(Vanity) Funny Business: Readers Share Office Pranks (DON'T MISS!)

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | March 2, 2005 | Delma J. Francis

[Mannaggia l'America]

This funny prank wasn't in the office, but in the vehicle compound when I worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arizona. The prankster would turn on everything in someone else's vehicle -- radio, windshield wipers, heat blower, turn signals, two-way radio -- while it was parked out back. When the unsuspecting driver turned the ignition key on, there was a blast of noise and motion.

I do this to my wife occasionally when she drives and then need to run into a store while I wait in the car.

I've programmed a fax machine that had a "poll" mode to dial someone's extension every half hour.

I.T. people might appreciate this. Back when we used dumb terminals, I put a script in the scheduler to screw with a certain person's terminal at seemingly random times. Sometimes it would send a ^G (a beep) to the terminal. Other times it would cause the screen to flash. Other times it would turn on the audible key click on the keyboard.

At first, she thought something was wrong with her terminal. But the woman I did it to was a very meticulous person and after several weeks she came to me with a piece of paper that had a schedule of the dates and times of past beeps, flashes, and key clicks! She figured out it was done on purpose because there was a pattern to the times - I wasn't "random" enough I guess.

[tacticalogic]

What did the gentian violet do? Make 'em pee purple or something?

Turned his lips,tongue, and the entire inside of his mouth except his teeth bright blue. And it takes about 2 days to wear off.

[Bon mots]

[Fierce Allegiance]

I looked up what tht stuff is meant for. You're one mean dude. I like your style.

[Bon mots]

[Petronski]

Classic!

[BabsC]

When I worked at the Coca Cola Corp. we were still using large mainframe computers and the green-bar computer paper.

One of my coworkers had reciprocating pranks going with her supervisor from another division where she had previously worked. When said supervisor transferred over to our area I decided they should continue their fun.

So early Monday morning I put a half can of "slime" on the immaculate surface of our new supervisor's desk. Then I attached fine fishing line to the top sheet of each of the green-bar stacks on the edge of my coworkers desk and taped them to the drawer she opened first thing each morning.(pulled all stacks slinky like to the floor)

Spent the next 2 years watching those two go at it. I didn't tell them I started the whole thing years earlier until my last day there.

[sean327]

Thanks, I am now cleaning Copehagen juice off my monitor!!!

[t_skoz]

That is WICKED!!! Any adverse health risks? When I looked it up it says to use a 1% solution... does it COME in a 1% solution or do you have to mix it up yourself?

details man, DETAILS!!

[lafroste]

You can drive someone crazy by removing the little pizo-electric speaker and chip assembly from a singing greeting card and hiding it somewhere inside a co-workers desk. The cavities in the desk make it almost impossible to locate. It will take about two hours before the victim is ripping his/her desk apart to find the little ba$tard before they have to listen to "Jingle Bells" one more time. Its sort of like the chinese water torture, very funny to watch...

[Dutchgirl]

My husband's college room mate worked for a real estate appraisal office, which occasionally requires taking aerial photos of large parcels of land.
On his first trip he was told that the pressurized windows of the cabin of the plane always distorted the pictures and made them unusable...and that he'd have to be "Wing man" to take the pictures.
He allowed himself to be tied to the underside of the Cessna's wing (with his camera)and was actually taxied around the small airstrip until they let him off the hook...he was later gifted with a picture of the event.

[oust the louse]

I was at a training seminar for a major window manufacturer we use to sell with a couple co-workers. After a night of partying,we found the door open to the training room and we completely turned the room around: front in back,back in front.Training displays all over the place...and wrote "The Challenge of Change" on the chalkboard....

The reason we did this was because their theme/motto for the session was "The Challenge of Change". They were far from ammused because they too were partying late that nite and had to re-arrange the room very early the next morning to get it back to the way it was....we slept in :)

[Quilla]

I don't think it is harmful. I believe babies' mouths are swabbed with the stuff when they suffer from thrush.

[IamConservative]

Another hilarious one from way back in my youth on the farm. We did most things on our own, including butchering. I once removed the scrotum from the steer, shriveled as it was since neutering, and tanned it along with some other hides. I carefully used a leather punch and made my own piece of rawhide drawstring. My Great Uncle drove a pickup with a four speed on the floor. I snuck in his truck and installed his furry shifter knob.

The joke ended up being on me. He drove until he traded it in with the furry shifter knob. Never said a word about it.

[add925]

April Fools Day trick about to happen in my office building (our company rents entire 4th floor, not public):

4th floor hallway has 3 doors accross from elevator with plastic signs mounted on them.

Stairs, Men and Women

Plastic signs slip into metal frame, all the same size.

They will not be in the same order on Friday April 1.

Have phillips screwdriver, will travel.

[tacticalogic]

Yes, it comes in a 1% solution. You should be able to get it at any drug store. It's used for cold sores inside the mouth, because it gets down into the tissue and won't wash off.

[cyborg]

OMG!!!!! LOL

[jtminton]

When I was in college somebody got a copy of the housing letterhead and wrote a letter that said that the plumbing was being updated and that for two weeks only "liquid waste" could be flushed down the toilets. All "solid waste" was to be put into a small garbage bag and delivered to the front desk of the dorm. They made about 1000 copies of it and slid it under each door. It was so official looking I wouldn't doubt if somebody actually fell for it.

[t_skoz]

hmm, when I Googled it, the only things that came up was for use vaginally to treat yeast infections.

That's why I was curious if it had adverse health risks if you used it orally for a prank.

That's truly a sick one, I'm going to file that away for future use!

[joebuck]

Every April Fools day someone in my office used to pull the same prank. He would leave one of those pink "While you were out" phone message slips in peoples message slots indicating that a Mr. Lyon had called. The return phone number indicated would be the phone number for the city zoo. The secretary at the zoo got so used to this she would would respond to the callers that Mr. Lyon was unavailable but Mr. Monkey and Mr. Rhino were there to take the call. At this point the victim would figure out that they had been had.