Quiz #41. Ridiculous
Why do people buy books-by-color to make their bookcases look good? Celebrating the ridiculous in Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for April 29, 2020.
If you've been reading my 40-plus coronavirus quizzes so far, you already know two things:
I am ridiculous.
Writing a daily quiz on a pandemic is ridiculous.
Is reading it ridiculous? That’s up to you--but I’d love to hear your thoughts. (More later.)
When this pandemic first hit, I wanted to keep a journal of my thoughts about the events going on around me. On this Wednesday, April 29th, six weeks after the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a pandemic, with more than 1,000,000 cases confirmed in the United States, do you want to hear what I have to say about the fact that as more and more states lift stay-at-home orders, there is no state which has met the federal guideline, announced from the White House 13 days ago on April 16th, that a state should only reopen when its total coronavirus cases have declined over a 14-day period?
No. I’m not talking about that here.
Instead, I’ll tell you that this morning I added water to my oatmeal--instead of milk--the first time I’ve ever done that. We’re really trying to limit our trips to--and deliveries from--the grocery store. Our last delivery was April 13th, our next is May 11th. Black coffee is coming.
At lunch, Sara and I had leftovers--no more of the perfect “10” grilled cheese sandwiches that I’ve made for the last two days and wrote about in Quiz #40. The Pursuit of Happiness. The Texas Toast sandwiches have wiped out the fresh bread that Sara had baked--and the shredded cheddar cheese is the only cheese we have left in the house.
No more homemade chocolate, peanut butter creations from the mind of sports blogger @jomboy. We’re low on peanut butter.
This morning, I read the Understandably newsletter from Bill Murphy Jr., “Just 5 average people.” One of those average people profiled by Murphy is Mike Nemeth who runs a small sports apparel business in Ohio. Nemeth’s company has pivoted with the pandemic to make masks for the general public to wear when we can all start going outside again. Murphy’s central point is that “no one likes to buy a product they need.” Nemeth is making masks fun--and marketing them with a ridiculous photo shoot. “I’m a CEO and I Just Did a Shirtless Photoshoot (I Think the Result Will Make You Smile)”
I don’t think a typical citizen is thrilled about wearing a mask when they go out grocery shopping-- shopping — and certainly not thrilled about wearing something that feels clinical and scary.
So let’s make it fun.
We opened up our service to allow people to make their own masks. Surprise — we found that our customers were as sarcastic and fun as we hoped.
I’m going to make a guess:
If a mask makes someone smile, they’ll be more likely to wear it.
Nemeth argues that fun is important in every part of life--and that includes having fun at work. I’ve worked in TV news for decades--and for more than 15 years of that time, I worked on the overnight shift in morning TV. When the Olympics came every other year, for two weeks the overnight staff would quadruple--with dozens of staffers, working overnight in offices and edit rooms without windows.
To soften the grueling shifts, I organized theme nights where members of the staff showed up for work, dressed around a central theme--the more ridiculous, the better. “Purple, Paisley or Plaid,” “Neon, Nerd or Nautical” or “Whacky, Khaki or Tacky.”
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
”Neon, Nerd or Nautical” with Susan
Purple, Paisley or Plaid
Whacky, Khaki or Tacky with Joshua
In Quiz #13. OOO and Pure O, I pointed out the amusing and ridiculous tweets on Twitter that called out MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt for the fact that she the books on her work-from-home bookcase were organized by color. In the Twitter thread around these tweets, people discussed their own obsessions. For many, the idea of organizing books by color seemed ridiculous. For others, completely normal.
Last week in a virtual gathering with a large group of people, there was a discussion about the different and revealing backgrounds that could be seen behind work-from-home TV news anchors, correspondents and pundits. I mentioned Hunt’s color-coded bookshelf and was surprised when more than one person revealed that they’d actually purchased books at book sales based solely on the color of the spines--and how the books might compliment the color scheme inside their home. (Maybe you can judge a book by its cover?) I thought this was an odd revelation--and not something I would want to confess if I’d bought books by the color of their spine. “Oh, look at this book I just spotted on your bookshelf. Did you like it? Should I read it?” “Actually, I haven’t read it. I know nothing about it or its author. I just bought it because it’s just the right shade of aqua. Don’t you just love it?”
And then someone revealed that home furnishing stores actually sell books that are packaged by color. Skeptical, I had to see if this was really true. Here’s what Wayfair sells under the heading, “Authentic Decorative Books—By Color.”
I was relieved to discover that the books are “authentic.”
Ridiculous, right?
And yet, I have to wonder what anyone might think of me and the assigned, color-coded wrapping paper we use at Christmas so that on Christmas morning each person knows--just by looking--which presents are for them and which are for the others.
In our house, everyone is assigned a Christmas wrapping paper for any gift given to them.
In exposing my own quirks, eccentricities and obsessions in this quiz, I have also tried to be pretty clear how hard my wife Sara and my children all work to keep me in line.
Dig deep--though not so deep for me--and I think you will find that we are all raging rivers of ridiculousness. What’s more, a lifetime of being in a family, raising children and working with others has taught me that for most people, we are often our own worst enemies. Saving people from themselves—and keeping that ridiculousness at bay—is one of the most important jobs for partners and parents, family and friends as well as colleagues and compatriots.
So, in the end, I hope I am amusing you with this quiz. I’m also putting a mirror to myself.
That helps me--and I hope it’s helping you.
We all have to find a way to get through this pandemic one ridiculous day after another.
Editor’s Note:
Beginning with today’s quiz, you will find a new feature. You can rate each quiz on a 5-star scale with a place for comments, corrections and your own confessions.
Want to let me know how I’m doing with this quiz?
Please let me know about any typos or misspellings.
Comments, corrections and confessions welcome.
What did NOT happen?
A. I got the idea for a 5-star rating system from Bill Murphy Jr. and Understandably. When I saw it on his Substack page, I emailed the Substack help desk to see how to set it up. They said Murphy had likely used an outside tool;
B. I reached out to Murphy and he told me that he used Instapage to set up the rating system. He suggested I use Google forms instead;
C. Murphy discussed the merits of using a 5-star rating system, saying that 80% of the ratings were 5’s, 15% were 4’s. A 1-star rating was very unusual--and he told me, “In fact I got a notice about a 1-star today and it was so unusual that it sent me to figure out who it was… and it was you!”
D. I apologized to Murphy for giving him a 1-star rating, explaining (as he suspected) that I was just testing the system to see how it worked;
E. When I told Sara that I had given Murphy a 1-star rating, she told me that I might be bringing his rating down within Substack. I logged into the system and changed my rating for Murphy to a 5.
Want the answer?
Answer #41. Ridiculous, April 29, 2020
If you’re a subscriber, the answer will be sent to you as a separate email when the question is published.
Want more?
Here’s the next quiz in the series: Quiz #42. Out of Stock.
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #40. Pursuit of Happiness.
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
Thank you and good night.
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Thanks for commenting.