The nice clerk at the office comes by our cubicle farm every afternoon to feed us with non-electronic mail.

Since I’m not very important, I don’t usually get any mail, but these past few days have been different because I actually got mail for about 4 consecutive days. Wooohoooo!

When I’m inside my cubicle, she just hands me the mail, and I thank her. No problem.

Things get a little more tricky for her when I’m not around, because she’s not quite sure where to put my mail.

You see, my company issues out those plastic in-trays and out-trays, but I didn’t take them because
1) I don’t have much use for them (I thought), since my work is mostly done electronically,
2) there’s no more space left on my cubicle desk.

Since I don’t have an in-tray or inbox (I think the name inbox in email has office cubicle origins), the clerk has to decide where to put my mail. This is probably what goes through her mind as she holds the envelope and surveys my cubicle:

Now where the hell should I put this? The main desk is filled with equipment and books… this side table is filled with books and junk… the top of this shelf is filled with stuff… maybe I’ll just put it on the keyboard, since it’s the largest flat surface area around. Heck, I’ll just put it on his chair!

Clerks have difficult decisions to make.

Anyway, I soon realised that the mail I’ve been getting was not from people who love me (boohooo!), but they were the offline version of spam.

With a bit of thinking, I figured a way to solve everyone’s problem, and make the world a better place. Or at least make my workplace a better place.

My Inbox