The Office Scavenger Hunt!

I used to write poetry.

Poetic inspiration came from two sources:
1) Reading the works of great poets, and admiring their use of language to create meaning.
2) Being pissed off at someone else. Nothing fuels poetry like angst, especially for teenagers.

However, in recent years, I haven't written any poetry. Mostly, that’s because I am not required to write poetry to earn a grade. The past week, however, I have rediscovered my poet’s soul, because I have had to create an office scavenger hunt.

To preface, our office is not unlike THE Office; our manager rides around our office on a motorized cooler, pranks are encouraged, and Halloween is the most important day of the year. Each team also has a team bulletin board that mostly just has pictures of the teams on a fun background. Our team is currently pieces of fruit living in a forest. It’s super cute. I’m a bunch of grapes. It is fitting for me because I’m also a wino.

One of the other teams had recently changed their board to be a big cardboard king running through a valley of flowers and butterflies. It was not very manly looking. The king looked like the spitting image of the creepy Burger King on the commercials.

So, about a week ago, I stole him and hid him. In his place, I put up a ransom note signed from “The Somalian Pirate Crew.” We all thought it was funny. The next day, the woman who makes their team's board was desperately trying to find him. It seemed like she was actually upset about it, and because she is such a sweet lady and I felt bad that she might actually be worried, I put him back on their board. Only after that did we find out that she actually thought it was funny and was playing along!

And so the games begin.

It started with a clue left on their board that would lead them to someone in the office who would give them another clue that would lead them to someone else, and so on, until they found the king.

The clue reads:

The King has been captured and taken away
By one who once lived where the moon shone at day
Upon a two-wheeled chariot, this one took the King
For a military son, a ransom to bring.

The poetic juices are now flowing, people.

Next, they put up a big cardboard pirate lady on their board with a sign demanding that their king be returned. Since they obviously didn’t know what to do next, we added another clue to the board that basically giving them instructions.

If the King of Bookings you wish to find
You must read the clues and use your mind.
The clues will lead you on your way,
Our little games you must now play….

Turns out they figured out the clue, which was actually kind of tough (it’s someone here who lived in Alaska, is a bicyclist, and has a son in the army). But now they’re stuck, because THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. Instead of finding the person with the next clue, they’re spending their time printing ransom money and talking about coming up with a SEAL extraction team to find him and recapture him. It’s really not a difficult concept. All you do is solve the clue and then get the next clue from that person.

So, I put up even more instructions, thinking that this would help them understand what they need to do.

The King despairs; he knows not when his people will come seeking.
A clue was left, but will you search? And yet, the time is fleeting….
For now we see the Pirate Bride demands the King’s return
But if indeed you wish to see His Highness, you must learn
To follow clues both far and wide across this kingdom fair,
And then when you have rescued him, return him to his lair.

It ended with “P.S. This is a Scavenger Hunt.”

They still don’t get it yet, but on the plus side, they’re working together as a team, which is pretty cool. It makes me happy.

It’s pretty sweet that my poetry skills have amounted to creating office scavenger hunts for cardboard burger kings.