Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Ok, now. The player says, "I search the room", what do you do? Ask more questions? "Where do you search? How do you search"? Now we're into Mother May I territory with the player pixel bitching the correct question (I search the desk is good enough? Or do you have to specify further?).
If a player tells me that his character searches the room, I will assume that the entire room is searched, including the drawers and anything else in it. I will also roll to see if the PC is discovered by anything or anyone wandering by during the hour or so it takes to properly search the room. Most of the time the players don't want to take that much time to search rooms, so they just specify to me what they search. Similarly, if I am told that the PC searches the dresser, I will assume that they look inside of all the clothing, search for false bottoms, etc. and account for the time it takes.
Now, we're an experienced group, that's been playing for a number of years and our characters are, say, about 8th level - not the highest level characters around, but, hardly noobies either. Why not just assume that that's what they do? It's a pretty safe assumption. Sure, you can faff around trying to wait for the right question, or, you can dramatically up the pacing of your game and just presume that these highly experienced adventurers, who've likely searched a hundred rooms before this, is also searching this one as well. So, passive perception it is. Poof. Easy peasy and let's get on with the adventure instead of wanking about trying to read the DM's mind and pick just the right question.
First, I'm not going to assume that they take the time and risk to search every inch of every room. That would be wrong of me to do. If they want to take that time and risk, they need to tell me. It's my job to place dangers for them to encounter, not play their PCs for them and walk those PCs into dangerous situations like taking the time to search a room in a dangerous area. Second, I've been taking lunch with me to work for years, yet I still sometimes forget to take it with me. Same with bringing the lunch bag home. Just because you do something a lot, doesn't mean that you won't forget sometimes.