A couple weeks ago during lunch break, my boss spotted something odd when I took my lunch out of my bag I carry to work.

"What's that?!"

His spidey sense was uncanny.  There was only an couple inches of tangled braid to see when I had partly unzipped the bag, and I had been overly careful to keep the possible exposure to a minimum (perhaps that's what alerted him); how did he know it wasn't just a piece of string-craft (like a fancy dream-catcher) or something people consider "normal" at work?

It was far too late, now I had to- my boss' tone had been accusatory like a babysitter's. The other co-workers had all gathered around, sensing possible embarrassment.

Out slid the yak hair sling. I subconsciously held it out in surrender-pose, like it was an old lady's wig or printed underwear I'd been caught stowing.

"It's uh- sling..."

That barely registered. I decided to gamble it all and go full bore in order to aggravate the situation so as to possibly confuse them into giving-up caring. It was a gutsy maneuver, but I'd make them sorry for investing so much of their attention into the situation that wasn't really theirs to begin with.

"It's a braided yak-hair and wool sling I got from Tibet. You swing it around and it launches stuff really hard at Goliath."
This was the LEAST concise and overall worst general description I could muster for an abrupt intro to anything, especially one taken care not to include any pauses for breath for naturally paced delivery of any sort. I was actually proud of myself for this; for a split second I could hear their brains fizzle into hiccups.

Alpha boss instead turned to a look of childish admiration and drew closer, as if to touch it. The clan followed his lead.

>>>>Fast forward 5 minutes later<<<<


All co-workers outside the building, standing in front of the back wall, their backs turned, giggling like the idiots they totally weren't.

"Throw it (the tennisball I'd also brought) as hard as you can! I wanna feel this."

Although I didn't sling it as savagely as I could have, I don't want to sound like I let anyone down.


I connected with Mark's calf on a powershot to which he squealed like a kid sister. Laughs all around.


Wash, rinse, repeat. Take turns. Boss' orders.



**** BEST LUNCH [DAY AT WORK] EVER ****

I once slung a pape/duct tape ball at my one friend who thought it might be fun...............after he fell on his side moaning he decided it was no longer fun or a good idea   .(No harm done just a welt and some funny memories). 

I love the story:) But in belgium is slinging against people illegal
We may nothing in this country

Thanks for the support, it couldn't have been done without the knowledge I gained from all the people on this site, not to mention the site   

The funny thing about this story, besides it actually happening in real life, is that the ending to this particular scenario was anything but predictable and yet arguably the best possible outcome (!)
I had to share it.  Now everyone there thinks of the sling as awesome and fun. A couple of the co-workers were low powered yet very accurate- they got repeated tennisball head-shots (!!!). I really ought to get everyone at work a sling for a gift now that I think of it...

----

"I would have totally embarresed myself by missing repeatedly.  Bill "

Well, it's not part of the official legend, but I heard some rumor there were a couple of 'warm-up' throws beforehand

----

Tiny tidbits left out from the story (for pacing purposes):


*Upon my first (ordered) demonstration, they wanted to see how hard I could sling something (luckily/conveniently I had a tennisball), so I managed to both dent the heavy metal gate (pull down/garage style) with it and also slung it off the back wall hard enough for it to leave green tennisball fuzz stuck to the wall (visible from a ways back), which impressed the boss into the idea of herding the coworkers into a (backs turned) firing line...

*One coworker, Mark, executed a very nice figure 8 on their first try (I showed them once and discouraged it for inherent complexity). The group was actually surprisingly talented in general and picked it up (general slinging) more or less immediately. It was everyone's first try at using a sling (except for mine).

*The girl there (secretary) was the most accurate. Startling, actually. The worst part was how she didn't seem surprised by this at all. The only bad part of the experience was the bitter jealousy I had to swallow

We're not eccentric, it's all them others that are just so boringly conventional

you are lucky that your coworkers were satisfied with just throwing tennis balls at each other instead of, you know, rocks.

Aussie wrote on Jul 29^th, 2010 at 2:29am:


Hear, hear! 

  Great story, well executed too.  Glad you didn't get your Tibetan sling confiscated, I think I would probably die fighting before I handed one of mine over.     I laughed at the end, did not see that coming!  Sounds like you work with a good group of people.  Thanks for sharing!

Great thread...I love it.