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March 23, 2007

the week in pranks

Part I

Action: I sabotaged my friend's computer at work, rewiring cables in interesting ways and hiding crucial parts.

Intention: To cause about 20 minutes of irritation, culminating with the statement "John is such a dick."

Result: My friend was trying to work remotely and, unable to access his office computer, had to commute to Redmond from afar to troubleshoot the situation. Much worse words than "dick" were uttered. Still are.

Part II

Action: I laid an email guilt-trip on a friend who had a high fever. Replying to a fabricated email in which pretend-she reassures me that she is in fact alive, I sarcastically say "Why thank you for letting me know. That was very thoughtful of you."

Intention: She gets the joke, snorts that she has better things to do than send me status, calls me a dick.

Result: Still home sick, she thinks someone at work hacked into her account and sent me email, posing as her. She goes into the office and angrily accuses a very confused co-worker.


Yes, kids, in 24 hours' time, I made two people go in to work unnecessarily. I'm going straight to hell, aren't I?

Victim #1, told to name his restitution, chose cruelly. "You're coming to my house and making pizzas. For my kids and their shrieking friends. And they get to sit on your lap while they eat. And you don't get any pizza."

posted by john at 6:23 AM  â€¢  permalink