subject: The Mailroom: Land of Wonder [print this page] There's something about the mailroom; that secluded area of the office which can serve as a refuge to the stressed worker; perfect for siphoning the odd envelope, sending a covert text message or maybe even catching up on some sleep if the night before hadn't been treated as a 'school night'!Mailrooms tend to be a luxury reserved for the larger offices and are the inner sanctum of procrastination, work shirking and general tomfoolery. The area itself offers abundant opportunity for harmless wrongdoing, but better still are some of the items in there which present whole new realms of time-wasting and outright silliness:Bubble WrapNo-one can resist the rounded nodules of a sheet of virgin bubble wrap. The mere site of this instrument of joy disguised as a packaging material brings the 5 year old out in most of us. Although seemingly a pretty fruitless exercise, there is something deeply calming about disrupting the form or a plastic bubble with a satisfying pop- it must date back to our ancestors in some way. If the office supply of bubble wrap has 'mysteriously' been depleted by over-zealous pop-fans or God forbid; used for packing something- then padded envelopes offer a nice substitute.Sticky LabelsJust like the cathartic popping of bubble wrap: using and generally abusing sticky labels can also elicit the boundless joy of an infant within even the most aged of office drones. Drawing the obligatory flower, star, butterfly, thunderbolt and heart then peeling the label off it's smooth backing paper before wandering what on earth you're going to do with it is a mail room tradition. Even more widespread is of course the careful emblazoning of 'Kick Me' or a school playground inspired insult followed by the ninja-esque task of affixing said label to an oblivious colleague.Adhesive TapeWe're not talking about your standard sellotape here, my goodness no, the mail room is often home to that most incredible of substances: ridiculously strong parcel tape. Uses for this at times malignant staple of parcel wrapping include the binding of limbs, secure closure of that which should not be securely closed and of course the attachment of impressively cumbersome items to other items, the wall or ceiling. Kudos goes to those who have indulged in the pleasure of taping an office chair to the ceiling, yes it's hard; but believe me- it can be done.Franking MachinesThe Franking Machine is a strange beast which often imbues the (more immature) user with the thrill they'd associate with money counterfeiting. In reality, it is absolutely legal to produce your own postage marks at the expensive of your company. It may however be frowned upon if you decide that a brick wrapped in parcel tape deserves to be posted to Indonesia and proceed to print the appropriate postage label...not that we'd ever do such a thing of course.
