When I was a researcher at Colorado State University, I worked with a charming and affable gentleman who came from New Orleans.  Around this time one year, he brought a “King cake” into the office.  With all the office members save one–a graduate student who was out working in the field that morning–gathered around, he explained the King cake is a Mardi Gras tradition.  It looked essentially like a round danish with a hole in the middle.  The gentleman explained there was a small, plastic baby Jesus hidden inside, and whoever found it was supposed to bring the King cake next year.  We all had a piece and discussed fun, colorful traditions from our home locations.

Later that day I was working at my desk and I saw a flash go past the doorway–the graduate student who had missed the King cake explanation had returned from the field and was headed for our main office room.   As the little ticker in my head ran across saying “Oh, I should probably go tell him…..” I heard, “SON OF A BITCH!” from the next room followed by “WHY IS THERE A PLASTIC BABY IN THE DANISH!!!??”.   So if your coworker brings in a King cake–you have been warned.