Last summer, my roommate had a website for “do it yourself” lifestyle projects, DIYHAPPY.COM. He was invited out to Oreilly Media’s publication Make Magazine’s Maker Faire (yes they spell it like that). I tagged along and had a great time hanging out, and enjoyed looking at all the home-made and D.I.Y. projects which so many people had devoted a lot of time and money to.

One of my favorite places at the Maker Faire was the surprisingly store. Make Magazine’s best of the best projects had something to sell there, including some Do It Yourself kits for various popular projects. I bought an LED based kit called a “Mini POV”. The only other project I really wanted, was a TV B Gone kit that helps you build an infra-red TV remote with one function: Turning off all TV’s in a full infra red spectrum (able to turn off pretty much any and all TV’s that uses an IR remote). This awesome little guy is small- and can be hidden in your hat or…. beard if you so please. Regardless, it could be turned into quite the annoying business disruption device if some evil prankster decided to use it at let say… CES? The one place hundreds of booths and company displays s rely heavily on their TV’s to help convey their business/products/services.

Enter Gizmodo. Get over to see the video while it’s hot, but the Gizmodo CES 2008 TV Prank is one hilarious way of keeping yourself entertained while walking around the mass conference center conglomeration that the Consumer Electronic Show has become. Gizmodo video recorded themselves pulling this prank on various booths, and the video can be seen on their website at the post which I linked to above. I say get it while it’s hot- because if I can imagine that if any of these disgruntled companies catch wind- they very well might take legal action considering the investment they potentially lost. Let’s also not forget that CES is somewhat- a mass display and distribution of electronics companies products: Lots of TV’s to promote and lots of TV’s used to prmote - pretty much anyones who’s mass line of TV’s gets turned off randomly, then looses credibility pretty quick. It’s an Electronics industry trade show, when the electronics malfunction…… it was probably Gizmodo.

Side Note: I really considered going this year to C.E.S.- but ran into one major drawback; how unbelievably sick I got from going from booth to booth and seeing mass horde’s of iPod Accessory companies. Everyone; their dog; and their dog’s previous owner’s best friends aunt started an iPod accessory company and got a booth at CES in the hopes to stand out and offer something new. “But we’re different than the other guys” like every MLM up and down I-15 in Utah county says. Stupid “reverse funnel” system is still a pyramid scheme.

Share This

Comments(1)

Devious Office Prank #1: Bookmarks

Most people in an office situation have a very tedious and routine work-flow. Pranks that disrupt this work-flow are, well just plain funny at times. This prank doesn’t require any special software, just spend some time changing some website URL’s in all of their bookmarks. Usually a co-worker has a fairly organized and structured set of bookmarks in their web browser of choice. Hopefully it is Firefox, but we won’t judge them if they use something else.

Accessing their bookmarks, change all of your co-workers URL destinations for each bookmark to remove just one letter of the .com in each URL. Make it a ‘.cm’ or ‘om’, etc. Every time they attempt to follow a bookmarked link, it will come up as “server not found”, or “error in ‘/’ application” or whatever. You can even just add stuff the to URL that shouldn’t be there such as an extra ‘t’ in the ‘http’ part of the URL.

You can take this prank a little further by switching the URL’s in their bookmarks. So that they still get to an actual website with out any errors, just the wrong website.

Machiavellian Office Prank #2: Saran-Wrapped Toilet

The toilet: feared by janitors, abused by men. When it comes to office pranks, this one isn’t just dirty in the sense that it’s a mean prank, it’s dirty as in, it makes a mess. Take a wide strip of Saran-wrap or generic brand cellophane and put a single layer around the bowl of the toilet. Lift the lid and the seat up all the way before wrapping, then put them both down. Nothing gets out, and nothing gets in. Result: An extremely ‘pissed off’ and smelly co-worker.

Aneurysm Creating Office Prank #3: Screen shot of Desktop

Hit ‘Print screen” on your co-workers computer, save the image as the desktop background. After you do this, create a folder and drag every icon on the desktop to this folder, then hide the folder however you choose. This gives the appearance that the desktop looks the exact same as normal, except the icon’s they keep trying to click on are actually just part of the background image. The start menu will keep working, so confusion can be minimal if they are a smart cookie, but choose the office ‘blond’ and hopefully after a few help-desk calls you will have had your giggles.

The Evil Office Prank #4: White on White text/links/background

I had this one pulled on my by one sneaky co-worker. When you look at your computer desktop, your tool bar has a color, background has a color, and the text for everything is contrasted so you can easily read it. If that contrast changes to something like, white on white, it’s impossible to find difference between text, background icons, etc. etc.

The dirtiest part of this prank, is how nearly impossible it might be to reverse the effect. Your coworker will have a completely white screen but it will be filled with icons, folders, and every program you decided to leave running when you did this, so their frustration is going to be really high. My coworker left the ‘display settings’ folder open in the top right hand corner so it would be easy to change back. Well, it was supposed to be easy to change back. I got flustered enough that I just started clicking and dragging and moved everything. Luckily he was smart enough to find a way to change things back, let’s hope you are too.

The OCD Killer OfficePrank #5: Calendar Events

This may not be the most destructive prank in the world, but it has its place in office pranks. Many people live at their desk from 8-5. They might have a scheduling routine or work-flow that they depend on so much, you might consider if they are O.C.D. If they are O.C.D., then making these changes will be even funnier. Change their scheduled calendar events. On either the desktop calendar, wall calender, or Outlook Calendar. Add important meetings with high-ranking people in the company or just add worthless teasing reminders. Go crazy with the reminders, or make just a few so as to make the few they have seem that much more believable.

Throw off their routine just a little with lunch break 20 minutes early, or if you suspect they have odd secrets, call them out on it by posting a calendar event to ‘Pay off pimp at 4th and Main St.’ It is like moving their tediously placed pencils or tilting a picture on the wall. Go through a stack of papers and lightly tear the whole stack in just a corner.

Work Disturbing Office Prank #6: Muscle Memory Retraining and Keyboard Tweaking

The keyboard is something that most people don’t need to look at anymore to type, but they do anyway. How weird would it be to not see “QWERTY” in the top left anymore, but actually have a message from the prank puller; “ZESTY”, “GOATBUM”, or whatever you can think of. Surprisingly most keyboards only require just a little bit of pressure to pop off a few keys. Arrange them however you like. Possibly just switch two commonly used ones like “A” and “E”. Spend a few minutes to think of something that would really get to the keyboard user.

Got a favorite office prank?

Leave a comment with your favorite office prank, or suggestions of a joke you are too chicken to pull yourself.

Share This

Comments(3)

Soon I will be posting a list of pranks on co-workers that have been pulled here in the office I work in, as well as pranks that will/should be pulled on co-workers. This post though is all about the ease and comfort of installing a quick Macro program which is really easy to use, and quick to install on a co-workers computer, and usually gets a good laugh (or a pissed off co-worker.) Please Macro responsibly.

It’s important to have a quick install macro because most of the time there is only a few minutes to get it on someone’s computer, fully installed, and then set up and choose what actions you want it to perform. Where I work though, the time we get to install the macro and mess with things is usually a little longer than average, because it is when a co-worker goes to play ping-pong and forgets to lock their computer.

There are millions (slight over-exaggeration) of easy install Macro’s you can download. The one I use for the pranks I pull on my co-workers is called amem5a. You can download EZ Macro amem5a at that link, or just search for the name on the Googlebot.

There are two ways to get this on your computer in an easy, swift manner which is important when you don’t have a lot of time to pull some pranks. The shorter time a co-worker is away from their desk, the less likely they are to think you have done something. You can send an instant message to their computer with a link to the download from the internet, just make sure you remember to close the window before you are done. One that my co-worker has done is actually storing the program and installing it from our internal network drive, (you can always throw it on a thumb drive too.)

For EZ Macros amem5 you might want to get familiar with exactly how it works so this prank on your co-worker goes smooth. It’s a free trial type of deal, so there is a few windows you have to click through to actually get to the program. Look at the many, many options you have and choose what you feel might do the most damage.

I always enjoy setting it to open up a long list of the largest and most annoying programs (open a few different anti-virus programs) just from hitting a single key stroke. This gives away that a prank has definitely been pulled on them. Maybe you can just have the key stroke open up notepad, then another key stroke opens up Internet Explorer. Have random things open up and watch the frustration build. It’s a fun idea to put the macro in the start-up in case they are dumb enough to forget to fully uninstall it.

This small little program doesn’t do it all but it allows you to use hot keys to launch macros, sets certain words that are typed that will launch macros, use certain programs being opened to launch macro’s, you can launch a list of programs using any action, have amam5 remember mouse and keyboard events (then they replay so it appears the computer is being remotely controlled), time delay a macro launch after a keystroke or mouse event, and more.

This program has an “install macro’s and hide” option that also allows for slight hidden operation. You co-workers won’t see this coming if they don’t have any experience using any type of macro’s.

Enjoy, and may your pranks on co-workers continue to flourish and provide laughs as your pranks drive a wedge between you and the poor co-workers you decide to pick on.

Share This

Comments(3)

Here is a list of my favorite pranks that have been pulled in the TV show The Office. I have used some of these as inspiration for things me and my co-workers have done in the office where I work. The hardest one to pull off for me thus far and… well really the only one was The Office Jello Prank that I did using a co-workers stapler. These pranks and videos to follow these pranks are in no particular order.

* The Faxes from the future. Before Jim leaves the Scranton office, he takes a bunch of Dwight’s stationary. From his new office, Jim sends Dwight faxes on this stationary and makes him believe that the future version of himself figured out a way to send faxes back in time. The future Dwight (actually Jim) sends Dwight a fax that says “Dwight, At 8 AM today someone poisons the coffee. Do NOT drink the Coffee. More instructions to follow. Cordially, Future Dwight”. Obviously an idiot saturated with the idea that he could actually eventually send faxes back in time, tackles Stanley before he gets the chance to drink any coffee.

* Jim puts a macro on Dwight’s computer to type “diapers” instead of when Dwight tries to type his name.

* Jim puts Andy’s phone in the ceiling and calls it, completely confusing Andy as to what could have happened to it. It was an awesome prank. A co-worker did this to another co-worker the day after the episode aired.

* While Michael Scott is away for vacation to Jamaica, Jim runs an office meeting. Dwight busts out a tape recorder because apparently Michael wants transcripts of the meetings. Obviously annoyed by the mere existence of Dwight, Jim starts saying things to be recorded that aren’t actually happening in the meeting. “He’s got a knife! Let the record show that Dwight K Shrute is now completely nude holding a plastic knife to Stanley’s neck.”

* The CIA Letters. Jim and Pam send Dwight letters with CIA letterhead saying they are interested in recruiting him for a top secret mission. In order to qualify, he must tell the CIA every secret he promised to never tell anyone. “Secret: Last year my boss Michael Scott took a day off. He said it was because he was sick but really it was to go to Magic Camp.” Afterwards, Jim as the CIA tells Dwight that he is needed at Langley and to meet for a helicopter pick up on top of a building. The Office writers were pretty creative about this one. Especially when Jim sends Dwight a text saying “You have been comprised. Abort mission, destroy phone.” which follows Dwight actually tossing his phone off the building.

* The Vending Machine Prank. Jim takes may of Dwight’s belongings like his name plate, stapler, pen cup and his wallet and has the vending machine guy put them inside the machine, so Dwight Schrute actually has to buy them back with a sack of nickels Jim gives him. One by one.. nickel by nickel.

Last but not least at all:

The Office Jello Prank

Jim puts Dwights stapler in Jello. This may be the original prank that started the all the pranks they have done on The Office. The writers knew it was a huge it- and frigging hilarious. So they have increased them more and more often. This is also the prank I did to a co-worker a little while back. The Office Jello Prank was a hit, and I documented the whole thing with amazingly crappy photos on the link I provided.

Share This

Comments(6)

I don’t have the technological know-how to make the something as awesome as a Carputer Beast. Not to mention budget problems as well as the fact that a carputer would literally cost more than my car, ( a friggin daewoo ). So I decided to screen a couple T-shirts. ( current status: Failure ) Then I got the urge to damage company property, ( will be replaced ). My over-powering desire to waste a few hours ( which turned into about 6 ) pushed me to do a Jim-style prank. ( Jim from The Office - if you know anything about this show, you should know this prank )

Enter: Stapler in Jello Prank As seen on The Office

The first attempt was a complete disaster. Red Jello was the color of my embarrassment. After screwing up (Read the article)

Share This

Comments(8)