more about it and probably get rid of it on e-bay. The strangest thing I have though is a tube of mustard from Finland. One of my co-workers goes there once a year and he brought it back to me. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/59 "2003-02-26T14:20:40Z")
Crayons, a stack of post-it notes shaped like an Aloha t-shirt, a gold candle, Chocolate Euros, a Speedy Gonzales pez dispenser, a teabag strainer, and a remote-control car. By comparison, the toothbrush and toothpase are pretty standard equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/60 "2003-02-26T14:23:39Z")
Oh, I forgot that _on_ the side of my computer you’ll find a rubber fried egg, and a rubber piece of toast. And a lei. And a little green cotton ball with googly eyes from the Armed Forces. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471.md?page=4)