# Tell me you don't want this desk **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284 "2013-08-15T05:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/21 "2013-08-15T16:19:27Z")
Moved (with great care and a lot of padding) from IMHO to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/22 "2013-08-15T16:21:25Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > But can it play Melancholy Baby? Yes, but only in the presence of ionizing radiation. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![NotDeadYet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotDeadYet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotDeadYet)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/23 "2013-08-15T16:29:43Z")
Sorry, count me with those who say, “No way!” I’ve got an antique drop-lid secretary in my livingroom. Nice to look at, but no way is it a functional desk. Yes, it does have the little cubbyholes and a wide array of slots and such, but … It was my great-grandmother’s. She didn’t get it new so nobody is exactly sure how old it is and if its worth anything. Trying to get one of my kids to take it off my hands but they only want the matching (sort of) grandfather’s clock that came along with it. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/24 "2013-08-15T16:37:51Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Can you imagine the do-it-yourself assembly instructions that would have to come with?! In at least three languages. Back then, it would have been Latin, French and German. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/25 "2013-08-15T16:43:30Z")
I like it, but I fear I’d never find anything I put in it. I’m not terribly fond of the ornamentation - except the inlay on the inside of the writing surface. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/26 "2013-08-15T16:56:54Z")
It looks like the kind of desk Beethoven or Mozart would have written music at, if they were really James Bond. > [@gigi](#): > > Can you imagine the do-it-yourself assembly instructions that would have to come with?! In at least three languages. Actually, I can. And they’re scary. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/27 "2013-08-15T17:02:47Z")
Exactly how many things does the average person have to hide in there? I mean, I guess before ATM’s and safety deposit boxes in banks this might have been a good idea…but any thief with a hammer would most certainly have found what he wanted. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/28 "2013-08-15T17:03:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m not terribly fond of the ornamentation - except the inlay on the inside of the writing surface. That’s pretty much how I feel about how it looks. And no, I don’t want a desk that takes 14 keys to get into all the secret compartments. If there was a desk like this only with more modern styling, I’d say it was kinda cool, but I’d still want to admire it in a friend’s house rather than own one myself. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/29 "2013-08-15T17:05:32Z")
Okay, I will. You don’t want this desk. There, I did it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/30 "2013-08-15T17:17:38Z")
I wonder what that thing weighs? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/31 "2013-08-15T17:19:25Z")
I would never remember which drawer had what I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/32 "2013-08-15T17:35:37Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > 1. The Wikipedia biography for the cabinet’s maker, David Roentgen, has this quote from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: > > > [@](#): > > > > . . . his work, in short, is tainted by commercialism. I could see right through his intentions. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/33 "2013-08-15T17:37:53Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Can you imagine the do-it-yourself assembly instructions that would have to come with?! In at least three languages. If IKEA did sell it the D.I.Y part would probably defeat the purpose of secret compartments. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/34 "2013-08-15T18:08:19Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I would never remember which drawer had what I was looking for. Or how to get into it! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/35 "2013-08-15T19:02:54Z")
Didn’t I see this desk on an episode of Wild Wild West? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/36 "2013-08-15T19:10:04Z")
These desks always amaze and impress me. The amount of craftsmanship required to make one of these is probably long gone. Still, no matter what you’ve hidden inside the many hidden drawers, we can all access it with an axe or chainsaw. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/37 "2013-08-15T19:11:14Z")
I’d spend all day fiddling with the doodads and whatsits and never get any work done. So, pretty much how my days go now, but with poorer ergonomics. The flip-out easel at the very end is _damn_ impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/38 "2013-08-15T21:17:06Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I wonder what that thing weighs? Ya know? I searched about 15 minutes trying to find out what it weighed, and although every site links to that youtube vid, I never found out anything else about it! 😕 Weak Bing-Fu! ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/39 "2013-08-16T18:10:28Z")
It’s gimmicky with no practical purpose. And ugly. I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284/40 "2013-08-16T18:15:21Z")
I’ll grant you that it’s gimmicky, but I think it’s gorgeous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-you-dont-want-this-desk/666284.md?page=3)