messy people

My professor, whom I gave a ride from one part of campus to the other this week, has a super-messy office. Like picture an absent-minded professor's office. Now double the amount of stuff in it. Bookshelves overstuffed with binders and loose papers. Stacks and stacks of leaning papers on every surface of a huge desk. The rest of the floor space is taken up by stacks of cardboard boxes that are all taller than I am.

Prof: Hmm, that paper is in here somewhere....
Me: What's in these boxes?
Prof: [looks at them, startled] I have no idea! (note: these have been there since last semester)
Me: Hmm. Well, you've seen my car, so I can't say anything about mess.
Prof: It wasn't so bad.
Me: I picked up hitchhikers a couple of weeks ago, and I was the one embarrased. They were the ones that ran out of gas!