Not all of us have the time to see the latest Marvel movie or episode of an HBO show the minute it comes out. These shows are a commitment: “Game of Thrones” episodes this final season are each expected to be around an hour or longer, and the three-hour runtime of “Avengers: Endgame” has even sparked guides on the best time to take a bathroom break during the film.
Working professionals who are also super fans have to get creative if they want to avoid spoilers during their 9-to-5 jobs before they have a chance to watch. Below, seven people share their stories of how they effectively blocked spoilers at work:
Banish coworkers to coffee shops
“I specifically told my coworker I wasn’t going to see ‘Avengers’ till Thursday, so when he and a coworker wanted to talk about it, they had to leave the building and walk across our work campus to the Starbucks to discuss.
When another coworker asked about the movie, I stood up and said they couldn’t discuss. She said she just wanted to know if it was good, not any details. I told her I don’t even want to hear that info.” ― Chris Avis
Make homemade spoiler blockers for Twitter
“Since I work in morning news radio, Twitter is an essential part of my job but it’s always littered with spoilers. On the Monday morning after the Battle of Winterfell, the entire Trending sidebar was a minefield. As soon as I saw the name ‘Arya’ pop up I tried to look away, but it’s just so tempting. Was she hurt? Did she die? What happened? Thankfully, I keep a pad of large sticky notes next to my computer. I grabbed a couple of those and stuck them on my screen over the Trending sidebar until I couldn’t see anything underneath and voila! Spoilers, be gone.
Luckily, many of the people I work with know the struggles of morning radio, so I don’t have to worry about spoilers being shouted in the hallways. Even if I did, there’s lots of soundproof booths to retreat to.” ― Shelby Knox
Stay up super late before work
Wake up super early before work
“My brother went to sleep at 6 p.m. so he could wake up at midnight and watch the movie at 1:45 a.m. The movie ended around 5 a.m., and then he went to have a real breakfast before work at 6:30 a.m. He went with our older brother, who finished his shift at 1 a.m. so they could go together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen much dedication from them before.” ― Mira Hernandez
“In Zambia … you have to literally wake up at 3 in the morning to watch [‘Game of Thrones’] and then go back to bed, then wake up for work.” ― Situnjwani Kacholola Sokoni
Block out the spoilers with your voice
Install a satellite dish to watch on east coast time
“I moved from the east coast [to Los Angeles] years ago, but that meant that every post on my Facebook, Twitter, and even text message threads was coming from a world that was three hours ahead. I had to go into extreme social media blackout mode — just completely turn off all my connected devices — because everyone knew I was such a big fan that they immediately sent me their questions, even though I couldn’t watch it yet.
When I visited an office with satellite television service and I saw an HBO East feed, I decided to reverse-cut the cord. I was completely broke, had been borrowing streaming passwords from my parents, etc. I committed over $100 per month to have a satellite dish installed on the outside wall of my one-bedroom apartment, having to ask the building owner for special permission because it was not that kind of building. I had to promise to patch the holes when I took it out. And I had a 24-inch nonflat-screen TV. No special or interesting setup. Was stealing Wi-Fi from a nearby coffee shop. But I had the entire HBO package.
This is now like six years later, but I actually still use this same method to get started with my work analyzing the episode at the earliest minute possible.”― Filup Molina of New Rockstars
