April Fools Day at the Office
Aprils Fools Day is one week away, so you know what that means. Time to start planning. The benefit of working with good friends means some healthy trickery at the office when this day rolls around. Allow me to illustrate. You may find some ideas here for your own April Fools Day fun.
The Balloon Cubicle:
About eight years ago, we sealed a coworker's door with plastic wrap and filled it with a gazillion balloons. Note my partner in crime, Joel Rosen checking the stabilty of the plastic wrap seal.
It was a sight to behold. And smell. You could smell the latex ten cubicles away.
If you decide on this particular prank keep three things in mind.
1. Make sure the lady in the cubicle next door is not deathly afraid of balloons.
2. Do not dive into a cubicle full of balloons. They merely move out of the way and you will hit the floor... hard.
3. Be sure to have pins on hand to help the victim clear the balloons out of the way before their 10 o'clock meeting.
Here I am surveying the scene rubbing my hands together with evil glee.
The Newspaper Desk:
Then a few years later, we wrapped another coworker's desk completely in newspaper.
I mean completely. And everything on the desk too. Stapler, mouse, pens, keyboard.
It may take a village to raise a child, but it only takes a design group to wrap all your office supplies in the sports section. There is Joel again, carefully wrapping the CPU.
Here is Tina Clark delicately wrapping a pen. Oh and me... looking quite evil again.
The completed desk was quite impressive.
I am so glad I work with such creative people. Oh and such good sports!
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Comments
Posted By: Shaun (4/4/2008)
Comment: Good times! Having fun at work is so necessary. My April Fools prank this year... I gathered all our employees on the first new day of the month, April 1 and announced the NEW employee of the month who is entitled to a parking spot up front. I asked him to get his picture taken and read the certificate, NOT HIS NAME, APRIL FOOLS! I know I know, dirty joke but this employee has been playing jokes and asking for it. We got a great pic of his face, on a Kodak camera no less!
Posted By: Angie (4/2/2008)
Comment: Oh my goodness! I'm not sure I would've taken the pranks so well if they had been played on me! I think I would've definitely dealt with the balloon one a lot better than the newspaper one though!
Posted By: alison (4/2/2008)
Comment: My father pulled the balloon-filled office prank on his boss back in 1980 when I was 5, and it's still one of my favorite stories- I scored a lot of the balloons they didn't pop!
Posted By: Pamela (4/1/2008)
Comment: This is so fun!
I once worked with a creative group like you all -- we filled another co-worker's car with circus peanuts via the sunroof and then saran-wrapped it shut. You can imagine what it smelled like after sitting in the sun all day!
Wish I still had the pics to share.
I agree, you need to have fun like this in the workplace sometimes. It helps with stress!
Posted By: Denise (4/1/2008)
Comment: Today they used the control, alt and arrow buttons to turn my computer screen upside down. I laughed so hard. It was the best
Posted By: Thomas (4/1/2008)
Comment: Yes Jenny, I agree. Fun in the workplace most definitely helps improve productivity. Looking forward to seeing something impressive from you guys today.
Posted By: Jenny (3/30/2008)
Comment: There are many studies that show fun in the workplace helps improve work productivity. Myself and many I work with believe that and I think that is what makes this such a wonderful, creative and nurturing environment to be in. I encourage everyone to try it!
Posted By: Joel Rosen (3/28/2008)
Comment: Having participated in these efforts, I feel I can comment. These 'pranks' were done years ago, back in the heydey of the dotcom boom and our little group had that 'startup' mentality and this sort of office fun was encouraged. We did the work of these 'pranks' during lunch and after a busy workday was winding down. A bunch of us blew up a few balloon each, for about 10 minutes after lunch, every day for about 2 weeks. Wrapping the cube in paper probably took about a grand total of 30 minutes and we were eating lunch while we did it. We also pulled plenty of late nights at that time for projects because we had lots of energy for our work, too.
Posted By: Cruff (3/27/2008)
Comment: Must be nice to have that time to do something fun and getting paid to do it.
Posted By: Ray (3/27/2008)
Comment: I'm sorry, but when I think of all the good people who lost their jobs at Kodak even thought they gave it their best effort - I find this post offensive.
Posted By: SaMi (3/26/2008)
Comment: Thanks for the laughs! Reminds me of fun times my girlfriend & I use to have.
Posted By: Robbin (3/25/2008)
Comment: I also worked at a lumberyard throughout high school. The yard guys were constantly pulling jokes. We had two secretaries and their big wooden desks faced each other. Each day they'd come in yakking away with each other... So one day the guys took some bungee cords and laced their rolling chairs together under the desk, with just a little bit of give. So in come Debbie and Sharon, chatting away. They get to their desks, Debbie pulls her chair and the other one moves in a little, then Sharon pulls hers and Debbie's moves back in. They literally did this for minutes, still talking, until they realized that everyone was standing around the counter cracking up! My, I've gotten so boring as I've grown up! I must come up with something for this year :-) Thanks for the giggles!!!
Posted By: Robbin (3/25/2008)
Comment: Hehehe, this reminds me of my favorite all time prank. I worked in the library in college, on the music and history floor. On April 1, one of our co-workers came in to find her desk completely cleaned out, all personal items gone. "Barb, what are you doing here? They told us that Mark got a job in Texas and you moved. Some guys came this morning and packed all your stuff!" She walked the stacks looking for her stuff, then all of a sudden we hear from half way across the floor "OH! April Fools' I get it. Ok, where'd you put my stuff?!"
Posted By: Tina Clark (3/25/2008)
Comment: Oooh, Jenny - and when we turned everything in Joel's office upside down - including his computer desktop (HOW TO: screen grab the entire desktop, put the folders all into one, take the screenshot and rotate it in photoshop, then set it as the new desktop picture) Sheer evil genius!!