A case of inquisitive wonder

Once in a while, it is good to test people's curiosity and laugh at the outcome. Of course, better still if oneself is not the victim! :P Was given this box thingy from a friend (who once told me about it, and I said I was interested in it, and she kindly hunted it down all the way from Melaka, and gave me one. Danke!).

Now, in the office, our section has this common area (well, more like an empty desk space) where we hoard all our food. Anyone hungry would just grab some snacks from the table. There are usually goodies galore (chocolate, biscuits, snacks from all corners of the world, specially brewed coffee, etc), and so, what's a guy got to do, but leave the unassuming little box with the food! :)

Lo and behold, we heard various screams during the day (and a few colourful words after that too!), when the curious folks opened the little box and got the shock of their life.

One or two, having even experienced such gags, would still fall victim to this. Sometimes, I do wonder.... hmm. Others were like super cool with nary a reaction. One other I heard, had like a 2-second delayed reaction before screaming aloud. A friend even jumped a few feet away almost with the shock of his life (thinking it was a cockroach instead of a lizard!).

I think on the whole, I heard at least four screams during the first day I left it at the food table. Word subsequently got around, and it ended up pretty unexciting after, especially with some purposely asking their colleagues to open the box to have a look.

And what is inside? Now you see it! Surprisingly, a house lizard is typically light brown in colour, but this one is black. Yet, the rubbery substance which makes the lizard appear slimy, as well as the moving tail did give a few some horror stories for many to have a good laugh over. Was told that had the lizard been of a tanner colour, it would not have been as scary. Somehow, black still represents an unknown and an unsavoury colour to many.

And guess what, the very first scream of the day was from my lady boss who thought that the box contained some Chinese Tea. Of course, holding it close to her face to have a sniff at the tea also didn't lessen the scream that memorable day, so early in the morning. Somehow, with this happening to the boss, I don't know whether to laugh or to be horrified, but luckily, she also saw the humour in it. If she had "blown up" so to say, I guess no one would have owned up to having left the box there. :P

As it stands, good to "test" people's curiousity once in a while, and it was harmless enough not to live up to the adage, "curiosity killed the cat".