My dad was a part-time coin dealer. One friday night, when I was about 16 years old, we had all of his coin inventory packed in cases on the living room floor ready to go to a coin show the next morning. It was Halloween.
There was a knock at the front door, and someone was calling my dad’s name in a disguised voice. We were terrified. We didn’t have a peep hole back then, so we looked out the bedroom window, but we couldnt see who it was. It was two adults in costumes and masks. The man was wearing an 1890’s suit and a straw hat. From the window, the cane he was carrying looked like a gun. My brother was trying to draw a bead with his BB gun, but he couldn’t, so we called the police.
When the police arrived, we opened the door, and the man announced who he was - a local coin dealer and his wife. This dealer was a friend of ours, and was friends with most city cops, and knew the one who responded. He was also known for his practical jokes. My mom invited them all in for coffee.
My dad got him back. At a coin show my dad’s table was right next to this dealer’s. The dealer had a collection of sterling silver teaspoons with the replicas of the heads of all the Presidents on the handles. My dad slipped a regular teaspoon in the pack when the guy wasn’t looking, and, of course, made a very public display of finding that spoon in the pack.
My dad was getting tired of a guy at work bumming cigarettes from him. So, he threaded a hair through a cigarette, and the next time this guy asked for a smoke, my dad gave that one to him. He never bummed a smoke from my dad again.
My dad was getting tired of a guy at work bumming cigarettes from him. So, he threaded a hair through a cigarette, and the next time this guy asked for a smoke, my dad gave that one to him.Hmm... I can't imagine someone else's hair would put off someone who smoked cigarettes. However, that reminded me of a cute prank:
Take a piece of wire and insert it into a cigarette or cigar. Then, smoke it in the presence of someone who's anal-retentive. Handle the cigarette carefully, and the wire will keep the ashes from falling off. You can end up with the whole cigarette being one long piece of ash. Some people will kill themselves trying to get you to bump the ashes off the end of the cigarette.