The Oddest Thing

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The Oddest Thing

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Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736478 More actions · Answer 1

simon.wright 24912 - Friday, May 25, 2018 3:22 AM
My desk includes a small piece of Scotland, which doubles as a coaster for my coffee cup, and a bit of the Tatra mountains (Polish/Slovak border), the Rockies and Iceland. They remind me of the big, beautiful world out there when I'm stuck in the office.

That's excellent.

miapjp Right there with Babe Points: 782 More actions · Answer 2

My pen holder, and the pen my son gave me. He found it on the ground.

Julie Breutzmann Hall of Fame Points: 3637 More actions · Answer 3

A scream doll named Misery. . . Who loves company. Misery sometimes visits people who are having a bad day -- sometimes with a post-it note stuck to it.

jasona.work SSC Guru Points: 50118 More actions · Answer 4

Rather late to this party, and I can't take pictures of my work desk, but it's relatively clean. A Rubics Cube (1980s model,) a couple stress balls, and a few XKCD comics (honestly, we should all have the "Little Bobby Tables" comic!)

Later today I'll post a pic of my home office space, then we'll talk about cluttered...
😀

JustMarie SSCertifiable Points: 7771 More actions · Answer 5

I too cannot post pictures of my workspace (or probably shouldn't so I'm not taking the risk) but I stopped personalizing my desk many jobs ago.

Having said that...

I have:

Lego minifig Loki (with helmet, cape, and staff)
Heroclix Deadpool
Neko Atsume Tubbs with yellow food dish

Beatrix Kiddo SSC-Dedicated Points: 32407 More actions · Answer 6

Jeff Mlakar - Friday, May 25, 2018 7:23 AM
I'm breaking the trend because I don't have and cannot make pictures right now - sorry!
2 things jump to mind:
* Dilbert comics - for years I have had an annual daily calendar. I tear them off and some lucky comics get kept because they are so good.
* A rubber duck (Idera or otherwise) - speaking your problems to to duck magically help solve programming problems!

I also have an Idera rubber duck. High five.

No pictures because there are company logos everywhere here, but we're Agile in the sense of not having our own desks, and we have to clear everything away overnight. I never really personalised my desk much before so it's not a big deal for me, but a lot of people find it very unsettling.

jasona.work SSC Guru Points: 50118 More actions · Answer 7

So, I promised a photo of my home desk, and I'm delivering:

Not in the picture:
Several LEGO kits on top of the shelving unit (Helicarrier, motorcycle, bucket wheel excavator,) and for those wondering about the big silver topped pointy thing? It's a replica of a GAU-8 30mm round I picked up at an airshow at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
So, there's no one "oddest thing," there's probably several...

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736478 More actions · Answer 8

jasona.work - Tuesday, May 29, 2018 6:18 PM
So, I promised a photo of my home desk, and I'm delivering:
Not in the picture:
Several LEGO kits on top of the shelving unit (Helicarrier, motorcycle, bucket wheel excavator,) and for those wondering about the big silver topped pointy thing? It's a replica of a GAU-8 30mm round I picked up at an airshow at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.
So, there's no one "oddest thing," there's probably several...

That's a nice, slightly messy, desk. Just what I like.

HighPlainsDBA SSCrazy Points: 2611 More actions · Answer 9

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I worked at a huge insurance company and the IT department had this tacky (I mean really tacky) Christmas desk lamp that had been passed around since the mid 60's. Each year someone would usually add a small, grotesque feature to it. I won the rights to it for the year by winning a trivial pursuit contest and proudly displayed it atop my cube. You could spot my cubicle amongst the hundreds of others in the featureless cube farm at a glance. It was like a Christmas lighthouse of poor taste and style. Since then I have always liked the idea of having an office trophy that could be passed around. The more ridiculous, the better IMO. It gives you something to talk about other than work with your fellow employees.

Jeff Mlakar SSCrazy Points: 2879 More actions · Answer 10

HighPlainsDBA - Tuesday, June 5, 2018 12:19 PM
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I worked at a huge insurance company and the IT department had this tacky (I mean really tacky) Christmas desk lamp that had been passed around since the mid 60's. Each year someone would usually add a small, grotesque feature to it. I won the rights to it for the year by winning a trivial pursuit contest and proudly displayed it atop my cube. You could spot my cubicle amongst the hundreds of others in the featureless cube farm at a glance. It was like a Christmas lighthouse of poor taste and style. Since then I have always liked the idea of having an office trophy that could be passed around. The more ridiculous, the better IMO. It gives you something to talk about other than work with your fellow employees.

That is awesome! Reminds me of the Shiva Trophy and the Sacko Trophy from the TV show "The League".

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 11

My desk doesn't accumulate too much stuff, because my Spanish desk gets cleared when I am going back to England and my English desk gets cleared when I'm going back to Spain, so there's only about 6 months for junk to accumulate before it gets cleared. At the moment I'm about half-way through my 6 month period in the UK, and the desk is not too bad (apart from a 7 inch pile of paper I need to read and deal with). Things to be expected include a few chargers of one sort or another, some Continental to British (or vice versa) converters, one mobile phone with a Spanish sim and one with a British sim (I made the mistake of having two phones to avoid swapping sims; but people use either number, depending on where they are and not on where I am, so both get called wherever I am), and a fairly decent printer. and some technical journals (this month's edition of Mathematics Today, this month's edition of E&T magazine). A wine/shot glass, and a water glass. Strange things include: a plastic 1ft ruler that has been cut down to 5.375 inches. A cross-headed screwdriver (nothing in the room has cross-headed screws). A salt cellar (nearly empy) and a pepper pot (nearly empty). Car keys. Spectacles (used only for distance vision - mostly for driving). My Alma Mater's latest annual report. A book of George Brassens' poems and songs (all in French, of course) - there's another copy on my Spanish desk, because I forgot to take it with me to Spain a few years back so I bought another rather than doing without it for 6 months. A user manual for a multiple timer (but I can't find the timer; 22 months ago I had the timer but couldn't find the manual; 10 months ago I couldn't find either). A pinsentry device. Lots of credit card receipts (which shouldn't be on the desk) - I must sort them out and shred anything too old to be relevant, and put the others where they belong.

Tom

Beatrix Kiddo SSC-Dedicated Points: 32407 More actions · Answer 12

TomThomson - Sunday, August 5, 2018 6:58 PM
Strange things include: a plastic 1ft ruler that has been cut down to 5.375 inches.

Somebody just came over to ask why I was laughing. 😀

Len Harvey Grasshopper Points: 16 More actions · Answer 13

TomThomson - Sunday, August 5, 2018 6:58 PM
... one mobile phone with a Spanish sim and one with a British sim (I made the mistake of having two phones to avoid swapping sims; but people use either number, depending on where they are and not on where I am, so both get called wherever I am) ...

Why not just get a dual sim phone. One phone, two numbers?

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 14

Len Harvey - Monday, August 6, 2018 7:56 AM
TomThomson - Sunday, August 5, 2018 6:58 PM
... one mobile phone with a Spanish sim and one with a British sim (I made the mistake of having two phones to avoid swapping sims; but people use either number, depending on where they are and not on where I am, so both get called wherever I am) ...
Why not just get a dual sim phone. One phone, two numbers?

Because most dual sim phones are "smart" and smart phones mostly need charging daily or more often and will not fit into a small shirt pocket. On top of that "smart" is the most inaccurate possible description for the so-called smart phones, the old-fashioned dumb phones have nice straightforward controls which make them vastly easier to use than smart phones. Smart phones are just as complex as but nowhere near as easy to use as a laptop. Android for phones is full of (security) holes, iPhones are extremely expensive and are designed to be unrepairable (eg batteries can't be replaced) so that new ones have to be bought far too often which makes them so over-expensive as to cost vastly more than they are worth, and windows phones seem to be an endangered species.

Tom

Chris Wooding SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4558 More actions · Answer 15

TomThomson - Wednesday, August 8, 2018 9:57 AM
Because most dual sim phones are "smart" and smart phones mostly need charging daily or more often and will not fit into a small shirt pocket. On top of that "smart" is the most inaccurate possible description for the so-called smart phones, the old-fashioned dumb phones have nice straightforward controls which make them vastly easier to use than smart phones. Smart phones are just as complex as but nowhere near as easy to use as a laptop. Android for phones is full of (security) holes, iPhones are extremely expensive and are designed to be unrepairable (eg batteries can't be replaced) so that new ones have to be bought far too often which makes them so over-expensive as to cost vastly more than they are worth, and windows phones seem to be an endangered species.

I'm with you on the phone. I deliberately purchased a 'stupid' phone last time because the smart ones can't go further than 5 metres from a power socket without needing to be recharged. As far as I'm concerned, the important word in "mobile phone" is "mobile" - the charge on mine lasts over a week and it's small enough that it doesn't stick out of my pocket.