Practical jokes

I've mentioned in a previous post about some of the practical jokes I've played in my younger days, charged up capacitors and that sort of thing.

Chatting to some of the the new operators today (the ones that are taking my job), we got talking about practical jokes and the sort of things you can do with phones in a call centre, or office situation. I mentioned some of the practical jokes I've played in the past, including one that really impressed the new guys.

You know those party popper things that look like plastic champagne bottles, where you pull the string and it goes bang and shoots streamers all over the place? Well, you sticky tape one of them under someones desk and tie the string to their seat. It's so simple and so effective. I may have to warn some of the other trainees, because the ones I was talking to seemed really keen to try it out.

Anyway, I got thinking later about practical jokes. I've read stuff where so-called experts reckon that people playing practical jokes in the workplace are either attempting to get attention, or it's just workplace harassment. I seriously think that the people that come up with that sort of rubbish got picked on (bullied) at school and never learnt to deal with it.

I was skinny, spotty and painfully shy when I was at school. I now have a pot belly, decent complection and joke confidently with complete strangers. I dealt with it.

I will never play a practical joke on someone that I think would feel victimised as a result. To put that another way, part of the fun of playing practical jokes on someone is the chance that they'll try and get you back. I haven't played a practical joke on someone for ages, but I tend to target people that I know will try and get me back. It's a game and it certainly makes the work day a bit more bearable.

I suspect that most practical jokers are the same. We don't do it to pick on someone, we do it for entertainment, with the hope it'll be on-going. If you've ever done any kind of apprenticeship, you will have had a practical joke played on you. As you've got older you've probably played a practical joke on an apprentice too. I bet you've got some stories to tell Dave in fact, I bet you could do a few blog entries yourself on the subject.

Anyway, to my way of thinking, practical jokes in the workplace are a good way of building a team. They're definitely a way of relieving the tedium of a boring job, and they don't need to be un-productive either.

What do other people think? Caramaena you work in a call centre in the same industry as me, what are some of the practical jokes that you seen played, especailly phone related? Don't tell me it hasn't happend. Treat it as one of those Meme things that you pass on to other bloggers. I'm curious to know what other people do to ammuse themselves and their coleagues at work.