April Fools Pranks at the office 2010


I work in an engineering firm where we have a wide mix of people working in our various departments.  We are the division of the Native Hospital group that provides the design, engineering, and construction of clinics and water and sewer projects in rural (bush) Alaska.  With it brings great changes to many lives that have never had medical care or running water/sewer in their homes before.  These changes with something simple like clean water help those families live a healthier life with less trips to the “city” for medical care.

Working within an “engineering” environment sometime means you can have a little fun with co-workers as their analytical ‘mindset’ seems to run a little differently that those of us who have a more practical ‘street smart’ way of thinking.

I put up a "Microwave Use Tracking Form" in the break room before everyone arrived this morning to see what if anything would happen.  It had blanks for writing down what you heated up, when and for how long.  The list had about half a page of entries by the end of the day listing various types of food heated up so it was interesting to see what everyone was having.

It was funny that those names were mainly the engineers who come downstairs to use our break room and not many of the non-engineering staff. The one person who wrote down several entries was one of the office managers, a 20-year veteran who would have been the only possible person responsible for putting up anything legitimate of that sort (this is a 80-person company were everyone knew everyone).

The office has a mixture of offices and cubicles for the staff and our IT department has used wireless mouse and keyboard setups where possible.  I headed into the office early and switched keyboards with several cubicle stations next to each other to see what would happen.  I had alerted the people next to the two “victims” so they could have fun with the responses and would be ready once they arrived for work and tried typing.  He would type messages to her screen as if her computer was a sentient being.  Apparently she started asking it for advice, thinking it might be God.  The typing went on for about eight to ten minutes before she tried to find out what “possessed” her computer and asked for help.

Years ago when I lived in the south where there are thunderstorms I worked in a small engineering firm where the owner’s dopey wife was the receptionist/secretary.  We all shared an office printer next to her desk. One morning during a thunderstorm, I printed a single page with the word "LIGHTNING" that filled the entire page, every time there was thunder.  I told her the printer was set to "weather mode" as an office safety feature. She was so impressed with modern technology!

I hope you had a little fun today and brought a chuckle to your friends or co-workers.

Ice

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