Somebody at your work has wrapped somebody else's stapler in something. Somebody has changed a desktop background to a photograph of a horse.
Office pranks are ancient, glorious, and can go extremely wrong. So here are the rules, which have never been written down and absolutely should have been.
Rule One: Nothing Expensive
The moment a prank costs somebody money it stops being funny and becomes a conversation with HR. Nothing gets damaged. Nothing gets lost. Nothing needs replacing.
A prank should be reversible in under ten minutes by the person who received it.
Rule Two: Never Punch Down
This is the rule that separates a good prankster from the office menace everybody privately dislikes.
You prank sideways or upward. You prank the confident colleague who will give as good as they get. You never prank the new starter who is still nervous, and you never prank someone having a rough week.
Read the room first. It takes two seconds and it is the whole difference.
Rule Three: The Target Must Be Able To Laugh
Here is the test, and it is a good one. Imagine the target describing your prank to their family that evening.
If they would tell it as a funny story, you got it right. If they would tell it as a complaint, you did not.
Rule Four: No Deadlines Harmed
Never prank somebody who is up against something real. Nobody has ever appreciated finding their desk wrapped in paper twenty minutes before a presentation.
Friday afternoon exists for a reason. Use it.
Rule Five: Accept The Return Fire
You do not get to prank people and then be annoyed when it comes back. That is the deal. That was always the deal.
If you cannot take it, do not start it. And if you can take it, congratulations, you are now in a years-long escalating exchange with a colleague and it will be the best part of your working week.
The Classics, Ranked
- Every item on the desk moved one inch to the left. Nobody can prove anything. Devastating.
- An enormous quantity of sticky notes. Tedious to undo, harms nothing, extremely visual.
- A photograph of a colleague hidden somewhere they will find it in six weeks. Long game. Deeply satisfying.
- Autocorrect changed on a shared machine. Subtle, maddening, needs no explanation.
Go forth. Be daft. Break nothing.
Written by Jest 4U. Thanks for reading.