SURVEY SAYS: Will You Be April Fooled?
This week I asked readers if they were more likely to be ” the prankster or the prankstee” – and asked them to share the best/worst workplace prank they had been involved with.
A plurality of this week’s respondents were a mischievous bunch – but, all in all, the results were remarkably well distributed, with 27% admitting they were more likely to be the prankster, while nearly 24% said they were likely to wind up as the “prangstee.” A full quarter said they were about as likely to be the prankster as the prankstee – and the remaining 23.7% said that their status would depend “on the opportunities” (or lack thereof).
Now, as for those favorite workplace pranks, here’s a sampling:
“I have left “messages” 3 years in a row and had an employee call the Audubon Zoo and ask for Ira Lion and Ellen Funt. The 3rd year she returned a “call” to the aquarium and asked for Barry Cuda.”
“My daughter called me at work and said that a snow storm caused school to have early dismissal. The weather was cold and threatening, I was in back-to-back meetings in a building with no windows, so I believed her. I asked a co-worker if her kids came home early due to the snow and she called home to find out. Others in the office overheard the snow story and called their families and babysitters to find out. The place was a-buzz with weather reactions. It was all a hoax and my daughter still laughs about it.”
“A few years ago, April 1st fell on the morning after a multi-state power ball lottery drawing. Knowing that my wife had purchased a ticket, I woke up early to pick up breakfast. While out, I purchased the exact winning numbers from the night before, but for the next weeks drawing. I replaced the losing ticket with the one for the following drawing that would match the winning numbers and waited for the fireworks. After checking her numbers twice, she nearly had a heart attack, and began calling everyone we knew with the good news! While speaking to her mother, she asked me why I was grinning like a fool and said “don’t you have anything to say”? Of course I yelled “April Fool”! It took a few minutes for me to explain it to her. Oddly, she didn’t find it even remotely amusing? Luckily, she didn’t divorce me. However, she still contends that I owe her 100 million dollars. Needless to say, this was the last prank that I played on her.”
There were some workplace examples, of course:
"Our parking garage security was famous for "booting" cars that they deemed to be unauthorized, regardless of whether the car was or was not registered. They would also put those annoying "UNAUTHORIZED" stickers that won't come off on the car. On April 1, we breathlessly ran into my boss' office telling him his car had been booted and stickered. He ran huffing and puffing (and cussing) to the garage. The prank was that the "boot" was a child's pink boot wrapped on to the tire with masking tape, and the sticker was the April Fool's explanation. He never was quite sure who fooled him...."
"Although I can't remember the exact content, it went something like this: A "memo from HR" was sent around announcing that bathroom visits during the business day would be limited to 1 time a day from this day forward. Furthermore, the doors on the stalls would be rigged to fly open and a police car-type beacon would fill the bathroom with rotating light and a siren would sound once a person had used up their 1 minute allotted time in their bathroom stall. There were other consequences which I can not remember. Most everyone figured out by the time they finished reading it, that it was an April Fool's joke --- but there were those one or two who were so indignant they were ready to march right up to HR in protest!"
"We had a HR Administrator that was very fond of the phrase "put your ducks in a row". A group of us participated in a duck-a-thon of sorts. We purchased hundreds of ducks and proceeded to line the little guys up all through the office. Needless to say, the administrator was not amused, but the rest of the office found it quite entertaining."
But this week's Editor's Choice goes to the reader who shared the following story: "I dummied up an "IRS" audit request letter and left it in a co-workers in-box. He was on vacation and the audit meeting date was the day after he returned to the office. I had a huge list of requested documents and he hit the ceiling when he saw it. I stopped him just before he put a call in to the IRS auditor, a Mr. Stu Podasso."
Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!
Maybe too late for your deadline; I hope not.... The ski patrols of Alta and Snowbird are rivals like many next-door neighbors. They have a long history of escalating pranks that were ultimately shut down by management at both ski areas. Prank 1: Snowbird sent a department store mannikin dressed in ski cloths and mounted to a pair of skis over the face of the cliff of Mt. Baldy. This is area that is usually roped off, so the Alta patrolmen watch it for sign-line violators. The mannikin got Alta's attention, they sent people up after the 'offender', but Snowbird had also put an explosive avalanche control hand charge on the mannikin and ended their prank with a literal bang. The Retaliatory Prank: At Christmas, the Alta patrol sent the Snowbird patrol several boxes of doughnuts and pastries with a note stating that in the spirit of the holidays, Alta was willing to let bygones be bygones. The Snowbird patrol helped themselves to the peace offerings, played no more pranks on their Alta colleagues, and thought no more about it. Then, on the next April 1st, a parcel arrived at the Snowbird patrol office. Enclosed was a large photograph, dated December 24th of the previous year, with photos of the Alta patrol, male and female, in various states of sweaty undress after a day's work, with various pastries placed securely against various armpits, feet, and a few worse locations. |
I have left "messages" 3 years in a row and had an employee call the Audubon Zoo and ask for Ira Lion and Ellen Funt. The 3rd year she returned a "call" to the aquarium and asked for Barry Cuda. Yes, she was a blonde. |
My daughter called me at work and said that a snow storm caused school to have early dismissal. The weather was cold and threatening, I was in back-to-back meetings in a building with no windows, so I believed her. I asked a co-worker if her kids came home early due to the snow and she called home to find out. Others in the office overheard the snow story and called their families and babysitters to find out. The place was a-buzz with weather reactions. It was all a hoax and my daughter still laughs about it. |
Left a message for a co-worker (who was in the middle of planning her wedding at the time) with the name Mr.Lyon and the phone number of the local zoo. I didn't leave the phone number with the recording that tells when the zoo is open, etc., but the one that gets answered by a human to arrange special visits for groups (like school classes). Since she was getting phone calls from people about catering, renting a hall, etc., she fell for it easily. |
At my last job one of our attorney's loves April Fools Day. It's like his version of Christmas. So one year to get back at him, a few people put up flyers in the elevators. The flyers said "Congratulations on your engagement!" They even put streamers on his car and tied cans to his bumper. He was not pleased. |
I dummied up an "IRS" audit request letter and left it in a co-workers in-box. He was on vacation and the audit meeting date was the day after he returned to the office. I had a huge list of requested documents and he hit the ceiling when he saw it. I stopped him just before he put a call in to the IRS auditor, a Mr. Stu Podasso. |
April 1 happened to fall on our weekly dept. staff meeting, so I made arrangements for our Admin. Assistant to interrupt about halfway through our meeting to call my boss out of the room and tell her the Dept. of Labor was in the Lobby asking for her. This was announced to all of us in the room, and my boss's face turned ashen and she reclutantly left the room to head to the Lobby. After she left, I told everyone in the room it was an April Fool's joke, then I asked our Admin. to go fetch my boss before she got to the Lobby and have her come back to our staff meeting. When she returned, we all said April Fool's! |
Is it too soon to consider Spitzer's body of work as pranks? |
A few years ago, April 1st fell on the morning after a multi-state power ball lottery drawing. Knowing that my wife had purchased a ticket. I woke up early to pick up breakfast. While out, I purchased the exact winning numbers from the night before, but for the next weeks drawing. I replaced the losing ticket with the one for the following drawing that would match the winning numbers and waited for the fireworks. After checking her numbers twice, she nearly had a heart attack, and began calling everyone we knew with the good news! While speaking to her mother, she asked me why I was grinning like a fool and said "don't you have anything to say"? Of course I yelled "April Fool"! It took a few minutes for me to explain it to her. Oddly, she didn't find it even remotely amusing? Luckily, she didn't divorce me. However, she still contends that I owe her 100 million dollars. Needless to say, this was the last prank that I played on her. |
Haven't done any at work; usually April Fool's Day pranks are done at home in the morning before others realize what day it is. |
Every year the same individual gets pranked, he always seems to forget that it is April 1st. One of my favorites was when we decorated his office for a kids birthday, tons of balloons, streamers, and of course cake. He didn't get it, first thing in the morning he came in and kept saying "my birthday was months ago". |
My best buddy was having one of those days. He went to get a cup of coffee only to see that the last jerk who had taken a cup left about four tablespoons of coffee in the carafe and failed to make another pot. After a few surprisingly-non-expletive yet rather curt words for the unknown person, he proceeded to make another pot. He left for a few minutes while it was brewing, which gave me the opportunity to drain the carafe as it was filling, leaving only a few tablespoons for his "pleasure." The "Not Again!?!" shouted at the coffee pot and filtering into my office was the very essence of guilty pleasure. I did own up to the prank and gave him the seven styrofoam cups of coffee I had sitting in my office, and I even made the next pot. But worth it? Oh, yeah! |
Just the standard - but funny - ones. Sadly, I was just an observer and had no part in these creative pranks. -- a manager came back from a day off to find her office filled knee-deep with styrofoam packing peanuts -- turning the volumne of a co-worker's radio up to the top while they're on vacation - they come back, turn on the radio, and are startled silly by the loud noise -- when a group of managers were at a training session out of town, the staff got a little crazy with the managers' offices. They wrapped desks/chairs up in plastic wrap, filled offices with balloons, wrapped desk accessories in alumninum foil, put little cups filled with water across the entire floor of the office, etc. |
Set the stage: Pompous manager who prided himself on his looks and spent a wee bit too much time in front of mirrors. Photo of pompus manager taken "for the financial statements" by an ingenious staff member. Meeting called of about 30 people who report to pompus manager and his supervisors and peers. Manager enters meeting (late, as ususal). All participants are seated at the table or stand around table with an 8x10 photo of his face on a stick held before their face like a mask. Pompus manager is looking at a room full of people who look just like him! (a rather unphotogenic photo with red eye glare, I might add). Good joke, no one/nothing hurt - perhaps message conveyed? |
This is a topic that I am willing to get on the soapbox for. I consider practical jokes to be appalling and a form of bullyism. I do not consider them harmless in any way. Usually practical jokes exploit a weakness or fear of the prankstee. The joke/prank usually hurts (typically psychologically) and embarrasses the prankstee. I think that our society would benefit as a whole if 1.) we would find all forms of bullyism (including practical jokes and pranks) unacceptable and 2.) we would look for ways to show kindness to others. End of lecture. |
Besides the time I stole the keys to my boss's car and moved it from the back parking lot to a spot in the front parking lot right outside his office window (he could never find it anyway)... My boss was a total prankster, like hiding dead bugs in the microfiche machine (I'm dating myself) so that there would be a scream when we turned it on. One April 1st he placed an envelope on my desk trying to hide his handwriting. I patted the envelope down and felt something inside. Since we had been finding plastic spiders all over the office that day, I assumed it was another one. I was wrong. I opened the envelope and inside was a bent paper clip with a rubber and wound in such a way to make the paperclip fly out at you when opened. Yes, I jumped. Having examined the paper clip and noting that it was bent in such a way that it could have taken my eye out, we got the idea to teach him a lesson. We went to our first aid room, found the biggest piece of gauze, covered one eye and wrapped more gauze around my head. We even wet it with iodine first. I went to my office, eye wrapped, to complete an "injury report". When he heard the prank "went bad", he came rushing into my office, took one look at me, and literally feel on his knees apologizing profusely. When I saw the sickly gray color his face took on and thought we might have spawned a heart attack, I pulled off the bandage and we all yelled April Fools. It did take the wind out of his sails for a while but to him, April Fools was year long. |
An engineering friend of mine installed a squeeze bottle under toilet seats so that whenever you sat down, it 'squirt gunned' (clean) water on your butt. He also installed a weight on various desk drawers so that when you opened them up, they would close quickly and automatically once you let them go. Happy April Fool's Day. And thanks for your fantastic publication. Most sincerely. |
Back in the day of paper phone messages when only officers had walls, the governor of our State was Terry Branstad. We had a new guy in our department who thought he was pretty hot stuff....so, on April Fool's day, I left him a paper phone message to call Terry at 281-8218. He did....the guy answered, "Terry Branstad" and the guy says (not paying any attention) "Hi, this is Denny, and I have a message to return your call".....after Branstad's response, Denny's face turned scarlet and all of us were watching to see his embarassment! It was just great!! |
I have spiked the coffee with vinegar, removed hinge pins from doors, switched the sugar and salt in the kitchen, and with help from the maintenace guy - we changed locks on doors and filing cabinets. Since April Fool's Day is my birthday, I get away with a lot. |
We had a HR Administrator that was very fond of the phrase "put your ducks in a row". A group of us participated in a duck-a-thon of sorts. We purchased hundreds of ducks and proceeded to line the little guys up all through the office. Needless to say, the administrator was not amused, but the rest of the office found it quite entertaining. |
I don't usually do them at work anymore. Too much risk of not being considered humorous with possible litigious consequences. |
I was the prankstee in this instance. Most of my subordinates arrived at work before I did. I came in on the morning of April 1 and found the lights out in the department and multiple messages on my phone. I turned on the lights called out and asked if there was anyone there. I then listened to my messages and after about the 2nd message realized that it was an April's fool joke and they were actually hiding around the corner waiting to see how long it took me to figure it out. I think they were disappointed I caught on so quickly. |
Although I can't remember the exact content, it went something like this: A "memo from HR" was sent around announcing that bathroom visits during the business day would be limited to 1 time a day from this day forward. Furthermore, the doors on the stalls would be rigged to fly open and a police car-type beacon would fill the bathroom with rotating light and a siren would sound once a person had used up their 1 minute allotted time in their bathroom stall. There were other consequences which I can not remember. Most everyone figured out by the time they finished reading it, that it was an April Fool's joke --- but there were those one or two who were so indignant they were ready to march right up to HR in protest! |
Our parking garage security was famous for "booting" cars that they deemed to be unauthorized, regardless of whether the car was or was not registered. They would also put those annoying "UNAUTHORIZED" stickers that won't come off on the car. On April 1, we breathlessly ran into my boss' office telling him his car had been booted and stickered. He ran huffing and puffing (and cussing) to the garage. The prank was that the "boot" was a child's pink boot wrapped on to the tire with masking tape, and the sticker was the April Fool's explanation. He never was quite sure who fooled him.... |
I've not been involved in any at the workplace, but the best ones are those that the radio stations pull. I remember a station pulling two good ones two years in a row. The first time, they said that the city had enacted a new law stating all Dobermans and Rottweillers had to be euthanized because they are bad dogs. That sent people over the edge...even folks at our office who didn't realize the significance of the date. Then another year they told everyone that I40 was becoming a toll road. I loved it when people figured it out and would call in and say they'd just been to the toll booth, and wasn't it neat and such. They had idiots calling in going, "I must not be at the right spot because I don't see the toll booth."...and they'd send them miles down the road in the opposite direction looking for it. |
I just had to share some workplace pranks that have taken place in my office - they are priceless.
taking "dots" out of hole punchers and binding machines to put in people's umbrellas, so when it's raining and they open their umbrellas they get "showered" with dots (this has happened so many times, we have to keep our umbrellas under lock and key)
Watch out when you go on vacation - a coworker was on vacation for two weeks - we went to costco to buy aluminum foil in bulk and proceeded to wrap EVERYTHING in his office in aluminum foil including a picture hanging on the wall, pens, pencils, telephone and cords, notebooks, the entire chair, etc. etc. etc. - this was the best! Next time we're going to wrap everything in newspaper.
We leave prank voicemails on coworkers phones regarding all sorts of topics and watch their reactions as they check their messages
If it's your 40th or 50th birthday than we go all out posting crazy pictures of them all over our building, and even on the news for one, and decorate their office or cubicle - no area goes undecorated.
« Non-Profit Employees Have Commitment but Face Difficulties