Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Outside of the Box

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I worked in an office. I believe it was Franklin Covey, but very well could have been Discover Card. It's all a distant hazy memory now. However, both of those companies were all touchy feel-y, object lesson-y, team building-y goodness. At one of them, there was a big object lesson on thinking outside of the box. We were divided into two teams and sent to separate offices. Upon arriving, we were instructed to pull an item out of a paper sack and then were given 5 minutes to think of any possible use for it.

The item was a sock.

After 5 minutes, we had the usual suspects of a cleaning rag, a bag, entertainment in the form of a puppet, a warmer of things, a bandage, and variations of those themes. The other group fared about the same. We failed. We could not think outside of the box. And when the facilitator gave us a bunch of other weird and unique uses for a sock, we all shook our heads and oohed and aahed and promptly forgot any but the most obvious uses. Clearly, none of us were innovators.

Which brings me to Nate and Ty. A few days ago, my friend gave me a basket of shells. I brought them home, intending to use them as decorations. Or, at the most bizarre, some sort of art project. I was a little mystified to see the boys like this :

"Roger, Roger! Come in 5 Star General, Tyler"

"Copy that. Proceed, 4 Star General, Nate"

Mom: Tyler, why do you have shells in your ears?
Tyler: These aren't shells, these are Conch Communicators.

It almost frightens me to think of what they might do with a sock.

11 comments:

Dave said...
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Dave said...

When thinking of creative uses for a sock, I just keep coming back to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The Katzbox said...

"conch communicators"...that is genius...alliterative AND useful....let's see...socks...socks....hmmmmm, nothing...I, as well, am no innovator.

frizzlefry said...

Sorry Dave, the RHCP use qualifies under the "a warmer of things". Not innovative. Keep trying though.

I believe one "outside of the box" was to unravel it for string uses of various kinds.

Alex B. said...

How about using a sock to plug the toilet when you're moving out of a rental unit.

Dave said...

Can you have two? One to wad into a ball, and the other to tie around their head to hold the first one in place to prevent them from yelling for help and making the police ask what's in your trunk.

frizzlefry said...

Note to Self: No matter how much he begs, never rent to Alex. Even if he wins the "Thinking Outside of the Box" competition.

frizzlefry said...
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frizzlefry said...

There was only a single sock. But no one said it would be wrong to add a little duct tape.

Are you trying to hide your illegal? Because I bet she would be quite without the sock if Katz were her boss. . .

Dave said...

No, not yet. Just making plans. You DO have a birthday coming up in a few months.

Mom said...

Now that I have been able to stop laughing, I repeat -- YOU ARE DOOMED!! There is no way to stay even one step ahead of them. What imaginations!