Does this beloved early 2000s fax-spam image exist somewhere?
January 18, 2024 11:23 AM Subscribe
Twenty-plus years ago, I received a bit of junk fax: a flyer that was a kind of advertisement for workplace meetings. I loved it. I miss it. Where is it?
In the year 2000,* an 18 year old kensington314had his first desk job, working a small non-profit of about five full time employees.
One of my daily morning tasks was to retrieve faxes that came in after close of business the prior day. One day, unbidden, we received a fax that I would describe as follows:
Was in the style of a cheap advertisement. Across the top, it said MEETINGS!. In the center was a clip-art style graphic of people in a meeting. And then elsewhere on the flyer it had bullet points saying things like, "Meet people!," and "Eat Donuts," and "Kill time." Stuff like that, but not verbatim.
I loved it so much that I brought it with me to every job I held, in three different cities, for the next 21 years. At my last job, it disappeared. (I have a theory that my last boss, a 12/10 on the toxic positivity scale and someone who doesn't understand jokes, took it and threw it away.)
Anyway, I loved this thing and I want it back in my life. Does it exist out there on the web or elsewhere? Thanks. Bonus gratitude to anyone who can explain why this specific kind of pointless junk fax existed and how its purveyors operated.
*may also have been 2001, technically.
In the year 2000,* an 18 year old kensington314had his first desk job, working a small non-profit of about five full time employees.
One of my daily morning tasks was to retrieve faxes that came in after close of business the prior day. One day, unbidden, we received a fax that I would describe as follows:
Was in the style of a cheap advertisement. Across the top, it said MEETINGS!. In the center was a clip-art style graphic of people in a meeting. And then elsewhere on the flyer it had bullet points saying things like, "Meet people!," and "Eat Donuts," and "Kill time." Stuff like that, but not verbatim.
I loved it so much that I brought it with me to every job I held, in three different cities, for the next 21 years. At my last job, it disappeared. (I have a theory that my last boss, a 12/10 on the toxic positivity scale and someone who doesn't understand jokes, took it and threw it away.)
Anyway, I loved this thing and I want it back in my life. Does it exist out there on the web or elsewhere? Thanks. Bonus gratitude to anyone who can explain why this specific kind of pointless junk fax existed and how its purveyors operated.
*may also have been 2001, technically.
Response by poster: OH MY GOD. It's not that, precisely, but it's the same text. Different image, different format.
How the hell did you find it? Any search advice for finding the precise one?
posted by kensington314 at 11:43 AM on January 18 [4 favorites]
How the hell did you find it? Any search advice for finding the precise one?
posted by kensington314 at 11:43 AM on January 18 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Seriously kindall,, I have a weirdly outsized attachment to this image from my youth. I really appreciate you finding something very much on the trail to it.
posted by kensington314 at 11:45 AM on January 18 [8 favorites]
posted by kensington314 at 11:45 AM on January 18 [8 favorites]
Searched Google image search for "meetings meme." There are other variants, probably one is the one you remember.
posted by kindall at 11:45 AM on January 18
posted by kindall at 11:45 AM on January 18
You (or someone!) might also enjoy someecards workplace memes.
posted by Glinn at 11:48 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
posted by Glinn at 11:48 AM on January 18 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Well that sure makes me feel like a sheepishly bad user of Google search. Thanks!!
posted by kensington314 at 11:49 AM on January 18
posted by kensington314 at 11:49 AM on January 18
Best answer: Having Kindall's results in hand, you can expand on them by searching at either tineye or Google image search/Google Lens
Tineye will find other sources for that exact same image. Google image search is more useful for your present purposes - it finds a good number of similar, but not identical images.
The above link is to a search on Kindall's first image, here is a link to a search on the second image - slightly different results.
posted by flug at 12:11 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]
Tineye will find other sources for that exact same image. Google image search is more useful for your present purposes - it finds a good number of similar, but not identical images.
The above link is to a search on Kindall's first image, here is a link to a search on the second image - slightly different results.
posted by flug at 12:11 PM on January 18 [2 favorites]
Probably a year too late, but does Get Your War On maybe unlock memories?
posted by dngrangl at 12:23 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]
posted by dngrangl at 12:23 PM on January 18 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh, indeed "Get Your War On" was a staple of my GW Bush era web routine. Hilariously, I think I had a "Get Your War On" book? Does that even make sense? Ah yes, I see on Wikipedia that it was compiled and published with some of the proceeds going to mine removal in Afghanistan.
posted by kensington314 at 12:28 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
posted by kensington314 at 12:28 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]
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posted by kindall at 11:41 AM on January 18 [13 favorites]