Pranks, Part Two

Harmless pranks played on each other make memories and laughs throughout our lives. Most are based on the gullibility of the person that is getting “pranked.”  Today it’s called “Punked” and a TV show was created to pull pranks on celebrities.  Some become family folklore and some are even used today in business with an interesting twist that everyone enjoys telling how they were taken on their first day on their new job.

One of my favorites my old roommate and I pulled off in our freshman year in college and when I tell it always gets a good laugh.  Even though we went to different high schools in the suburbs of Chicago, we were introduced shortly before graduation and decided to room together as we began our college experience. Both of us being Jewish, though not very religious, and spontaneous we felt we had a common bond.

Excited, we were just checking into our first college room we would be sharing and we decided to meet our new Resident Fellow.  The RF, lived down the hall from us had the difficult job as our mentor as we began our college careers.

He was from a small town near Saint Louis and he made the mistake of mentioning to us, we were the first Jews he ever met.  Big mistake on his part as it was now time for a prank.  He saw that we were both wearing something similar around our neck.

He asked me what it was and I explained, “It’s called a Mezuzah and inside it contains the Ten Commandments.  But it has more than one purpose.”  I went on to ask him, “Have you ever seen a dog whistle?”  He said he had, so I responded, “well this is a Jew whistle and can only be heard by Jews.” 

He looked at us in amazement and then I took my Mezuzah, put it in my mouth and  pretended to blow it like you would a whistle.  Spontaneously, my unprepared roommate (who went on to become a famous attorney) not missing a beat quickly covered his ears and asked me, “not to blow it loud as it hurt his ears.”

The RF stood there stunned as he couldn’t hear a thing.  I explained the reason he couldn’t hear it was because he wasn’t Jewish.  I’m not sure if we ever told him the truth, but we still laugh about it even today.

Another prank that made me laugh was sent to me by a very old friend of mine, who went on in life to become a very successful in business today. This obviously gives us an indication of how creative he was even at an early age.  Steve tells his story, “I was about 10 when I pulled this on my little brother who was about 5 years old at the time.  Whenever he would be a pain in the ass, I would threaten to take my Dad’s shovel and dig a 6 foot hole and bury him in it, if he didn’t leave me alone.” 

“He believed it and my sister (about 7 ½ at the time) and I thought it was funny that we could pull this off on our little brother and it worked.  Whenever he would give us a hard time, I would go for the shovel in the garage and he would stop.”

“When he was about 50 years old, he finally had a serious conversation with me about how that bothered him most of his life.  Steve goes on to say, “I know I was supposed to take him very seriously and feel badly, but the truth is, when he told my sister and I about this life-long scarring event, we both burst out laughing harder than we did when I did it to him!  I think he is over it now.  It became part of our family history we still get a good laugh.”

High School pranks, because we are much wiser and creative can also be very funny.  Lee sent me a classic.  His friends carefully removed the center post of a few sets of double doors in their high school and moved the shop teacher’s MG Midget automobile into the center hallway of the main building.  Making sure they didn’t scratch the car as they pulled this off, the teacher had a pretty good laugh when he saw his car in the hallway as did the other teachers.  I am sure it made the yearbook that year.  It became a memory forever for both the students and the teachers.

Lee also pointed out that, “I know none of this would be OK today since our schools, laws and court systems are much more serious now about pranks.”

Mark’s favorite prank is one he continues today and I think is an excellent one.  He is in charge of training and when the new hire begins his/her first day he brings the "Sales Newbie" into his office, and hands them a list of items he needs from storage to setup their training.

Mark sends them to Nancy to get the key to the basement, she sends him/her to Gary, who said they gave the key to Mike, and eventually about the 5th or 6th person in the chain sends them to the VP of Sales.  The VP (who has a gruff, tough guy image) tells them - after a short wait while he (pretends) to rail on someone on the phone about being wasteful of their time etc. –the truth.

The VP would then explain, that actually there is no basement!   It’s always fun to watch the “Newbie” as it really relaxes them as they now have met 7 or 8 key players, plus "broken the ice" with each person. Rapport is automatically extended and they have a topic they can both laugh about for years to come.

As you can see by this week’s blogs, pranks can teach a lesson or make someone feel comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.  It can make you laugh or potentially scar you for years, if not explained that it was only a joke.  Most of all, pranks are usually fun for both the “prankee” and the “prankors” and make lasting memories for all.  Pranks require creativity and many times  well planned to pull it off, while others happen on the spur of the moment.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog and please tell your friends and colleagues about Notes by Blue.  I'm looking forward to sharing a laugh or two with you again next Tuesday for another installment of Notes by Blue. 

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