It's like the ancient joke of getting a fortune cookie with the message "Help! I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory."
Know Your Memes has a piece on "Help I'm Trapped in a Factory":
“Help I’m Trapped in a Factory” is a phrasal template used in satirical pleas for help claiming to be stuck inside a factory that produces the object containing the message.... The exact origin of the phrasal template is unknown.I think it's the fortune cookie joke.
Since the mid 1950s, the bubble gum brand Bazooka Joe produced gum wrappers with messages written on the inside, some of which purportedly contained the message “Help! I’m trapped in a bubble gum factory!”There's also this:
Explained here.
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41 comments:
"Unsurprisingly, several ATM users regarded it as a joke"
I'm old enough to remember Alan Funt and his talking mailbox which thanked each letter dropper.
"I'm old enough to remember Alan Funt and his talking mailbox which thanked each letter dropper."
I was thinking about that myself as I wrote the post (but I read the NYT article in full and it does mention "Candid Camera").
Not wanting to give the NYT a click, I am wondering whether they managed to blame this on Trump. Or Russia.
Help me please! I am trapped in the comments section of a blog!
I am Laslo.
Chinese laundry used to be the go-to punchline.
When I was in high school, there was a joke of writing backwards on a blackboard:
Help! I'm trapped behind this blackboard!
Didn't actually see it, but apparently, "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" once ran a crawl along the bottom of the screen reading, "Help! I'm being held hostage in the newsroom!" Some telephone calls to the police resulted.
From Scientific American December 23, 1848
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D-s8AQAAIAAJ&dq=note+help+%22i+am+a+prisoner+in%22&pg=PA106&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Singular Affair
Some two weeks since a merchant in Bangor, Me , in emptying a tea chest, found is the bottom a snuff box containing a five dollar bill an the Dover, N. H. Bank, and attached to it, the following epistle written on a piece of paper of the quality generally used by the Chinese in putting upteain pound packages.
Pkkin, Dec. 1846. Dear Mother—I am a prisoner in a Tea House, and have been for six years. I wish you would go to Washingten and get our government to interfere and obtain my release. 1 enclose you a five dollor note ; it was presented to me by an American gentleman ; it is of no use to me, but it may be to you.
Edward Lovzxl. Directed to Mrs. Nancy Lovell, Boston, Mass.
Miss Marietta Smith, the young lady who caused so many stories to be circulated about abduction and so on, has at last been found.— She ran away from this city and went to Boston to learn the trade of a milliner. She has displayed but little sense or affection, or she would have in some manner let her parents know that she wis free, and well.
So it started out as a tea factory--in real life--then the comedians took over and made it a joke, and made the joke their own with every manner of business associated with the Chinese. Daffy Duck had the Chinese laundry, there was a book with a Chinese Fortune Cookie Factory, Alan King went for A Chinese Bakery, and there were others and other variations. The Fu Man Chu movies of the 1920 used the gag and fostered stories for newspapers--supposedly never confirmed.
Help! I'm trapped on hamster wheel, but today it ends for 48 hours, becuase
IT'S FRIDAAAAAAYYYY!!!!
James K said...
Not wanting to give the NYT a click,
Me too! Did the fNYT follow the click-bait MSM script which says that he was "trapped in an ATM"?
The guy was actually in a room.
Help ! I'm trapped in a Woody Allen movie - one of the early, funny ones.
I'm trapped as Marcello Mastroianni. No help needed.
I had a glass box with a mime trapped in it.
He eventually suffocated.
I am Laslo.
Can you imagine being stuck in a room? Rooms are so small!
"I had a glass box with a mime trapped in it.
He eventually suffocated."
he kept gasping for air, but I thought it was part of the act.
I mean, dude: if you need Help, just say it.
I am Laslo.
People miming that they can't breathe and people that can't actually breathe pretty much look the same.
I am Laslo.
I believe the mime stories are all real.
I saw a mime who only worked for deaf audiences.
That way he could talk, so it wasn't so weird.
I am Laslo.
Many of the advanced weapons produced by the Third Reich were constructed in slave labor camps built under mountains, under such conditions that it has been suggested that more people died building the V-2 than from having one fired at them.
The story I heard is that the Me 163 rocket interceptor in the National Air and Space Museum was sabotaged, with a note saying, "I hate my job."
I hope that man had a long and happy life, and got all his beer for free.
Why didn't the guy yell or bang on something when the note came out to make it clear that there really was a person stuck inside?
If he lured people with money, he would have gotten quicker results. In NYC, someone would have called police if they didn't get their free money.
I'm trppd... in an ATM vstbl... wth JLL GDCR!!!
Google it...
A nice negligence suit for designing and installing a room without a door handle by which to exit.
Article says he did yell and bang but wasn't heard.
No "survival" tag?
So NOW Trump (NMP) and those Russians are kidnapping people and imprisoning them in their ATM's, to make them literal Wage Slaves?
Is there Any level they won't stoop to?
Back in the 1980's a bank that I worked at had a vault with a time lock on it. Meaning once locked for the evening, it was not able to be reopened until a certain time in the morning....well over 16 hours. Also if locked during the day either by accident or on purpose (robbery) the vault couldn't just be opened and it would take many hours to get unlocked by a specialist or wait until the time was up...a really long time. The likelihood of getting locked in was remote since it took two people to trigger the combination and locking timer. But...ya never know!
We kept in a corner of the vault a couple of flashlights, a blanket, some water bottles and a couple of buckets. Just in case. When we would have a tour of the bank for the elementary school kids they would get to go into to bank and see the safe deposit boxes etc in the vault.
When they would ask about the weird stuff in the corner of the vault and we explained it was just in case someone got locked in and sort of why the buckets....their eyes would get all round. I think it was the highlight of the tour.
"No "survival" tag?"
I considered it and rejected it.
Not survival-y enough.
Thirty minute Canadian TV program (criminal) "Masterminds" episode highlighted a thief who would hide in "dead spot" where two rows of safty deposit boxes met at right angles. Came out when bank closed to pilfer boxes, back into hiding, exited, wearing suit and tie,carrying loot in briefcase after bank reopened.
Link goes to entire series on youtube, if you have nothing better to do.
Masterminds
Maybe I need tag for "getting into a jam."
There's the middle zone between survival and lameness/stupid.
"Thirty minute Canadian TV program (criminal) "Masterminds" episode highlighted a thief who would hide in "dead spot" where two rows of safty deposit boxes met at right angles. Came out when bank closed to pilfer boxes, back into hiding, exited, wearing suit and tie,carrying loot in briefcase after bank reopened."
How would that work? He'd have to break open the locked doors, and that would be noticed when the back reopened. I call bullshit.
If it's safety deposit boxes, the only locked doors he'd have to break into would be the boxes themselves, and I would think it would be easy enough to close the doors back sufficient to not be noticed by the person opening the bank vault first thing in the morning. He probably had a cordless drill in his briefcase, drilled the locks (or maybe he picked them, given the amount of time he had). He's locked in the vault at night. In the morning, someone comes and routinely opens the door. They don't see him in the deadspot, they don't do a comprehensive assessment of all the box doors. They leave the vault door open. The person walks out.
Why would we expect the person routinely opening the bank vault door to notice a drilled-out box door, if it had been picked or carefully drilled out, and then reshut?
How would that work? He'd have to break open the locked doors, and that would be noticed when the back reopened. I call bullshit.
"In 1981, William Smarto, along with assistance from his brother Vincent, robbed numerous safety deposit boxes at the First National Bank and Trust Company of Barrington (Illinois). The history of this and similar crimes are in Record Group 21, U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, U.S. v. William Smarto, case number 84-CR-567.
Since it was considered a “perfect crime” at the time, as the headline in the Chicago Tribune declared, the television series deemed it worthy to recreate since the series typically featured cases with complex or elaborate ways of committing a felony. A Canadian series called Masterminds, which ran on Court TV (now truTV), featured the true crime story which aired in the early part of the decade.
Although the Barrington Bank was the featured heist on the TV show, the Smarto brothers actually were arrested for two similar burglaries in Chicago suburbs. Counts I and II were for Conspiracy to Commit Burglary and Burglary of the First National Bank of Deerfield; Counts III, IV, and V were for Conspiracy to Commit Burglary and Burglary of the First National Bank and Trust of Barrington; and Counts VI and VII were for Conspiracy to Commit Burglary and Burglary of the First National Bank of Lake Forest.
It is helpful to have seen the reenactment to understand that the Smartos’ numerous visits to the safety deposit vaults allowed them to learn how the bank employees worked. In addition, each visit gave them the opportunity to bring in equipment they would need to pull off their scheme. Not only did they hide implements in their deposit boxes, but they began carrying in larger items claiming they were artwork. In reality they were wood pieces that were used as shelves in the drop ceilings where more gear could be hidden along with food since much of the activity was over the course of a weekend. The Barrington Bank lost more than a million dollars worth of cash and jewelry in that April 1981 heist."
Masterminds" episode highlighted a thief who would hide in "dead spot" where two rows of safty deposit boxes met at right angles. Came out when bank closed to pilfer boxes, back into hiding, exited, wearing suit and tie,carrying loot in briefcase after bank reopened."
I call bullshit too. To enter a vault or area where there are safe deposit boxes, you have to go through certain procedures. The area is locked and not accessible to just anyone waltzing in.
The teller or clerk,
1. first pulls a separate safe deposit box signature card and confirms your identity. Next you sign in on a log with the time you entered the area. The clerk initials that log at the same time.
2. The clerk has to buzz you in or unlock the gate.
3. To access a box, the clerk uses one key for the 'bank side' of the box and you use your key. You take your box out of the locked box and the clerk and you use both keys to relock and close the box. You get your key back and the clerk directs you to an area where you can have privacy to look at your 'stuff' generally, this is in a location outside of the main vault, because they can't have anyone other than staff in the vault when accessing. you don't get to just mill around the vault.
4. When you want to put your contents box back, you buzz for a teller and they then repeat the two key process. Put the contents box back in the box. Lock and return your key to you.
5. Buzz you out and then the clerk notates the time you left the safe deposit box area on the log.
The likelihood of you being able to sneak around or be forgotten in the vault is pretty much nil unless the clerks are all in on it.
In addition when closing the vault for the night and setting the time locks. It requires two people and a routine check of the area is done before locking up and both people are recorded as locking the vault. Not much left to chance.
..... can't have anyone other than staff in the vault when accessing other people's safe deposit boxes or the bins where the vault cash and coin is kept.
Dust Bunny Queen said... [hush][hide comment]
Masterminds" episode highlighted a thief who would hide in "dead spot" where two rows of safty deposit boxes met at right angles. Came out when bank closed to pilfer boxes, back into hiding, exited, wearing suit and tie,carrying loot in briefcase after bank reopened."
I call bullshit too
Yeah, you're right. Couldn't happen. Never happened. Impossible.
Oh, wait, happened more than once.! Nevermind.
The Pi "trapped in a universe factory" meme was new to me. In Buddhist philosophy, that's a fair definition of samsara: we are trapped in the creations of mind, and become enslaved in creating a dualistic universe.
The Smarto brothers did indeed rob safe deposit boxes as described in this article from 1985.
I don't doubt that since then the safe deposit boxes have been made much more secure, as Dust Bunny Queen describes, but this was back in 1978-1979.
On Saturday, April 11, 1981, the regular vault attendant was on vacation, and no one was on duty downstairs. Investigators believe that Smarto used a credit card to get past a glass door leading to the vault. He then crawled on top of the safe-deposit boxes and dropped into the corner, where there was a 24-inch square open space.
``Bank employees did not even know there was a dead space in the corner,`` Grossman said. At 1 p.m. the vault`s heavy metal door closed. ``It was on a time lock and would not open until 7:30 a.m. Monday,`` Grossman said. Ten minutes later the alarm went off. Police arrived and checked the bank. Nothing suspicious could be found. Ten minutes later the alarm went off again. ``This time they became convinced it was a malfunction,`` he said.
Investigators believe that the alarm was set off by Smarto as he crawled out of his hiding place to puncture an unpunched sound sensor.
I disfavor your use of the phrase "ATM machine" for pretty much the same reason I'm against your use of "ten-year anniversary", etc. It's like you think your audience won't know what "ATM" or "tenth anniversary" mean & have to be spoon-fed.
"I disfavor your use of the phrase "ATM machine" for pretty much the same reason I'm against your use of "ten-year anniversary", etc."
Coulb be a phonetic issue.
Maybe they said 'tenure anniversary'.
I'd celebrate that.
I am Laslo.
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