Every Trade Has a Trick (or Two)
March 27, 2007
Matthew Baldwin over at The Morning News posted a great compilation of Tricks of the Trade.
As an entrepreneur, half of my work seems to be finding a cheap and easy solution to a problem. This list was entertaining and very insightful to how different people find little easy to use solutions to common problems.
Some examples:
Cartographer
Mapmakers will often use “copyright traps,” bits of information in their maps that are purposefully wrong. They might label a body of water “Lake Strongbad,” for instance, and then examine the next editions of competitors’ maps to see if the incorrect information makes an appearance.
Jeweler
When setting a semiprecious gem, set a tiny piece of silver or gold foil behind it to make it sparkle.
Balloon-Twister
When you’re twisting balloons for children, never tell them what you’re making. The majority of the finished products—despite your best attempts—almost always look like a dog, a blastula, or something vaguely phallic. If you identify what you’re actually attempting to make, the children will respond to your finished product with, “That doesn’t look like a [insert animal name]…” But if you make the animals and then ask, “What does it look like to you?” the child’s imagination will take over, turning the blue, four-legged balloon into Blue from Blue’s Clues, the blastula into a Pokemon, and the phallic object into an elephant. You’ll also get bonus points because you were so cool for making exactly what they wanted.
Read the Full list at The Morning News
6 Comments
Eric said on March 27, 2007...
I love the Nurse one - if they smack themselves in the face, they’re probably unconscious. Priceless.
Ross Hill from Thrive said on March 27, 2007...
A lot of good ones in there. Nice find Darius!
Aaron said on March 27, 2007...
I don’t have any tricks of the trade yet but I’m sure they’ll come.
I like the Technical Support: Unplug the wire and blow in it then plug it back in. However they might want to start with “Is the power on?”
Travis said on March 27, 2007...
I’ve used the Graphic Designer trick before:
If you have a client who is unable to approve a proposed design without putting her stamp on it, just put an obvious error in the proposal…….the client requests the change and feels she’s done her part.
Love the desktop support one:
“PEBKAC” = “Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair.”
chris.pund said on March 27, 2007...
Some great ones in there!
Amy said on March 27, 2007...
Speaking of balloon animals, I work for a major league baseball team and we give out balloons during promotions. People literally fall over each other and elbow their way in to get a balloon. One of our favorite tricks is to tie the ends of all the long balloons together so they form a huge long chain and when we toss them out, everyone quickly looks dumbfounded as they are stuck to the person next to them.
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