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Best pranks/stunts pulled on friends or co-workers

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BurningTantalum:
In the late 80s I spent many months working in Shanghai. My mechanical colleague was called Johnny; he had a sun-tan, porn-star moustache, and a forest of chest hair setting off a gold medallion on a chain. For some reason that I could not determine the local workers did not like him at all, - I had worked in several countries with him and not had an issue before - behind his back they waved their little fingers downwards and called him 'shao ren' which is a fairly bad Chinese insult. I once caught one of them clowning an imitation of him in front of a crowd of hooting colleagues - he had a rice broom poking out of the top of his shirt and a cardboard porn-star moustache glued to his top lip.
Johnny's pride and joy was, or had been, a watch that he bought on one of our trips to Hong Kong, but recently it had been driving him mad running fast, then slow, then stopping altogether. One evening he said that the next time it gave him grief he would toss it out. At work he always took it off and placed it on a machine casting where he could see it, so the next day I said to him that if he disappeared behind the machinery I would let the operatives see me bash it about to see what their reaction was. He duly wandered off and I picked the watch up with my little finger and dangled it about, much to the amusement of the grinning workers. I then dropped it on the floor and stamped on it; their smiles froze slightly and they looked a bit nervous. I picked up the watch and put it on the casting then proceeded to bash seven bells out of it with a hammer. The workers backed slowly away clearly thinking the this 'Long Nose' had gone insane, then bang on cue Johnny sauntered round from the rear of the machine. At this point I departed from the script somewhat and quickly thrust the hammer into the hands of the nearest worker. He squeaked like a kid's toy as Johnny glared at him as I pointed to the shattered watch and the cowering worker. Quick as a flash, and before I could stop him, he wrenched off his own watch and placing it on the debris-covered casting proceeded to smash it to bits with the hammer. Johnny looked at me and said "That went 'orribly wrong, didn't it?" and we both burst out laughing, eventually holding onto each other for support. The workers just stared in amazement. Johnny and I went to find a company driver to take us down Nanjing Lu to the nearest jeweller's shop where we bought a pair of the best watches we could see. We presented one to the hapless worker. We were sure that none of them knew why I had smashed up Johnny's watch, why he wasn't angry with me, and why I had tried to frame the poor worker for the crime. After we finished the work our company received a communication from the import export corporation thanking us both for our diligent and skilful work, but adding that the workers did not always understand our cruel sense of humour.
BT

james_s:
I almost forgot about this one. Back around 2004 I worked in an office that had a pair of sinks in the restroom with those sensors that turn the water on when you put your hands under them. The evening before April 1st I stayed a little later than usual until most of the guys had left for the day and I got under the counter and swapped the solenoids between the two sinks so if you put your hands under the left sink the right one would turn on and vice versa. The next day someone sent out an email to the whole team commenting that someone had turned washing your hands in the men's room into an aerobic activity. That night I waited again and quietly switched them back, nobody ever accused me and to this day I've never told any of them it was me. I still snicker when I think about it.

james_s:

--- Quote from: IDEngineer on August 12, 2020, 01:32:22 am ---One year I was feeling particularly snarky so I came prepared. We finally encountered a carnie that deserved some pushback, so after we got off the ride I scattered a few old, used-looking nuts, washers, and cotter pins around the base of the ride. All carefully selected to be sizes you might find on a ride like that. Then we went off a short distance and waited.

--- End quote ---

Hah!  :-DD That's genius! I don't know whether I wish I had thought of that when I was a kid or am glad I didn't!

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