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This is a quick little puzzle that requires a bit of lateral thinking.

Today, my boss physically walked out of her office (her private room in the larger office), but she never physically entered her room (i.e. the same one) at any time in the past. How is this possible?

This needs to be possible/plausible in the real world. It's not a trick of grammar or wording, but is literally true.

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  • $\begingroup$ Never as in "never today", or "NEVER EVER IN HER LIFETIME"? $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:13
  • $\begingroup$ @greenturtle3141 No, she didn't enter it before today and then leave today. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:26
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    $\begingroup$ No she NEVER EVER entered it $\endgroup$
    – bleh
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:29
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    $\begingroup$ @CJ Dennis - Are you sure the answer is not a kind of "joke"? $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Dec 5, 2016 at 3:58
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    $\begingroup$ @CJDennis there is probably not enough info/rules. Combine that with a lateral thinking tag and basically everything is a good answer. Lateral thinking puzzles are fun. But people like when there is actually 1 obviously good answer instead of having the winner being the one who can come up with the most original idea. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Dec 5, 2016 at 4:08

10 Answers 10

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Easy!

The office was built around her.

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    $\begingroup$ This is more plausible. It is hard to define an entrance, since building the office requires one to, at one point, define the region of the office, in which we cannot really say she "entered" it. Although, to some extent, it's possible to say she did. The question may be too broad. $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:34
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    $\begingroup$ OK, so this is the answer, and it's literally true. We've moved and the office (her private room) was built around her as she worked. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:16
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I think she was

promoted and given a new office by the person promoting her.

So she entered

the office at a time when it wasn't "hers".

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  • $\begingroup$ Before she was promoted, she entered. When the question refers to "my boss", that includes all past instances of her. $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:18
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    $\begingroup$ Also look at the title. It doesn't matter if the room is hers or not. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:17
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That's easy!

She was obviously given birth to within the office.
Then she was raised to become the perfect employee, eventually becoming the boss.
Today she started retirement and left the office for the first time of her life!

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  • $\begingroup$ Technically, she would have "entered it" when she was born, or whenever you define her to be alive. $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:14
  • $\begingroup$ @greenturtle3141 If you consider the fetus going through the door as entering, then how about she was "conceived" within the office and the mother never left the office until birth cause ya know, she was a work addict just like he soon to be baby. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:21
  • $\begingroup$ Before conceived, she was not inside, and after she was born, she was inside. Therefore, at some point, she transitioned form the state of "not inside the office because she doesn't technically exist" to "inside", which can be interpreted as a "gradual entrance". $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:32
  • $\begingroup$ Haha. :D Nice! :p $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Dec 5, 2016 at 4:00
  • $\begingroup$ Nice thinking, but unrealistic to think that someone could spend they're whole life in a tiny room where no-one thinks it's a problem. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:19
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Your boss has some kind of futuristic (perhaps miniaturizable) portable office. Today she left it somewhere by accident. Maybe on the kitchen counter.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is the most plausible answer in terms of being an answer, but obviously a tad unrealistic. +1 anyway. $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Dec 5, 2016 at 2:44
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Your boss is

an official of some sort whose term of office ended today.

Thus today she left her office but never entered it because

it isn't a literal office one can enter. In this context she "took office," she didn't "enter" it. She may have an actual physical office as well but that isn't the office we are talking about here.

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  • $\begingroup$ That would come under a trick of wording. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:22
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She very simply has a

teleporter

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    $\begingroup$ She entered with the teleporter. $\endgroup$
    – bb216b3acfd8f72cbc8f899d4d6963
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:31
  • $\begingroup$ If you consider teleport not entering, then it would also not be considered leaving I think. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:31
  • $\begingroup$ 1. I always thought of teleporters as creating a new copy of a person. 2. She didn't use the teleporter to get back. It has a cooldown of 1 week $\endgroup$
    – bleh
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:32
  • $\begingroup$ A teleporter still moves someone from outside the office to inside. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:24
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Your boss had a new home office built, but died before she could enter it, leaving the house, and the home office in it, to someone else in her will.

Alternatively,

Your office was moved to a new location, but before she could take move into her new office, she resigned/was fired/died, leaving someone else to become the boss and move into it.

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice, but I meant physically. I'm aware you answered before I edited the question. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:26
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She announced she was leaving the office (as in, leaving work), from somewhere outside the office.

No longer at work equals "left the office" whether or not she was present in that physical room anytime she was at work.

Maybe she was promoted - but the promotion happened in a different room, so she has left the office that day (left work), without having been in that physical office... yet. Or maybe her office changed rooms that day, so she left work (her old office) without having been in her new office, ever. Maybe she had on official office, but really always telecommuted (and so never actually entered), and has announced she's left the office (is off the clock, or quit) without having been in that room.

Maybe she quit or stepped down, and so "left the office" of her boss-ship, without having "entered" it ("entered" is not how we usually speak of gaining a promotion, so maybe it's just a word-pairing mismatch. Or maybe she left it just not having been in the office-room).

Alternate theory - she was talking to someone via the computer (skype/telecommute/etc) and someone didn't end the call before carrying a device she was speaking on, out of the (physical) office room - she, through her call and the computer in question, has "left the office", has been carried out - but didn't "enter" because the call wasn't on yet (calling into a room is not considered entering).

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  • $\begingroup$ Maybe..., but no. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:23
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She set one foot inside the office, then left it. Because she was never fully inside the office that day, she hadn't entered it.

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  • $\begingroup$ If she wasn't in the room, she couldn't leave it. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:23
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Many possible answers are already added. Here is one more-

Your boss used to work remotely(from home) and today she resigned.

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  • $\begingroup$ I don't see how that works. She's not even leaving a room! $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:21
  • $\begingroup$ Leaving an office might say quitting or resigning. $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:45
  • $\begingroup$ Please read the title as well. $\endgroup$
    – CJ Dennis
    Dec 5, 2016 at 7:47

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