Office Pranks in the Work Place

Christmas is over, New Years has come and gone and co-workers are coming back from their vacations. Basically it's that time of year when the office picks a victim, and uses their workspace as a playground for creative pranks.

There are some standard office hoaxes that take a fair amount of time with maximum results. Blowing up 1000 balloons and filling up your manager’s office or cubicle is a wonderful surprise when they return to work.

Another all-time famous prank is the packaging route. Workers return to find every thing, including pencils, rubbers, keyboards and printers, wrapped up. This office prank has been done with a variety of wrappings. The favourite is aluminium foil, but others include wrapping paper, newspaper, toilet paper, and bubble wrap.

Cubicles have been a toy to play with, when it comes to office pranks. Co-workers block the entrance off and fill the cubicle up with shredded paper or mini balls. They have themed cubicles, creating igloo’s around desks and creating Lego walls. Post-its have also been given a new use, as co-workers stick them by the thousands on walls, chairs and tables.

Not every office prank has to be large and overwhelming. Sometimes the simplest ideas are effective. Imagine the look on your PA’s face when she comes back to the office and discoveries her stapler floating in a jelly mould.

Software is an ideal inspiration for pranks. Create incriminating folders on the desktop and then use Print Screen to take an image shot of the desktop. Delete the folder and upload the image as a desktop image. Watch from a hiding spot as your unsuspecting victim tries his or her hardest to remove the folders. There are also software packages especially designed to annoy co-workers, or at least confuse them.

The best office prank, according to YouTube, was when co-workers came in the night and dry walled passages off to 11 senior offices. They changed the decoration and wall hangings to disguise the newly created walls. Cameras were installed at various router points and the magic began. When senior management arrived at the office and turned around the corner, they all gasped at the wall, not knowing what to do with themselves. Eventually the CEO charged and broke the wall, giving access to their offices.

Before you dash off to post post-its all over your colleague’s computer, just ensure that your office is the type of office that can take a joke. There have been incidents where co-workers were not amused at opening their door to be bombarded with millions of balloons.

Celeste writes for Office and Workplace Service, who specialise information about the Employment Industry.