G
Guest
Guest
I have always enjoyed a gentle prank. Or not so gentle, see poor DougDs postal packages over the years.
A few pranks were canoe related. The large sign attached to the tailgate of my rusty beater truck, loaned to friends on a group canoe trip. Poor White Trash Canoe Club. They did not know it was there and drove for some hours wondering why everyone was honking and waving.
Sometimes unintentional pranks. Breaking camp on a group trip and watching two friends try to load their gear into a red MRC loaner canoe. How the heck could it fit on the way in, but not the way out?
They had, sans any guidance, picked a much shorter red MRC canoe to try to pack. A group of guys stopped their own packing to watch the results, which went on until the boat was fully overloaded and the boats owner finally piped up So, can I put my gear in your canoe now?
Before I retired I had a multi decade prank war going with my bosses. Some of the best stuff ever, in part because they gave back as good as they got and were a smart, devious and cunning bunch.
The culmination of that prank war was my retirement day. December 31. It was required that employees work their last day, and the place was deserted on New Years Eve. It was required that employees turn in their keys and IDs on their last day.
I had dressed exactly the same way for 30 years, black shoes, black socks, black pants, white shirt, tie and lab coat. It made getting dressed in the pre dawn hours easy.
I saw no future need for any of that garb, and brought a full set of spares in with me that day. Shoes, socks, pants, shirt, tie and lab coat. Left flattened and carefully arranged on the floor of my office, ID clipped on and keys in the pocket.
When my prankster foe boss opened my office door a few days later his first thought was not Taken by the Rapture. He thought I was dead on the floor. One final win in the McCrea column.
Post work life I have taken to pranking the waitresses at a country diner once a week, with friendly and well received results. Some tricks have been one offs, the printed sign surreptitiously taped to the wall reading Sit at this booth and receive 10 percent off your meal. I did not get the discount, but did receive a WTF startled look from the waitress when she noticed it.
I zip tied the silverware together and left it on my plate under a napkin. When paying the bill I got the usual How was everything?
I told them It was fine, but there was a problem with the silverware. I was not out the door when my waitress came running out of the back waving the nested and zip tied spoons and forks, giving me faux grief. What the heck is wrong with you? said while laughing is music to my ears. My own wife was less amused when I zip tied the kitchen scissors together.
Some diner pranks unintentionally went on for weeks. The duck figurine prank unexpectedly took over a month to reach denouement.
We had a dozen little hand painted, inch long duck figurines, unwanted dust collecting shelf chotchkie gifts from some relative. Rather than just toss them I started hiding them in obscure locations around the diner, behind curtains, atop picture frames, inside plants. One or two each week. I heard nothing about it, but each week they were gone from their hiding spots.
After a month I finally left one demonstrably floating in my water glass for my favorite waitress Lindsey. When she asked How was everything? I mentioned that there was some foreign object in my glass and pointed.
She all but freaked out when she saw it floating there, yelling You? You are the ducks? That has been driving us crazy for weeks. Lisa thinks the place is haunted. The hidden ducks had turned up randomly, well after my visits, sometimes found by the cleaning crew in the middle of the night.
Lisa is my other favorite waitress. The rest of the staff were sworn to secrecy and the origin of the ghostly ducks was not yet revealed. The staff did show me their collection of duck figurines, proudly displayed behind the cash register. They had named them in Sharpie on the bottom, Bucky Duck and Millard the Mallard. And, Andy, which I took as an homage to Toy Story. They were having fun with this.
I left two more next visit for haunted Lisa to find, with cooperation from the other wait staff. One was already named, Sharpie inscribed Ducky McDuckface, and the other more ominously named Lissssa.
The staff told me Lisas upcoming schedule and I made sure I was there the next week for breakfast. I was the very picture of innocence and proper behavior when she came to take my order, although my pockets were bulging when I walked in.
When she came back with my food was wearing a Fez hat with protruding duck bill and a cast aluminum Duck medallion. I had a fanciful array of duck figurines displayed on the table, including 8 inch tall figurines of a tuxedo clad duck, and a sequin caped Elvis in Las Vegas duck. My water glass was in a Duckhead coozie. The final Who Done It reveal was so freaking worth month long wait.
I did not know that the rest of the staff had continued the duck prank in my absence. When I was checking out I noticed that the display of little staff named ducks was gone from behind the cash register. I asked what happened to them, and Lisa said Yeah, somebody took em.
As I was walking out an old dude counter regular who had overheard that conversation motioned to me and whispered Nah, nobody done took em, look up above the counter at that picture frame.
The staff, and the regulars, have taken to playing hide and seek with them.
I had nothing new up my sleeve for a couple weeks, but no matter who had my booth, Lindsey, Lisa and even the more standoffish Ellen, all made a point of coming by to razz me. No funny business this time Buster, and Yeah, we are keeping an eye on you.
We are keeping an eye on you. Yesterday morning I came prepared. I got Ellen. The place was near empty, other than a mother and young son a couple of booths away. I had a package of assorted size self adhesive Googly Eyes in my pocket.
A pair of which surreptitiously went on everything on the table. The ketchup bottle, the jam and jelly holder, the sugar container, the artificial sweetener bin, the syrup bottle, the underside of one plate for the dishwasher to find, one each on the salt and pepper shakers. Two in my wallet over Lincolns eyes on a fiver as the tip.
The toddler son a couple booths away was doing the kneel backwards on the bench thing, smiling and waving at the weirdbeard man across the way. I waved back and started holding up the Googly eyed stuff to show him. He was enthralled, yelling Eyes, Eyes! at each new Googly surprise. His mom never looked back and seemed somewhat perplexed.
I had the Googly Eyed stuff carefully all positioned facing the wall on the table until I got up to leave the decorative tip. I was standing at the register before Ellen came back to clear the table and heard her shout What the heck?
She gave me a wonderful conspiratorial look from the dining room and managed to walk up front straight faced to tell Lisa Um, there is a problem with table 3. I was lucky to have some spare Googly Eyes left in my pocket, distributed to the wait staff to take home to prank their husbands and children.
Those laughter interactions start my mornings off right, a little thing like that keeps me smiling all day, and I hope the same is true for the wait staff as well.
I have a Googly Eyed Lincoln and a Washington in my wallet to spend at the country store tomorrow morning.
Life is what you make of it, lets have fun out there.
A few pranks were canoe related. The large sign attached to the tailgate of my rusty beater truck, loaned to friends on a group canoe trip. Poor White Trash Canoe Club. They did not know it was there and drove for some hours wondering why everyone was honking and waving.
Sometimes unintentional pranks. Breaking camp on a group trip and watching two friends try to load their gear into a red MRC loaner canoe. How the heck could it fit on the way in, but not the way out?
They had, sans any guidance, picked a much shorter red MRC canoe to try to pack. A group of guys stopped their own packing to watch the results, which went on until the boat was fully overloaded and the boats owner finally piped up So, can I put my gear in your canoe now?
Before I retired I had a multi decade prank war going with my bosses. Some of the best stuff ever, in part because they gave back as good as they got and were a smart, devious and cunning bunch.
The culmination of that prank war was my retirement day. December 31. It was required that employees work their last day, and the place was deserted on New Years Eve. It was required that employees turn in their keys and IDs on their last day.
I had dressed exactly the same way for 30 years, black shoes, black socks, black pants, white shirt, tie and lab coat. It made getting dressed in the pre dawn hours easy.
I saw no future need for any of that garb, and brought a full set of spares in with me that day. Shoes, socks, pants, shirt, tie and lab coat. Left flattened and carefully arranged on the floor of my office, ID clipped on and keys in the pocket.
When my prankster foe boss opened my office door a few days later his first thought was not Taken by the Rapture. He thought I was dead on the floor. One final win in the McCrea column.
Post work life I have taken to pranking the waitresses at a country diner once a week, with friendly and well received results. Some tricks have been one offs, the printed sign surreptitiously taped to the wall reading Sit at this booth and receive 10 percent off your meal. I did not get the discount, but did receive a WTF startled look from the waitress when she noticed it.
I zip tied the silverware together and left it on my plate under a napkin. When paying the bill I got the usual How was everything?
I told them It was fine, but there was a problem with the silverware. I was not out the door when my waitress came running out of the back waving the nested and zip tied spoons and forks, giving me faux grief. What the heck is wrong with you? said while laughing is music to my ears. My own wife was less amused when I zip tied the kitchen scissors together.
Some diner pranks unintentionally went on for weeks. The duck figurine prank unexpectedly took over a month to reach denouement.
We had a dozen little hand painted, inch long duck figurines, unwanted dust collecting shelf chotchkie gifts from some relative. Rather than just toss them I started hiding them in obscure locations around the diner, behind curtains, atop picture frames, inside plants. One or two each week. I heard nothing about it, but each week they were gone from their hiding spots.
After a month I finally left one demonstrably floating in my water glass for my favorite waitress Lindsey. When she asked How was everything? I mentioned that there was some foreign object in my glass and pointed.
She all but freaked out when she saw it floating there, yelling You? You are the ducks? That has been driving us crazy for weeks. Lisa thinks the place is haunted. The hidden ducks had turned up randomly, well after my visits, sometimes found by the cleaning crew in the middle of the night.
Lisa is my other favorite waitress. The rest of the staff were sworn to secrecy and the origin of the ghostly ducks was not yet revealed. The staff did show me their collection of duck figurines, proudly displayed behind the cash register. They had named them in Sharpie on the bottom, Bucky Duck and Millard the Mallard. And, Andy, which I took as an homage to Toy Story. They were having fun with this.
I left two more next visit for haunted Lisa to find, with cooperation from the other wait staff. One was already named, Sharpie inscribed Ducky McDuckface, and the other more ominously named Lissssa.
The staff told me Lisas upcoming schedule and I made sure I was there the next week for breakfast. I was the very picture of innocence and proper behavior when she came to take my order, although my pockets were bulging when I walked in.
When she came back with my food was wearing a Fez hat with protruding duck bill and a cast aluminum Duck medallion. I had a fanciful array of duck figurines displayed on the table, including 8 inch tall figurines of a tuxedo clad duck, and a sequin caped Elvis in Las Vegas duck. My water glass was in a Duckhead coozie. The final Who Done It reveal was so freaking worth month long wait.
I did not know that the rest of the staff had continued the duck prank in my absence. When I was checking out I noticed that the display of little staff named ducks was gone from behind the cash register. I asked what happened to them, and Lisa said Yeah, somebody took em.
As I was walking out an old dude counter regular who had overheard that conversation motioned to me and whispered Nah, nobody done took em, look up above the counter at that picture frame.
The staff, and the regulars, have taken to playing hide and seek with them.
I had nothing new up my sleeve for a couple weeks, but no matter who had my booth, Lindsey, Lisa and even the more standoffish Ellen, all made a point of coming by to razz me. No funny business this time Buster, and Yeah, we are keeping an eye on you.
We are keeping an eye on you. Yesterday morning I came prepared. I got Ellen. The place was near empty, other than a mother and young son a couple of booths away. I had a package of assorted size self adhesive Googly Eyes in my pocket.
A pair of which surreptitiously went on everything on the table. The ketchup bottle, the jam and jelly holder, the sugar container, the artificial sweetener bin, the syrup bottle, the underside of one plate for the dishwasher to find, one each on the salt and pepper shakers. Two in my wallet over Lincolns eyes on a fiver as the tip.
The toddler son a couple booths away was doing the kneel backwards on the bench thing, smiling and waving at the weirdbeard man across the way. I waved back and started holding up the Googly eyed stuff to show him. He was enthralled, yelling Eyes, Eyes! at each new Googly surprise. His mom never looked back and seemed somewhat perplexed.
I had the Googly Eyed stuff carefully all positioned facing the wall on the table until I got up to leave the decorative tip. I was standing at the register before Ellen came back to clear the table and heard her shout What the heck?
She gave me a wonderful conspiratorial look from the dining room and managed to walk up front straight faced to tell Lisa Um, there is a problem with table 3. I was lucky to have some spare Googly Eyes left in my pocket, distributed to the wait staff to take home to prank their husbands and children.
Those laughter interactions start my mornings off right, a little thing like that keeps me smiling all day, and I hope the same is true for the wait staff as well.
I have a Googly Eyed Lincoln and a Washington in my wallet to spend at the country store tomorrow morning.
Life is what you make of it, lets have fun out there.
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