# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/81 "2003-02-27T04:04:23Z")
I have a baby antelope jawbone, a fossilized tooth (bison, I think), an old horseshoe and a pyrite crystal. ---
**Author:** ![tolyri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@tolyri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tolyri)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/82 "2003-02-27T04:14:23Z")
I have a sticker of Mr. Yuk on my computer, at least 3 coloring books in my drawer, and my collection of colored paper clips on my corkboard. I currently have 20 different colors, thanks to someone mailing me indigo last week. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/83 "2003-02-27T05:14:45Z")
1. A framed picture of Lenin. Ideal for when someone calls me a communist, which actually happens quite often to urban planners in the U.S. 2. Plans for a [very unconventional subdivision](http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=59572) a developer is proposing. ---
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/84 "2003-02-27T08:22:54Z")
In the file drawer of my desk is my fondue pot and some sterno. On my desk is a pair of Organic Vapor cartridges that fit on my respirator which hangs on the wall next to my computer. It’s my escape plan in case one (or more) of the 16 1-ton cylinders of liquid chlorine were to rupture and spew the yellow cloud of death. ---
**Author:** ![coyasicanbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bcef8e/32.png) [@coyasicanbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coyasicanbe)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/85 "2003-02-27T16:16:54Z")
Nothing on MY desk, but my coworker laying across HIS desk appears to be dead. He hasn’t moved for 3 hours now. I hope he’s sleeping, but there’s no way I’m touching him to find out. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/86 "2003-02-27T16:24:46Z")
I must have some kind of sex toy in here somewhere. Otherwise, I have that little booklet of Why Cats Paint postcards, my old Magic deck, two rainbow-colouresd handmade candles, a Slinky, an ocean of paper, a glass bowl full of orange peels, innumerable silverware, cups, and other utensils, three large pillar candles fused together, a dead Walkperson, a tri-lingual Esperanto phrasebook, my makeup/jewelry box, a soapstone polar bear missing one leg, a curved faux wrought-iron candlestick, and a big bottle of lube. (Did I mention I work at home?) ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/87 "2003-02-27T17:43:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zoogirl \* > **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…** I have a six-inch Mickey Mouse figure with bendable arms and legs. His arms are tied behind him, and his legs are tied together, using twine. A length of rolled tissue was used to gag his mouth (and tied behind his head), and a red pen made the whites of his eyes bloodshot. He has a look of terror on his face. At one time he was hung in effigy as a warning to the mice in the office at our old location. The mice stayed away. Hostage Mickey sticks around the new office just in case there’s another uprising. If I’ll do that to an American Icon, you little ordinary furry peons don’t stand a chance!!! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/88 "2003-02-27T18:01:42Z")
I wonder what is the _oddest_ thing in my desk. Michael Meyers action figure Promotional baseball hat for Clay Pigeons a bottle of Androstenone 140 popsicle sticks ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/89 "2003-02-27T18:03:41Z")
**Elmwood** that photo made me hyper-ventilate. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/90 "2003-02-27T18:04:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*I wonder what is the _oddest_ thing in my desk. > 140 popsicle sticks \*\* That’s not odd, that’s even. If you had 141 of them, it would be odd. ---
**Author:** ![Oicu812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f475e1/32.png) [@Oicu812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oicu812)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/91 "2003-02-27T18:40:21Z")
Okay. I have two odd things, I guess (other than myself!). First is a nuclear weapon. No, seriously! It is one of the “desk models” from the Martin Company (which was pre Martin Marietta) of the [Nike-X Sprint](http://www.vu.union.edu/~reede/earlyhistory.html) anti-ballistic missile. It is nearly 14" tall, and neat to look at. The other item is a man shaped gun range target from the FBI Academy, with a nice grouping in center mass. It is from the same outdoor range that they used in “Silence of the Lambs”. A friend taught the small arms and machine gun course at the school, and took me out shooting on the range one Saturday. I get ALL sorts of comments on this one… O ---
**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/92 "2003-02-27T18:52:08Z")
When I got my job a year ago there was a marble ice bucket sitting in the corner of the desk. It looks like an urn. I never moved it. Kinda morbid. 🙂 Everybody who notices the bucket asks who is in the urn. And keep in mind this is in a conservative Architectural office which has banking clients coming in all the time. ---
**Author:** ![ceyjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@ceyjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ceyjen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/93 "2003-02-27T18:58:56Z")
–a phone book from 1985 (still in the original plastic sleeve cover) –a box of floppy disks (the 5-inch or so, black, _floppy_ ones) –owner’s manual for my own refrigerator –a little cheat-sheet so I can convert my in/out times to military time –a Williams-Sonoma catalog ---
**Author:** ![Vevila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@Vevila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vevila)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/94 "2003-02-27T19:52:39Z")
As a preface, I work for a company that manages adult bookstores… So on my desk I have a pair of nipple clamps, and threaded through the clamps I have a metal 3 gates of hell cockring set, and next to those I have a green rubber keychain whip. No one ever comments on any of it… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/95 "2003-02-27T19:56:53Z")
An inch-long plastic pangolin. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/96 "2003-02-27T20:49:48Z")
I have a pink pig keychain with a hole in the butt - when you squeeze it, sticky gooey stuff pokes out the hole. :eek: I bought this on the way home from work one day when I was particularly peeved with a coworker. Once home, I took out a box of pins, pulled all the pink ones out and stuck them in the pig. Now its a voodoo doll. It hangs from a push pin on my wall, as a warning to those who would anger me… ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/97 "2003-03-01T02:42:02Z")
I have a happy monk squeeky toy from Urban Outfitters. A picture of some graffitti from the paulinskill viaduct. It reads “Only Idiots Write Graffitti” A 386/16 laptop that actually works. 120 packs of Gum (as of thursday. I have Juicyfruit, Double Mint, and Spearmint) Around 100 lollipops (Blowpops and Tootsiepops) About 60 airheads candies. Around ten Cajun Ramen Cup O’ Noodles About 100 peices of Double Bubble Bubble Gum (all new comics) Approximately 15 bags of Herr’s Pretzels. I don’t work in a convenience store, I work in a pharmaceutical company’s IT dept. I love to give out snacks. ---
**Author:** ![RobbieFal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c5a1d2/32.png) [@RobbieFal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobbieFal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/98 "2003-03-01T06:17:01Z")
five coke cans and three Burger King cups ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/99 "2003-03-01T06:18:55Z")
Darn, mine is boring too. A styrophone cup filled with geological samples and select bits and pieces of demolished buildings from “White Alice” military bases (that used to exist from in remote sites in Alaska) and one old golf ball from a site where we photographed and GPS’d sunken drums in a golf course pond. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471/100 "2003-03-01T08:37:28Z")
25 _Drosophila_ stocks in quarantine to prevent mite infestation in the main fly lab. Mostly GAL4 drivers, UAS responders and autosomal hsFLP stocks. A Mexican wooden fly figurine. A Mexican miniature skull (from a different Mexico trip). A birch container from Siberia (holding paper clips and post-it notes). A two and a half year old article from the _Houston Chronicle_: “Judge reprimanded for reparing revolvers on bench.” ([linkity link](http://www.cnn.com/2000/LOCAL/southwest/07/13/hci.judge/)) Boarding pass for a South African Airlines flight from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg. A Badtz Maru tissue packet. An Air France complementary airplane packet thingy with sleep visor and toothpaste/toothbrush. For long nights in the lab. “God Created the Dinosaurs” – a children’s book. A poster of Andre the Giant (Andre the Giant has a posse). A one-foot high stack of textbooks and papers on molecular phylogenetics. A 15 year old compilation tape of hardcore porn (for a Human Sexuality class I teach). A picture of me hopping in the air playing Def Leppard on a Fender Stratocaster while dressed up like a Backstreet Boy at a school talent show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-item-currently-found-in-your-work-desk/157471.md?page=6)