Prank/Joke Gone Bad

Cole_Trickle wrote: I have been arrested at a fimily dinner once as a prank. Didnt go over well with me. My first job was Outback Steakhouse and we messed with people big time. Lard in an ice-cream bowl with whipped cream and choc sauce looks like the real thing and the servers just dig into it. Make the new people empty the coffee maker that has a never ending stream of water. It just gets sad after around 45 mins. While in the plumbing business, we had a spanish guy that couldnt speak any english join a crew. He asked how to introduce himself to our uber Christian boss. He was told to say "hello motherberkeleyer, I am Juan." It was funny until he almost got fired.

"Hello motherberkeleyer I'm Juan" almost made me piss myself.

Set someones phone language to spanish

I can think of two and I will try to keep it short.

As a mechanic at work was trying to refill the overflow tank after doing a ater pump on one of our school buses, I poured a steady stream of water out of my water bottle onto the floor. He was sure the water pump had failed and jumped down to look, we didn't explain until he was under the bus looking for the leak.

In a similair vain one of the other machainics had just finished a long drawn out front main seal job where his work partner had scored the crank and he was concerned it might leak. when he left it idleing and went to wash up we poured about a cup of used motor oil under the front of the bus. We let him get under there with a falsh light and really take a long look for the leak before we mentioned "It looks just like somebosy poured a cup of oil right under there" I prefer this kind of prank where there was no real harm done or damage to repair just the initial panic of thinking you have to redo the repair.

I'm working 12 on 12 off shifts for the next couple weeks. Not a lot of time to surf the net.

My story is not nearly as good as some of the ones already posted. I work at a place that places great value on training. Missing training is a huge deal. My boss, who is a bit over the top at times and tends to exaggerate things, likes to say things to emphasize the importance of not missing any training that you are assigned and how ugly it would be if anyone in our group ever misses it. The other day 6 out the 9 of us had training all morning. One of our co-workers, who is relatively new, forgot to go and realized she missed it about 15 minutes after it was to start. I told her, there is nothing to do about it now, and that there is another session of this training next month. She was very upset and really thought she would get fired over this. I told her that was just plain silly and nothing at all like that would happen. I explained what would happen and that in the end it would not really big a big deal at all except our boss would tell her to not do that again. I tried to assure her there would be no yelling, no hard feelings, nothing to stress out over. What was done was done. She was still worried. I even got a couple other folks from outside of our group to try to tell her it was going to be just fine. About 4 hours later when the training was scheduled to end, I went over to her cubicle and told her that I got a call from the boss and he was on his way back from training and that she was to have her desk cleared out by the time he got back. Not quite tears, but they were right there immediately. I somehow thought this would be funny and that by then with all the folks that told her not to worry she would instantly know I was just joking. ( I tend to joke a lot). It was terrible. I had to immediately apologize and tell her how sorry I was and that I meant it as a joke. In retrospect it was not a good idea. Of course when the boss got back he told her not to worry about it and it was his fault for not reminding her to go to training.

Not a very good story, just a story where I made a co-worker think she was fired for 1 second and now feel terrible about it.

The best ones are fairly innocent.

When I was a teen, I jacked up the preachers car at church one Sunday and set it on concrete blocks with the drive wheels just barely off the ground. The look on his face when he tried to back out of his parking space was priceless. He'd get out of the car and walk around it. Then try again. I walked up to him with a jack in my hand and he started laughing.

A large roll of plastic wrap will cover an entire car.

So will a commercial roll of aluminum foil.

Clear packing tape will hold a car door shut.

On the older cars with metal hubcaps, a hand full of rocks goes a long way.

(Don't do these to people who worship their cars)

Every time I see the competition's vans at work I take one of my advertizing stickers and put it on their passenger side mirror or back window. They usually return the favor at some point.

Loud noises almost always work. So do soft ones. I got my wife the other day by making the threshold at the back door creak. Even though she knew I was outside, she still came over to investigate. Gotcha.

Keep it friendly, and it works. Everyone gets a chuckle. Spur of the moment usually works better than elaborate planning in advance. Just realize, what goes around, comes around, don't dish it if you can't take it.

Make it vicious or destroy property and it takes all the fun out of it. The hard part is telling what other people consider vicious. You really need to know them pretty well to get them good and not cross the line. I've even aborted jokes before because the victim was having a bad day. As with all jokes, timing is everything.

T.J. wrote: I'm working 12 on 12 off shifts for the next couple weeks. Not a lot of time to surf the net. My story is not nearly as good as some of the ones already posted. I work at a place that places great value on training. Missing training is a huge deal. My boss, who is a bit over the top at times and tends to exaggerate things, likes to say things to emphasize the importance of not missing any training that you are assigned and how ugly it would be if anyone in our group ever misses it. The other day 6 out the 9 of us had training all morning. One of our co-workers, who is relatively new, forgot to go and realized she missed it about 15 minutes after it was to start. I told her, there is nothing to do about it now, and that there is another session of this training next month. She was very upset and really thought she would get fired over this. I told her that was just plain silly and nothing at all like that would happen. I explained what would happen and that in the end it would not really big a big deal at all except our boss would tell her to not do that again. I tried to assure her there would be no yelling, no hard feelings, nothing to stress out over. What was done was done. She was still worried. I even got a couple other folks from outside of our group to try to tell her it was going to be just fine. About 4 hours later when the training was scheduled to end, I went over to her cubicle and told her that I got a call from the boss and he was on his way back from training and that she was to have her desk cleared out by the time he got back. Not quite tears, but they were right there immediately. I somehow thought this would be funny and that by then with all the folks that told her not to worry she would instantly know I was just joking. ( I tend to joke a lot). It was terrible. I had to immediately apologize and tell her how sorry I was and that I meant it as a joke. In retrospect it was not a good idea. Of course when the boss got back he told her not to worry about it and it was his fault for not reminding her to go to training. Not a very good story, just a story where I made a co-worker think she was fired for 1 second and now feel terrible about it.

that's it? you feel guilty over that?

4cylndrfury wrote: Set someones phone language to spanish

I do portuguese. Most people can't read it, but it's A- close enough to Spanish I can manage, and B- I can generally memorize the path to the languages so I don't need to read it anyhow.

T.J. wrote: I'm working 12 on 12 off shifts for the next couple weeks. Not a lot of time to surf the net. My story is not nearly as good as some of the ones already posted. I work at a place that places great value on training. Missing training is a huge deal. My boss, who is a bit over the top at times and tends to exaggerate things, likes to say things to emphasize the importance of not missing any training that you are assigned and how ugly it would be if anyone in our group ever misses it. The other day 6 out the 9 of us had training all morning. One of our co-workers, who is relatively new, forgot to go and realized she missed it about 15 minutes after it was to start. I told her, there is nothing to do about it now, and that there is another session of this training next month. She was very upset and really thought she would get fired over this. I told her that was just plain silly and nothing at all like that would happen. I explained what would happen and that in the end it would not really big a big deal at all except our boss would tell her to not do that again. I tried to assure her there would be no yelling, no hard feelings, nothing to stress out over. What was done was done. She was still worried. I even got a couple other folks from outside of our group to try to tell her it was going to be just fine. About 4 hours later when the training was scheduled to end, I went over to her cubicle and told her that I got a call from the boss and he was on his way back from training and that she was to have her desk cleared out by the time he got back. Not quite tears, but they were right there immediately. I somehow thought this would be funny and that by then with all the folks that told her not to worry she would instantly know I was just joking. ( I tend to joke a lot). It was terrible. I had to immediately apologize and tell her how sorry I was and that I meant it as a joke. In retrospect it was not a good idea. Of course when the boss got back he told her not to worry about it and it was his fault for not reminding her to go to training. Not a very good story, just a story where I made a co-worker think she was fired for 1 second and now feel terrible about it.

That's not so bad. not great, but you can still turn it around. Bring her a coffee/bagel/whatever in the morning and apologize again. If she's cool, she'll appreciate that you feel bad and you guys will eventually be able to laugh about it together.

After your shipping & receiving dept has closed for the day, borrow a tire chock, and drop it under co-worker's right front tire. He'll wonder WTF is wrong with his car for a few minutes.

About seven pennies will keep a dorm room door from unlatching, when wedged between the jamb and the door face.

Cole_Trickle wrote: I have been arrested at a fimily dinner once as a prank. Didnt go over well with me.

You cannot start a post with that and not tell the story. Out with it.

You know those popper thing that snap when you throw them? Carefully put them under the pads of a toilet's seat. Scare the crap out of someone.

Zomby woof wrote: I had an ongoing battle with a coworker many years ago. I used to ride my bicycle to work. After I got him good one day, he put my bike on the forklift, lifted it to the ceiling (industrial unit) and strapped it to the girders in the ceiling. It took me a while to find it.

Holy E36 M3, I had exactly the same prank pulled on me years ago in England when I worked in a test lab. I had to walk home that night as I had no way to get it down until the next day. Of course that was retribution for me taking the guys key and key fob, sealing them in a plastic bag, putting the bag in the bottom of a catering sized coffee tin, filling it with water then freezing it to -40 degrees all day. At the end of the day he got back a block of ice and the rest of us left.

One that back fired on me was in this country. There was a group of us who always played mild practical jokes on each other and the team. One team member had been in Japan for 2 weeks and was coming back into work the next day. The evening before we cleaned out her desk, and I mean cleaned it out. Every single item, file, picture, computer, phone, name etc all gone. It was totally bare. The two of us who did this were sat at our desk before she came in. When she arrive we both pretended to be busy and not have noticed her. The problem was she was tired and jet lagged, she took one look at her desk then collapsed in hysterical tears. We both felt like the E36 M3s we were. We put everything back, bought her lunch and pandered to her every whim for days after that.

Titanium anti seize compound is a silver goo that is used in the bicycle industry to keep Ti seatposts from freezing inside the seat tube of a Ti frame. When applied liberally to a forged steel wrench, it is invisible...perfect match. The stuff sticks to everything...including your hands, and anything you touch while the stuff is on your hands. It requires mineral spirits or turpentine to clean off.

I found out that turpentine and cognac leather dont play well together after pranking a guy at the bike shop...It cost me $300 to get a bolster on the seat in his Cherokee re-upholstered...that was one that didnt go over too well

T.J. wrote: I'm working 12 on 12 off shifts for the next couple weeks. Not a lot of time to surf the net. My story is not nearly as good as some of the ones already posted. I work at a place that places great value on training. Missing training is a huge deal. My boss, who is a bit over the top at times and tends to exaggerate things, likes to say things to emphasize the importance of not missing any training that you are assigned and how ugly it would be if anyone in our group ever misses it. The other day 6 out the 9 of us had training all morning. One of our co-workers, who is relatively new, forgot to go and realized she missed it about 15 minutes after it was to start. I told her, there is nothing to do about it now, and that there is another session of this training next month. She was very upset and really thought she would get fired over this. I told her that was just plain silly and nothing at all like that would happen. I explained what would happen and that in the end it would not really big a big deal at all except our boss would tell her to not do that again. I tried to assure her there would be no yelling, no hard feelings, nothing to stress out over. What was done was done. She was still worried. I even got a couple other folks from outside of our group to try to tell her it was going to be just fine. About 4 hours later when the training was scheduled to end, I went over to her cubicle and told her that I got a call from the boss and he was on his way back from training and that she was to have her desk cleared out by the time he got back. Not quite tears, but they were right there immediately. I somehow thought this would be funny and that by then with all the folks that told her not to worry she would instantly know I was just joking. ( I tend to joke a lot). It was terrible. I had to immediately apologize and tell her how sorry I was and that I meant it as a joke. In retrospect it was not a good idea. Of course when the boss got back he told her not to worry about it and it was his fault for not reminding her to go to training. Not a very good story, just a story where I made a co-worker think she was fired for 1 second and now feel terrible about it.

Yeah, the "you're fired" joke in a land of double digit unemployment isn't a real hot seller...

This one came rushing back into my head for some reason.

My old boss I had at Lamborghini had a game with me. We would go to a club or bar, find the ugliest girl in the bar, buy a drink for her and tell the waitress it was from the other person. Can't count how many time I would be talking to someone when an ugly troll of a woman comes up and starts talking and flirting. Look back to see my boss rolling over, in tears, laughing. But I would get him back. You could watch the woman walk over, take a seat next to him. He would smile and raise his glass with a big grin.

Not really a prank gone bad, but a good one to have with your buddies.

When I worked at Motion Dynamics, we used to take the grease that Energy Supension uses on all their poly bushings and put on latex gloves and smear globs of that stuff under door handles of each other's cars. Takes brake cleaner to get that stuff off.

When I worked for NTB, we would put a whole stick or 2 of sticky weights used to balance tires on someone's driveshaft. Did it to the store manager, he brought it in the next day to have us check the drivetrain vibration. We were rolling. He got a kick out of it and joined in. Thank God I always had cars, if you had a truck, you were doomed.

When I worked at Sears when I was 18-19, I was on the morning crew who unloaded the trucks. We would unload the truck and get the 6-7' rubber bands they had in there to secure loose boxes an then make shrink wrap balls out of tightly wound shrink wrap and packing tape. Then we'd string the rubber band across the width of the trailer and load up a ball and wait for the afternoon crew to arrive, or anyone really. Would never leave a mark, but stung like hell. LOL We also had cubby holes and secret passages carved into the larger products in the stock room like refridgerators, washer & dryers, water heaters, etc. where we could sneak around and back behind someone who thought they were following us. Tripped out a few unsuspecting salesmen when we popped back up behind them.

So, was she hot? You've set yourself up nicely to become "friendly" with her...

Toyman01 wrote: (Don't do these to people who worship their cars) Every time I see the competition's vans at work I take one of my advertizing stickers and put it on their passenger side mirror or back window. They usually return the favor at some point. Loud noises almost always work. So do soft ones. I got my wife the other day by making the threshold at the back door creak. Even though she knew I was outside, she still came over to investigate. Gotcha. Keep it friendly, and it works. Everyone gets a chuckle. Spur of the moment usually works better than elaborate planning in advance. Just realize, what goes around, comes around, don't dish it if you can't take it. Make it vicious or destroy property and it takes all the fun out of it. The hard part is telling what other people consider vicious. You really need to know them pretty well to get them good and not cross the line. I've even aborted jokes before because the victim was having a bad day. As with all jokes, timing is everything.

Started off real shaky until the top line I quoted. Pretty much finished with "words to live by", if you are going to prank at all. Some people can't take it, even the good fun, non destructive ones, and some people retaliate with escalating pranks that turn ugly or inappropriate quick.

"What do you mean you're mad I pushed your car into the pond? Remember, you taped over my mouse last week!"

In reply to T.J.: Yeah, that is pretty bad, you don't ever want to get someone to the point of tears when they are worried about their job in this economy.

Breakfast for just that individual for a week or two is appropriate payment.

Some big pallets will have rubber bands on them big enough to put around an entire car.

re: escalation and retaliation for dumb prank

seen a victim/ guy fill a locked roll-away tool box full w/ damn near 30 lbs of grease using a Graco grease pump w/ needle adapter

pranker coulda gone AK after that... but cooled down realizing he berkeleyed w/ the wrong guy

fasted58 wrote: re: escalation and retaliation for dumb prank seen a victim/ guy fill a locked roll-away tool box full w/ damn near 30 lbs of grease using a Graco grease pump w/ needle adapter pranker coulda gone AK after that... but cooled down realizing he berkeleyed w/ the wrong guy

A tech I worked with at Pep Boys did the EXACT same thing to a guy who messed with him. Can't remember what he did, but the guy waited for him to lock up his box and leave and then drilled a hole in the top and installed a zerx fitting and put the grease gun on it and zip tied the trigger down and left for the night. Next morning there was grease coming out of every drawer in the box. The tech who did that came in and set up a lawn chair and a cooler and sat and waited for the other guy to come in. Other guy flipped out, demended who did it. Then that guy stood up and said, "Me, wanna do something about it?" Guy with grease filled tool box proceeded to open box, remove grease, clean all tools, load everything up, and quit. LOL

One time we were replacing a bunch of old UPSes. I had to move our new badass server so the new UPS could be racked below it.

I carried it out and gently sat it on a table, I then picked up the old UPS battery (think car battery) raised it up as high as I could and dropped it - sitamiously yelling "Oh E36 M3!"

My manager thought I'd dropped the new server, he came running out of the server room. I was on the floor laughing my ass off.

m4ff3w wrote: I then picked up the old UPS battery (think car battery) raised it up as high as I could and dropped it - sitamiously yelling "Oh E36 M3!"

This reminds me of a stunt a friend pulled often. Just after graduation from high school his grandfather closed his shoe shop. We would have big parties with bands there weekly. One of the old displays used what appeared to be concrete blocks. They were actually styrofoam. Moe would come down the stairs from the office carrying several blocks and "trip" throwing the blocks into the crowd. Screaming and scrambling away ensued.

pilotbraden wrote: This reminds me of a stunt a friend pulled often. Just after graduation from high school his grandfather closed his shoe shop. We would have big parties with bands there weekly. One of the old displays used what appeared to be concrete blocks. They were actually styrofoam. Moe would come down the stairs from the office carrying several blocks and "trip" throwing the blocks into the crowd. Screaming and scrambling away ensued.

my old man pulled that one on me one day when I was probably 10...I literally peed a little.

The same gag works with a big cardboard box...walk along with your shoulders sagging and "trip" and toss it at someone...they will panic, you will laugh

Or with display car batteries, they look just like real batteries but weigh nothing.