What are those brown boxes with handles that every single actor uses to remove their office belongings after being fired in any movie?
Posted Apr 21, 2009, 1:31 PM UTC
323
Something I've noticed in every movie I've watched in which one of the actors is fired from their job. They all pack their desk contents into a brown box with holes for handles on the sides. Is this some kind of common office supply box in America? Like a brand of copier paper or something that happens to be useful for carting out your stuff when you get the axe? The box has a 'woodlike' grainy dark brown texture.
4
I think most offices I've been in buy storage boxes to keep in supply. They're particularly useful if you have binders/folders/whatevers of old paperwork that you don't use on a regular basis, but still need to keep around just in case - financial records and legal records, for example.
I think the "fake wood grain" thing was an old style (at least two or three decades ago) that might have been intended to make the boxes look more presentable and professional - like the fake wood paneling they used to always put on appliances. However, over the years I think everyone's come around to realize they look like crap, so those boxes have given way to more simple, utilitarian looks.
If you go to a Staples or Home Depot, you'll probably find one that's either white or cardboard-brown with some printing on it for people to fill out information about what's in the box, and smaller offices are probably more likely to have these. However, in a larger office, they'll probably order in bulk, in which case it's most cost-efficient to provide plain, unprinted cardboard.
I would venture to guess that in film and TV, the "fake wood grain" boxes came to be associated with the "pack up your things, you're fired" situation, but as the nature of cardboard boxes changed over the years, the convention stayed the same to distinguish it from "moving boxes". In other words, it acts as a subconscious visual cue to alert viewers that someone got fired or laid off, where a plain cardboard box would be more likely to imply that someone is moving.
At least, that's my guess.
5
Yes. It's the box you put your walkin' papers in upon having them handed to you.
3
And no matter what the job, they all have one of those axe looking rulers sticking out.
2
Just like how they always put their groceries in a brown paper bag with a loaf of French bread sticking out.
3
Yeah, and who has brown paper bags besides Trader Joe's. 90% of the time they're plastic bags
1
A T-Square?
2
you have never held a real job have you?
2
[deleted]
1
Capitalize that when you type it good sir!
I don't say "I'm not german". No I would be polite nad capitalize that fine country.
Plus, more than just the United States have boxes. Why boxes are the universal container in a square or rectangular shape! I am sure in wherever you hail from you have seen a box or two in your travels, no?
1
YOUR RITE GOOD SIR. IM SORRY THAT I OFFENDED YOU'RE COUNTRY BY NOT USING CAPITALS. ITS VERY DISRESPECTFUL OF ME. WE DONT HAVE THOSE BOXES IN MY COUNTRY. SO ITS DIFFICULT CARRYING LOSE OBJECTS AROUND WHEN YOU LOOSE YOUR JOB HERE.
1
It's a filing box. Notice that a standard sized file folder fits perfectly in there?
That's so if you don't have file cabinets, you put your files in on of those boxes for storage, but it also has many uses.
1
This. It's called a record storage box.
3
Yes, that is the correct design, just not the exact one that appears in every movie.
1
What do you expect? Them to take multiple trips back and forth to their car or to try and be a champion and carry everything with your hands and stuff your pockets?
1
Just get fired? Trying to look "cool" like the actors?
1
My wife uses them for storage around the house. They're remarkably sturdy.
1
Damn. Now I want one.
1
Do you mean banker's boxes? Those are cheap boxes for storing paper archives in a closet. You can pick them up cheap at most office supply stores.
Yes, that's it - it has the grainy wood texture. Thanks.
It just amazes me that every fictional company seems to have them.
Example: http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=162903
Mostly because every real company does
I work from home and even I got one of those boxes, so if I ever got fired I know where to put all my shit I guess.
On a related note, it is full of the shit that I had at my desk in the office while we still had/needed one.
Which leaves us with the Deep Thought of the Day:
If you work from home and get fired, where do you take your stuff???