Office Pranks

At my former place of employment, whenever someone had a birthday, we would of course bring in treats for them. Then....they would have fun enjoying their gifts....or shall I say pranks. This would include, but would not be limited to:

***Sprinkling shredded paper over their desk (this idea came from the president of the company!)
***Make them "Scavenger Hunt" to find their desk items.
***Masking Tape their phone together.
***Bog up their voicemail with silly messages (this was done of course was done from home the night before!....our kids would help)
***Hide strange/silly items from the office/factory randomly in their office, for them to find in the days to come.
***Draw funny pictures on a few sheets of paper in their printer (we each had our own)

Everyone knew to expect this. No matter how late they would work the night before or how early they came in the morning of....we'd get them. I wouldn't dare do this where I work now, nor would I ever admit to partaking in such crude activities. This forum is just for entertainment purposes right? If not, I was just kidding. :~~

Do any of you have any other stories of office pranks?

Comments

  • 24 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • I worked at a law firm once where we had some prank-prone associates. They would do things such as take the wheels off your chair, boobytrap the center drawer of your desk with a party-popper (that always got the blood flowing), dissasemble a secretary's work station and hide it and put a potted plant where her workstation should be (and you're right. These guys were not at the top of the pack in terms of billable hours, but they kept us entertained).
  • One year we brought a blow up doll for our boss (CFO). We put him in some boxers with hearts all over them. His head was so square with such dark hair we decided he looked like Wayne Newton (only much shorter) and christened him Waynee Weinee. When she saw him she burst out laughing and proceeded to dance around the room with him. She drove home with him in the passenger seat and gave the toll booth worker quite a shock.

    One year we talked about hiding the company car from a salesman and putting a tricycle in its place (along with a note about budget cuts), but we never put it together.


  • My best was when the Employment Manager turned 39. I put signs up all over the plant that said "Lordy, lordy. Vicki's Forty." The more she protested that she wasn't 40, the funnier it got. She kept telling people she was 39 and everybody kept saying "Sure you are!"

    Margaret Morford
    theHRedge
    615-371-8200
    [email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
    [url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
  • I dunno, Margaret. Sounds like a pretty tame prank to me (at least compared to the clowns I had to put up with). I'll give it an "A" for originality, a "B-" for execution (after all, you didn't have to do much, did you?) x:-)
  • I'll take my A and run with it. Men cannot appreciate the horror that most women have about looking their age or older! It's probably why the Marboro Man is considered sexy with his graying hair and craggy features. You'll notice that there's no Marboro Woman!

    Margaret Morford
    theHRedge
    615-371-8200
    [email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
    [url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]
  • Guess I never thought about it, but you're right. There IS no Marlboro woman, is there?
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-23-03 AT 09:13AM (CST)[/font][p]There's no Marlboro man either. With his rugged good looks, lean muscular self perched on a weathered saddle, new Marlboro dangling from his pooched lips...he died of lung cancer about 6 years ago. But, the Marlboro woman was back in the cabin, pregnant, barefoot, long blonde hair in a single pigtail, patting out biscuits and frying quail.

    I loved reading about these pranks. Sadly I can recall that for me those types of things stopped sometime about, I dunno, maybe 10 years ago or so. Back when we got so bombarded by all this stuff about decorum, workplace behaviors, professionalism in the office, sensitivity, not mixing work with fun, and the notion that such 'antics' must absolutely take place away from the property lines of the company....I know that I lost a lot of what I grew up being. All that fun for years with office pranks, good clean fun, laughing at ourselves, having a ton of fun with each other, telling each other about payback with a big smile, getting loud for a moment, doing stupid silly stuff.....why does all that have to be gone? I want it back but won't get it back. Suddenly I have a vision of Moe putting a bucket of water above the door that Curley's about to enter! I don't want to go to that extreme, but I sure as hell do miss it. Thanks for the memories!
  • On April 1st many, many years ago - oh about 1981 - I was supervising a group of about 80 people and we had our own building separate from the main plant. Since I overlapped on to 2nd shift, I always came in to work about an hour after the start of 1st shift. Well, everyone on 1st shift decided to play a prank on me that morning. They parked their cars in the surrounding neighborhood so I wouldn't see them. Then they hid behind the building and left everything locked and turned off. They expected me to go in, call the main plant and tell them I lost my people. But, the joke backfired. I rode my bicycle to work that morning and forgot my keys so I couldn't get in the building. I was confused for a few minutes until I saw someone peek around the corner of the building. It was so funny I couldn't be mad for the lost productivity.
  • Although my company doesn't do any of these "pranks", my sister-in-law who is the GM of a large hotel recently told me of one she did to avenge what was done to her on her birthday -

    On the birthday of her Food and Beverage Director she, along with some of the director's employees, filled her car with balloons, cranked up the car stereo, turned the windshield wipers on (after greasing them with vasoline), and cranked the heater (this was the middle of summer). From what I understand, the director took this all in stride as she was the cuplrit who filled my sister-in-law's office with balloons to the point that she couldn't open the door and placed signs all over the hotel reminding everyone to wish her a happy birthday.

  • I have been lucky enough to always work where people love to pull pranks. One of the more recent ones was on a slow Friday afternoon. Our IT manager is (of course) a Dilbert fan and has the little stuffed Dilbert and Dogbert sitting on top of his monitor. As I was passing his office, I took the Dilbert. Later I heard him asking around about the doll. So I called him and told him I'd seen Dilbert in engineering. Then I brought the doll to another conspirator and asked them to keep the game going. We had the manager running all over the building looking for Dilbert - he really enjoyed it. For a while it even sat on the receptionist's desk but was unnoticed by the manager. At the end of the day, I called the manager, told him Dilbert had a hot date with a blonde and would be back on Monday. Monday morning I returned him to the top of the monitor, holding a bottle of aspirin with his head wrapped in a bandage.

    At a previous office we also bought the manager a blow up doll that stayed in his office for a long time. One day I heard a strange noise coming from the supply closet, opened the door and the manager was deflating the doll. His face was priceless. He said he was meeting with medicaid people and wanted to be sure the doll would not be spotted.

    I can't imagine not being able to play at work.
  • .......And I can't believe you actually believed his story about what he was doing in the closet with that doll! Letting the air out. Right!
  • Don is correct about there not being fun at work anymore. I remember when I worked at the bank, I worked with a bunch of crazy people. 40th birthdays were really fodder for the insane. One year we put a coffin (yes, a real one) in one of our coworkers parking space. They retaliated by putting a tombstone by my office door. One girl in the office who just loves presents and birthdays...we totally ignored her and didn't even acknowledge her birthday. As the day wore on, we could hear her talking to others on the phone "No one has said anything! I can't believe they forgot my birthday!" We finally had a surprise party in the training room for her. I went to the local cemetery and got a bunch of the dead flowers on stands that they throw in the trash pile and brought them to the office as decorations. And finally, another co-worker who simply adores Kevin Costner. We made copies of Kevin's body and pasted the head of the chairman of the board of directors (who she hated) on it. We put about 100 of these pictures all over her office - walls,ceiling, floors, etc.

    Yep, I'm afraid those days are over. We are much, much too grown up and professional for those type of games anymore....Sigh
  • One of the girls in the office was turning 30 and after she left the office the night before, several culprits put duct tape across the door of her cubicle, about four or five rows, then filled the cubicle with black balloons. The balloons were about four feet deep when she arrived in the morning and she had to pop them to find her desk.

    Kind of mild, (compared to Vaseline on windshield wipers), but it was still a blast.
  • Let's see....

    I was in on the great desk turnaround in the accounts payable department. We turned one of the AP clerk's desk around, moving the computer, plant, chair, you name it, we moved it. She actually liked it that way.

    Then, to get even with the accountant that thought that up, we helped her relocate all of his office furniture to another department (in on the gag) so that he opened an empty office one morning. He was one of those low-productive but fun employees, and I think for a while he wasn't sure if he needed to leave the building forever or to look for his furniture.

    At the bank I work for now, we have a spooky picture of Samuel Clemens and the eyes follow you around the room. If you are gone on vacation, you can usually count on Sam showing up in your office on your first day back.



  • I was the HR Rep in a Helicopter Remanufacturing Facility. My office was in the production area. I went into my office and shut the door to take a phone call. When I opened my door the mainteancne crew has taken a refrigerator and put it infront of my door. I opened the door to the back of the refrigerator. I wasn't to sure they were going to let me out.
  • One of my favorites was one that I, unfortunately, can't take credit for. My oldest brother works as an executive for a very conservative insurance company. One day he called NY information and asked for the number of CBS News in New York. He jotted the number down and filled out a phone message slip that said Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes wanted the Division Manager to call him at (CBS News' number) and marked the slip "urgent." The Division Manager ran around the office asking everyone why Mike Wallace would want to talk to him! x:-) My brother let him sweat the whole afternoon before telling him it was a joke.




  • I like pranks that have a sense of style, are fun, and no damage or hurt feelings are left behind. Some of my favorites:

    1. We have two entry ways to our administrative offices on opposite sides of the building. A sign reading "Wet paint - use other entrance" on both doors is a low tech way to have some fun.

    2. I like taping a microphone to our office copier with a sign that the copier is voice activated. Speak clearly and say how many copies you want"

    3. I have a remote controlled fart machine (my wife gave me) which is always fun to put next to the copy machine. When I hear copies being made, just click the remote. There are several different sounds - some with good resonance and some that sound a little squirty. Ok, so I am 12 years old.

    4. Removing the ball from someone's mouse is pretty low tech but fairly effective.

    5. Putting an emberassing book on someone's office book shelf is kind of fun - like a Harlequinn romance for a guy or something on stopping bedwetting. They will say its not their book which is part of the fun.

    6. Re-arranging items on a person's desk every day. Just one at at ime. Just enough to make them stop and scratch their heads. Better yet, park their car in a slightly different spot.

    Paul in Cannon Beach
  • Not exactly an office prank, but near enough....
    As a Senior Flight Attendant, it was my job to train the newbies in correct procedures during flights. On one particular trip, the pilots and I conspired against the poor new girl after we had overnighted in another city. It was a small propeller plane, a Fokker Friendship, that only seated about 40 passengers and the first flight only took about 15 minutes.
    After take off, the First Officer hid in the luggage hold near the cockpit and the Captain pushed the Flight Attendant button. I told the newbie to go and see what the he wanted. I sat at the back of the plane as she came back through the plane, looking a little pale, and checked out all the cabin seats. When she reached me at the back she asked if I had seen the First Officer, which of course I denied. We then had to strap in as we were about to land. After taxiing to a stop I told her she should open the passenger door and walk to the bottom of the steps to farewell any passengers.
    Imagine the look on her face when she opened the door and the First Officer was hanging on the back of the wing looking rather wind blown, jumped down and walked past her up the stairs saying "Phew, I thought I'd missed the flight that time!"
    Aah, the good old days!!
  • That is a PRICELESS story! Thanks for the laugh! x:-)
  • We filled our benefits manager's car with styrofoam peanuts. That was fun. My favorite gags involve having access to certain network capabilities... these allow me to change someone's computer monitor "wallpaper", sounds, etc. from the safety of my own office. I'm not above having someone come back from lunch to find his co-workers gathered around his cubicle laughing at a computer slideshow of baby pictures supplied by his wife. ;)
  • Well my last name is Tribble and if any of you are Star Trek fans then you are aware that Tribbles are these little creatures that multiple.... Well one day I came to work and my desk was covered with these little orange fuzzies which were suppose to be like the Tribbles all over the place. They were on my desk, in drawers, etc. It took weeks to get rid of them all!!
  • What a great episode! The trouble with tribbles indeed!
  • Man, some of you get creative! x:D

    Many many years ago in my hotel days (before I was in HR, mind you), the staff used to find some pretty interesting items "hidden" in hotel rooms. A maintenance engineer came across a large rubber... umm.... er... (cough) "sculpture" of a man's private parts. He placed it upright on top of the GM's car, with a paper bag over it, so it would stay there 'til the GM found it. The GM regularly retaliated with various other "found" objects, by placing htem in the employee's locker, car, etc.
  • I have not been on here in a while, but reading these have been great. It reminds me of when I first started working here. My first week here, my co-workers filled all my desk drawers with those packing peanuts. The next week they put tape over the earpiece of my phone. About a month after that I came in and started typing, not knowing why the correct words were not printing. I finally looked down and they had put all my keys in alphabetical order. The most recent was taking several items from my office and "ransoming" them off. We always have a lot of fun here and I hope it continues.
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