PassiveAggressiveNotes.com » college life

Sunday night laundry room showdown

Kerry — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:00:25 +0000

Emily in Michigan happens to go to the university with the largest residence hall system in the U.S., and the Sunday-night scene in the dorm laundry room can be, well, a bit of a shit show.

This is the scene Emily came across one such Sunday:

And underneath…

(Adds Emily: “The laundry room is very clean, but I guess some people need a little extra.”)

The saga continues when an innocent bystander jumps in to make nice…

Meanwhile, the instigator of all this is not the smiley face type.

(just click the image above to enlarge it)

This vending machine ruined my life!

Kerry — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:35:39 +0000

Ah, first world problems.

(Spotted by Kim in Manchester, U.K.)

related: My query on the egg salad ban

The Toilet Paper Manifesto

Kerry — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:58:10 +0000

When four people share one bathroom, true equity in toilet-paper purchasing is nearly impossible to come by without conflict.

Just take a look at the opening salvo issued at Laura’s apartment in Georgia:

…and the first response:

Your move, “Scott.”

A bitter butter battle

Kerry — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:14:08 +0000

“My two roommates have been locked in a butter war all week,” our submitter in Oregon reports. “One will pull out the butter to let it soften, and as soon as she walks away, the other will put it back in the fridge.”

Although our submitter says she’s made a point of staying out the debate, she spotted this note on her way out the door this morning…

By the time she returned home from class, a second note had appeared as well.

Adds our submitter: “I’m pretty sure the butter won’t actually kill me as the pink note says, but I also wonder how long the other roommate spent picking out a font for the printed note. Also: one roommate is a comm major and the other studies history. See if you can guess which is which.”

An artistic phallacy

Kerry — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:00:02 +0000

Says Michael, of this note from the bulletin board of his college dorm: “It pretty much speaks for itself.”

related: Body hair is unsanitary!

extra credit: A brief survey of blatantly phallic art [flavorwire.com]

And what’s the magic word?

Kerry — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:30:51 +0000

From a frat house in Denton, Texas…

to an alley in Sydney, Australia…

back to a dorm room in Richmond, Virginia…

…the notion of “minding your manners” takes a few somewhat compromising turns along the way.

Help Desk Shenanigans

Kerry — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:29:08 +0000

Writes Bri in St. Paul, Minnesota: “I work at a University help desk that employs mostly students. Since their shifts are short, they have a habit of leaving all kinds of random things at the desk, much to the chagrin of many of my co-workers” — and the devilish glee of others.

related: How is your eyes?

extra credit: Venn diagram of “shenanigans” [boingboing.net]

A spoonful of sugar might help this lesson in Newtonian physics go down

Kerry — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:57:00 +0000

This physics lesson was posted in the communal kitchen of Oxford University’s department of psychiatry.

“You would think that these people would be masters of communication,” our submitter says. “Evidently, not so much.”

In Australia, meanwhile, it seems they prefer not to beat around the bush* — at least when it comes to wet spoons.

*bad pun intended

Meow, purr, RAWRRR!

Kerry — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:14:48 +0000

Our submitter at a university in Canberra spotted this first note while getting his morning coffee. “Pat (a professor in the department) has been complaining for weeks that her coffee mug seems to disappear and reappear spontaneously. Her mood varies with its presence.”

Several days later, our submitter spotted this addendum, written by another professor sympathetic to Pat’s cause. “Since the mug hasn’t turned up in over a week, I’m pretty sure the culprit is too afraid to return the mug at this point.” (Could you blame him?)

related: Not to name names, but…

Dear parents: this is what you WON’T be hearing from your newly minted college grads

Kerry — Mon, 23 May 2011 02:27:11 +0000

(After all, once they’ve moved back home into their old bedrooms, they can just raid your liquor cabinet and sneak bills from your wallet, just like old times!)

Meanwhile, this note/social critique was spotted by James in downtown Iowa City, “amid dozens of bars and thousands of over-privileged young suburbanites.”

If, however, your entrepreneurial kiddos do decide to strike out their own, you might want to keep tabs on the Sudafed in the medicine cabinet. (Especially if “on their own” means “the room above the garage.”)

Why climb when you can RIDE?

eerac — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:28:54 +0000

As it happens, our entire technical staff (a.k.a Eric) recently completed a Ph.D in computer science and took a job at the newly formed Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in picturesque Tübingen, Germany. (That’s right kids, if you work hard, and get your doctorate in computer science, you too may one day be qualified enough to host a found-content blog!)

Upon arriving at MPI’s Tübingen campus, Eric immediately felt at home. Specifically, he spotted some encouraging signage right next to the second floor elevator in one of MPI’s buildings.

Besides being a powerful testament to Southern Germany’s deep love of hiking, this health conscious posting also highlights the institute’s international reach. As you can see, the note itself is actually a photograph of a sign that was originally posted at (by?) Korea University*.

Of course walking down a single flight of stairs is hardly an inconvenience, particularly since the stairs in question are literally across from the elevator and lead directly to the building’s main entrance. The folks on the third floor, however, have a different perspective on the situation. Posted next to the third floor elevator is this rather charming reply.

Finally, from across the Atlantic, students at the University of Virginia have brought to light an additional concern surrounding the classic elevator vs. stairs debate. The following note, spotted by Trisha, was placed by the stairs of her UVA apartment building…along with an entire box of fat-free vanilla pudding.

Needless to say, the pudding was gone by the end of the day.

* Perhaps you, dear reader, can keep this transcontinental chain alive. Please consider printing out your own copy of the above photo and posting it at your place of business and/or learning.

So, you were hoping to get an A for “asshole-like entitlement”?

Kerry — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:53:33 +0000

Our submitter in North Dakota, an instructor at one of the state’s institutions of higher learning, found this note left behind by a student in one of her English Composition classes. “We had begun meeting in a computer lab two classes prior,” she writes, “something which had been announced at the beginning of the classes leading up to the room switch as well as on the syllabus.”

But you know, “nobody likes to have to dig your syllabus out.” That’s like, a total drag, dude!

Seriously, kids today(!!!)

extra credit: “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower,” by Professor X [theatlantic.com]

Ikea’s Danegr chair, never a bestseller, has since been recalled

Kerry — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:27:26 +0000

“Smooth move, Ferguson!” he said with a snort, his laughter echoing down the empty hallway. He started to walk on, then stopped short. That tuna-salad sandwich can wait, he thought. This was the English Department, after all — someone should be keeping up appearances! With that, the graduate student made an abrupt about-face, scurrying back to the tiny office he had just left to compose a suitable caps-locked rejoinder.

This, he could already tell, would be the highlight of his week.

Author’s note: The chair above was spotted by Ben in a hallway of the English Building (oh, the shame!) at the University of Cincinnati. Adds Ben: “I don’t know how you write a note with only a few words on it, all of them huge, and mess one up so badly.”

related: Childrens can learn!

Thank you for your “constructive criticism”

Kerry — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:38:50 +0000

When it comes to comment cards and suggestion boxes, it’s not necessarily hard to get the last word. But as Maggie noticed while leaving a dining hall at the University of Denver, it takes a skilled passive-aggressive to turn a totally neutral, boilerplate response into an obvious “up yours” without so much as an exclamation point.

extra credit: College Cafeterias Get Bad Grades from the Health Dept. [nytimes.com]