I don’t really consider myself a prolific prankster. While I pride myself on having a sharp sense of humour, pranks aren’t my thing. I partake once in a rare while and only if the circumstances are right. Well, about a week ago, I was going to the dollar store downstairs to get cheap whatever. I entered the store and then heard the squeak of a rat come at me from one of the displays. I stopped, turned around, and went to see where it was coming from. It originated from a display of Halloween toys and decorations. There were some small plastic rats and crows on sale. They had motion sensors in them and if they detected movement, they’d squeak or caw respectively. With batteries included, they were only $1.25 each. What a steal!
I bought both a rat and a crow and brought them into work the next day. I immediately proceeded to annoy the hell out of my co-workers around me as I placed them in various spots near their desks. One of my co-workers took the rat and placed in a box to stop it from making noise. I eventually took back the crow and wondered what I should do with it.
Then I remembered our production coordinator, whom I’ll call Tiffany for the purposes of this post, was away overseas at a wedding all week and wouldn’t come back until Monday. Late on Friday, I went to her unoccupied desk and gently placed the crow underneath her desk but on top of a small file cabinet. It was at the perfect height and tucked back far enough that it would only detect the motion of her sitting down or getting up from her desk. Then I went off to enjoy my weekend.
On Monday, I didn’t even bother checking in with Tiffany until late in the day. I sent her an IM just saying “caw! caw! caw!”. I thought she’d understand that meant it was me who placed the crow. In my mind, I had expected her to trigger the crow once or maybe twice before discovering where the noise was coming from. She replied to my IM with a confused face emoticon. I replied with, “you can keep the bird” and left it at that. Surely, she knew what I was talking about.
Fast forward to late today, the Tuesday, almost two full days after her return to work. Tiffany saw me near my desk and came up all in face. “It was you!” was her greeting to me. She then proceeded to tell me she had heard the crow for since Monday morning and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. She’d asked the people around her desk to turn down their TVs because she thought it was coming from our game or some other game. Of course, no one knew what she was talking about. I found this immensely amusing but felt somewhat bad. I offered to walk to her desk and show Tiffany where the crow was. On the way over, Tiffany explained to me the hardships she had suffered listening to that damn crow. Damn, that was funny. Once at her desk, I sat down, just to hear what she was hearing. I gotta admit, because it was muffled under her desk, you really couldn’t tell where it coming from. Anyways, I grabbed the crow and gave it to her.
To Tiffany’s credit, she took it from me and I’m pretty sure she walked down a floor and installed it on her friend’s desk, thus continuing the prank. It’s always a dangerous game to annoy a production coordinator because they’re in charge of food for the team. She could take a dump in my food next time!