Post-It Notes are being used well beyond the “Meeting at 2pm” purpose intended by 3M.
It was my birthday recently and someone I care about quite deeply sent me a “Happy Birthday!” on a Post-it Note.
We’ve all heard the story of the Post-it break up.
A few years ago a teacher’s aide in Indiana stapled a Post-it Note to a fourth grader’s head.
Some claim they have been fired from their jobs via a Post-it Note.
I once received a psychic reading on a Post-it Note for an investigation. The psychic called this a “Post-It Impression”.
What’s the weirdest, most profound or insulting message you know of that’s been written on a Post-It Note? (Or via email or other non-confrontational format of communication…)
The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear daily at 3pm ET.
I have found secret “Have a great day!” notes hidden in my desk. I will sneak a similar post-it into a student’s book or bag from time to time.
I can’t bring myself to write in a book, but I will write a note on a post-it and then stick it near the noted text.
I find all sorts of things in books – love letters, money, suicide notes, paper dolls, goth-esque depressing poetry from the 1930’s, a hairy used q-tip (gag), a gold necklace, pressed flowers, train tickets, receipts from the turn of the century.
The worst was a Polaroid of a very skanky looking tranny, about mid 40’s, lounging about in white heels, a wig like a dead dog and not much else. On the back was a post-it note that described sex acts and the price for each, written small and quite detailed with “Special requests by appnt only!” at the bottom.
The previous list seemed to cover just about everything, so the special requests must have included live chickens or something.
It was ugly, gross and heartbreaking at the same time. Especially because the handwriting was lovely.
“Your brother phoned, your mum’s dead”
I once found a small container of cookies on my desk with a post-it saying “Thanks!” Never did find out what I did to warrant it.
A coworker of mine once got a text message from an unfamiliar number that said “we need more towels and windex”.
I once wrote “Buy more post-its” on a post-it. Not sure if that’s profound.
Word on the street is that my law school was founded when the president of the university put a Post-It note on the desk of the university’s general counsel that read, “Start a law school. To open by this fall.”
the most insulting was a “friend” used cryptic emails to perform character assassination on another friend
A couple of chickens shilling skeptically themed hair removal products.
I proposed via Post-It note.
It was fushia which, as we all know, is the Post-It of romance.
When my husband and I first started dating he did a bit of fiction writing and kept notes for potential narratives on little post-its on his dorm wall. After a couple weeks I started writing my own post-its and sticking them by his. I wrote them in Arabic so he couldn’t read them. He’d ask about them and I’d either just smile or say they said ‘good day’ or something else mundane. That was how I first told him I loved him and that I wanted to marry him.
I don’t know about profound or weird, but through my college years my roommates and I have been keeping track of the funniest things we say on post-it notes. A few highlights:
“Percy, what about the pit full of flaming spikes sounds good to you?”- Joe 360, on Percy’s choice of rooms in D&D.
“Wait…14 plus 2 isn’t 15, is it? It’s 17!” – Kevin, on the art of addition.
“Orlo squared is less than Orlo. Therefore, Orlo is less than one.” – John, on the properties of Orlo
“All right, Mr Wizard, tell us if the series converges.”– Fr. Hamlett, on “the Harris Test” for proving infinite series convergence
“I shall eat his largest toe…” – John, on what Bill Cowher was thinking when Big Ben passed the ball to his own foot.
“Kevin, if the drummer from Def Leppard could play guitar, he’d be better than you.” – Mike, on Kevin’s Guitar Hero abilities
Kevin: “Paycheck? Isn’t that that movie where the guy is stuck in the phone booth?”
Mike: “No, Kevin, the movie where the guy gets stuck in the phone booth is called Phone Booth.”
“You come walking in here with your shirt off looking like a grizzly bear, and I just feel like I have to beat off the grizzly. I mean…wait. That sounded bad.” – Orlo, as he hits Kevin with a rolled up poster and realizes his mouth has been moving faster than his mind.
@wickedsweetcake: Post-its, the poor man’s Twitter Feed. Or maybe the rich man’s, since Twitter is technically free.
Regardless, you guys are hilarious.
“You look better with hair”
You can actually write words on them? I thought they were just for making little flipbook animations…
@Bookitty:
So did you put on the gold necklace, use the ticket to travel to see the tranny to whom you presented flowers,love letters and poetry but still had to give the money to get the special request?
@Funkopolis: See “Yellow Sticky Notes” by Jeff Chiba Stearns.
@Steve:
I once found a container of cookies in the trash, and just stuck a post-it on it saying “Thanks!” and dumped it randomly on someone’s desk …
As an employee of the company that makes Post-Its, let me take a moment to sincerely thank each and every one of you for you many and varied uses of the product.
Just remember, every time you use a Post-It, an angel gets it wings!
Oh wait, that’s not right…
Oh yeah! It’s:
Every time you use a Post-It, an infinitesimally small fraction of a penny goes into my retirement account!
I guess as an employee of a company that sells office supplies, I should also be gratefull for everyone’s plentyful use of Post-it notes …
I once made a list of of daily things to do in a humorous online game that I play (Kingdom of Loathing) and I realized it would be either hilarious if taken out of context. The list was:
1) Eat black puddings
2) Collect meat from fruit stand
3) Kill ducks
4) Get sex change
I wondered what someone would think if they came into my apartment and saw that list on my desk.
@Bookitty: Please don’t use “tranny”. The preferred term is transsexual. Yes, I have many transsexual friends, and yes, it is important to use the right termonology.
@marilove:
I repeated the term not knowing it was offensive.
@JOHNEA13: I missed that. :) It is offensive. Not everyone who is “in the know” is aware, so I like to mention it. “Tranny” is used as a derogatory term and it is very transphobic. Transexual is the preferred, non-derogatory term.
@marilove: That should read “not everyone who ISN’T “in the know” is aware”.
UGH I NEED MORE SLEEP.
@Michele – that was outstanding, thank for the link!
@marilove: Duly noted and thank you for the tip.
JOHNEA13, I have a few shoe boxes full of this stuff. (Except the cash). There are a few pieces that I’ve spent hours on – looking up names or places, seeing if the company is still in business. It’s my little ongoing anthropology project.
@catgirl Your list reminded me of one on a Dead Kennedy’s album, the title of which I can’t recall.
The list included a bunch of inane activities, ending with:
masturbate
cry
@Karen Stollznow: Not sure which song you are refering to, I was skimming some lyrics and could only find one song that featured the words masturbate and cry (though not in a list, it was Jock-o-Rama). Are you sure you got the right artist? or Lyrics, or maybe it was a live performance that I am unaware of?
@killyosaur42
Sorry, this was in an album insert, not lyrics. It was definitely the DKs.
@Bookitty: No problemo. :)
@Karen Stollznow: ok, probably never ran across it as a result then. While I have nearly all their albums on cd, not all materials supplied with their original releases necessarily came with (i.e. the Giger painting wasn’t in, I want to say, Frankenchrist, though I maybe wrong on the album)
We had a library-wide meeting last year. It was early in the morning, the room was cold, and the speaker was boring. I wrote strange haiku on post-it notes and shared them with my co-workers at the table.