At least it's not a mysterious white powder

[rowyn]

I process most of the payments by mail made to Toddler Bank. Today, in an envelope containing a perfectly normal check and payment notice, I also received seven curious slips of paper, each about two and a half inches wide, and a third of an inch tall. Dotted lines ring each one; they look like they've been cut along the dotted lines from a photocopied piece of paper. Each as a word or phrase on it. They read as follows:

Fever
Sucks thumb
Attends a daycare center five days a week
Four years old
Diarrhea
Recently swam in a local pond
Nausea and vomiting

It's almost like they're pieces from some peculiar medical diagnostic game. I have no idea what they're supposed to mean. One of my co-workers suggested that the envelope had been storing many of these, and the customer hadn't emptied it completely before putting the payment inside and mailing it.

So: what sort of purposes (nefarious and otherwise) can you imagine for slips of paper like these?

Comments

Re: Symptoms

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

It does sound like a game of some sort.

One question: Since you don't mention it, I assume that these slips of paper are printed as opposed to hand written?

If they were printed, it would be inclined to think that it is some sort of game or test.

If handwritten, then I might be inclined to suspect that it's a list of symptoms of a patient.

Re: Symptoms

[rowyn]

They're pre-printed. I guess they make a certain amount of sense as a doctor's tool -- either describing symptoms, or possible vectors. Still, I can't see a clinic handing out slips of paper and asking people to pick the ones that fit. ;)