Title: Rubber Band Game
General Information About this Item:
- Game, workplace folklore
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Informant #4
- Date Collected: 3/9/2018
Informant Data:
- FO+M student employee, works in Hinman Mail Services. Also a Dartmouth student in the class of 2021 hailing from Western Massachusetts. He is involved with a variety of activities across campus and considering majoring in mathematics.
Contextual Data:
- Started working at Hinman Mail Services this year. Often works at the window, handling packages and envelopes for students, faculty members, and staff. This job can sometimes be slow, so the informant and his coworkers play a simple game to pass the time. The informant does not know the origin of this particular tradition but knows it predates the beginning of his time working at Hinman.
Item:
- The Hinman Mail Services window looks into a room that contains shelves for packages and large envelopes. This room also has direct access to some student mailboxes (“Hinman boxes”). When work is slow the informant and his coworkers try to shoot rubber bands into the mailboxes near the window.
Transcript:
- “There is a habit, I guess, that we have, those of us who work at the window. Some of the Hinman boxes are open and within like arm’s reach or available within the vicinity. So something that we try to do to pass the time that, I’m not sure when exactly it started but that has been consistent since I’ve been there, is just shooting rubber bands into people’s Hinman boxes. And that’s just something that has definitely been around since before I’ve been there.”
Collector’s Name: Jacob Cruger
Tags/Keywords:
- Game
- FO+M
