Posted on 03/31/2006 10:17:18 AM PST by Nachum
Time to dust off the whoopee cushions and hand buzzers. April Fools' Day is here and there's no better place for wisecracks and shenanigans than at work.
In its annual April Fools' Day survey, CareerBuilder.com found 33 percent of workers have played a practical joke on a co-worker and 17 percent are planning office tricks for this year's holiday.
Although it might be thrilling to finally one-up the office funnyman, pranks also help beat something that's no laughing matter: workplace stress.
More than half of workers reported working under stress in another CareerBuilder.com survey. Stress and worry on the job can be harmful, causing problems that damage your health and performance. Having fun with co-workers can provide stress relief, build rapport, make work more enjoyable and possibly improve productivity.
If you want to commit an act of April Foolery at work and need some inspiration, here are the top 10 work gags from CareerBuilder.com's survey:
1. Changed the caller ID on a co-worker's phone to read "Mr. Kitten" every time he called someone.
2. Placed random objects from people's desks in the vending machine.
3. Placed a live goldfish in an IV bag in a clinic.
4. Snuck onto someone else's computer and sent out an "I love you" e-mail to the entire office.
5. Wall papered someone's entire cube with headshots of his co-workers.
6. Convinced a colleague that a co-worker was in love with him.
7. Sat on the copier and placed the copies back in the paper bin. Anytime co-workers made copies, they had the image of the prankster's backside in the background.
8. Turned all the clocks in the office one hour back to make the work day seem longer.
9. Locked all the doors, shut off the lights and put a "Closed" sign in the window when the boss went out for lunch.
10. Placed fake rubber chocolates in the break room and watched as co-workers tried to chew them.
Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
I am So tuned in. This is going to be good!
April Fools!
One that got me: a voicemail message from Mr. Lion with a phone number for the local zoo. I know, I should've seen it coming a mile away, but I didn't.
I want to rent a van, get some balloons, some friends and a sign that reads "Publishers Clearing House" on the side of the van.
Then just drive around town like you are looking for an address.
Too bad April fool's is on SATURDAY this year........
Sorry, but that list is very lame...
The best I ever heard of was the group that new an obnoxious co-worker always left his Powerball tickets in his desk. One drawing night, they went and bought a ticket after the drawing with the previous day's winning numbers, then replaced the co-workers ticket with the one that they bought. The co-worker comes to work, pulls the ticket from his desk, and checks the numbers.
You can guess the bad situations that soon followed.
Don't know if it's true, but a good story none the less.
He actually kept one of the top drawers an aquarium for about a year after that.
I also set his auto-correct in all MS Office applications so when he typed his name it tagged a comma and the word "Dork" on the end of it.
Sounds like fun. How do you do step 1?
Scott Adams (dilbert fame) had some great ones in his books.
One I remember:
He took a picture from a coworkers desk, of the coworkers family, and scanned his face over the faces of the coworkers kids.
Then he put the altered picture back in the frame.
Boy, that's cruel. Wow.
Get some of the waste "holes" from a hole punch and place them in a co-workers umbrella. Don't fill it up so that they will notice it and the next time it rains it will also snow.
That IS a good one!
1) Move the mouse pointer off the screen.
2) Press the 'Print-Screen' button.
3) Open MS Paint (Start|Programs|Accessories|Paint)
4) Paste the image from the clip board (Edit|Paste)
5) Save the file.
Put a note on the copy machine instructing people that it is now voice activated, with a list of commands.
Put a peice of onion or a clove of garlic inside the mouthpiece of a phone. Give it some time for it to fester and build up a strong odor. Then call them and keep them on the phone for as long as possible.
It is allways a good habit to lock your computer before heading off for coffee or a smoke. When someone forgets and leaves a Word document or an email open, type a single word somewhere in the text. “f*ck” or so will do nicely. They’ll never notice and send it out.
Get a hold of someone's cell phone and change the greeting banner to say "NO SERVICE". Many cell phones have greeting banners on them that you can personalize to say whatever you want them to and it stays on there when you're not using your phone. Also, when there is no service where you are, most cell phone companies have a banner that pops up on your screen saying "no service
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