That damned box of chocolates

...you really never know what you are going to get.

That's a problem if you ask me. I love chocolates, as a matter of fact I love chocolates so much that people from the office have begun bribing me with 'souvenirs', when they return from a trip, be that a trip to Tesco. It's really a bit sad that they feel the need to do so, given that I do get paid for the work that I am doing. Fact is, it does raise my motivation and it does create guilt, but in most unexpected ways. How do you say no to doing that quick little task for someone who just trekked back from Montenegro, realizing he has forgotten to bring the local speciality, as a result hits the duty free on their layover and returns with Serbian chocolates to make up for it. You end up doing two things. Firstly you will do that little little task and you will do it with a smile and secondly, you will eat the chocolate. This should be the easy part.

Take the Serbian chocolate as an excellent example of why this is not as easy as it looks. It turns out you really don't know what you are going to get and that's a problem when you, like me, like chocolate but are narrow minded about the definition of said substance. Banana flavored goo in a dark chocolate coating in, this is important, a pretty pink shiny wrapper is not chocolate. White, undefined goo in white chocolate coating, again, in pretty pink shiny wrapping paper is not chocolate. Nougat goodness in milk chocolate coating, you guessed it, in pretty pink wrapping paper: that's chocolate.

Eating the wrong one and spitting it out into your hand: that is guilt.

Now how to solve the dilemma? One might imagine reading the description on the box might help. It does not, language barrier aside. Quality Street has begun a good campaign to outline the flavors on the box, but even they have green mystery triangles and surprise blue squares and guess what, those are the ones left in the box till the end because nobody wants to end up spitting white goo into their hand, especially not when everyone is watching, smiling, observing how much the child loves chocolate and the child is me. Back to the Serbian dilemma: they do have hearts, triangles, squares and funny looking towers, BUT that does not mean anything. For a while I was imagining the left side held more true chocolates and the squares were also a safer bet, at least within that left side territory, but I was proven wrong. Again and again.

The closest to a strategy I have come to is the above eluded to "observe, memorize and repeat" series of steps. Observe what economist 1 just shoved into his mouth, memorize the shape, wrapper (if, mind you, if they choose to differentiate), positioning and then repeat the action.

It works so well I just came back from a trip to the neighbors rubbish bin ("just gotta run out, anyone need anything from the post office?") and my hands are still sticky. Boo.