Gosh, I've tried to lighten the mood in the soap opera (which, unless there
are major objections, I will continue as mood and material permit).  I have
found my real situations to be far funnier, though.

One of my favorite stories arose when a donor was supposed to bring in his
World War II collection (about 5 boxes of material), and instead dumped the
moldy contents of his garage on us (a pile 8x6x5 ft.).  We needed the WWII
material, and had no choice but to sort through the stuff.

I just finished speaking to the undergraduate interns about the need to look
through each and every envelope because you never know what you're going to
find, when one of them let out a shriek, stuffed something back in the
envelope, and gave me a priceless look of horrified uncertainty.   I, of
course, was the seasoned professional able to handle every situation, and so
broke out into unquenchable laughter.  It was a polaroid of a woman's torso,
and was the first of a HUGE collection of erotica including photos, books,
and other things I won't post to this list.  The erotica was mixed in with
the historic material, so that you really did have to go through it piece by
piece.  It's safe to say that the interns learned A LOT that summer.

As for the donor, it seems he had a religious epiphany after our discovery of
his secret cache, and became a devout church-goer.