The Story so Far
The question of "Which would you rather be trapped with...?" is one that has been with me for quite some time. It used to be that my brother and I would lie awake at nights and ask each other what animal we would rather be trapped in a gymnasium-sized room with, and give thorough reasons why. Eventually, though, we grew up, and the questions of which we would rather be trapped with went away ... but were not forgotten.
In the summer of 1998, a group of Garinger alumni were going to Steven Pilker's grandfather's beach house (which in fact turned out to be a trailer, and far from the beach.) On the ride down, I was riding in Steven's Honda Accord, and with little to entertain us except for his odd tastes in music, I decided to get creative. I began asking him simple questions of gymnasium sized rooms and wild animals. The questions became more and more elaborate, and before long I had built up a great many hypothetical situations involving everything from yellow jackets to maniacal drivers. Upon our arrival, Steven told me to ask the same questions to Ryan Hardister. Ryan told me to ask them to John Taylor. Before long, everyone with us had heard every question I had to offer.
Well one night on that short weekend we went to dine at Dick's Last Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC. That's the place where they're supposed to give you a hard time - but believe me, we gave them a much harder time than they gave us. So after much banter between our party and the poor waitress who was stuck with us, it was suggested that I ask her the same hypothetical questions of which she would rather be trapped with. So taking my nine dollar chicken caesar salad to the other end of the table, I did. She didn't get it, though. She thought it was some sort of joke. She answered them all too quickly and couldn't give good explanations. She seemed to think there was a punchline coming, though I repeatedly assured her there was not. She just couldn't appreciate the questions for the sake of the questions.
Here on my "Which would you rather be trapped with...?" page, the hypothetical question is allowed to exist for its own sake. I have tried to recreate all the original excitement by drawing many questions from the original stock, but have also added many new ones.
In case you cared. You're at my website so apparently you do.