Shop pranks

[USMCdodge]

What do you guys do to get a laugh in the shop?

I work in hawaii so there is a abundance of large cockroaches. when I find one I put it in the little ear plug boxs so when we all come to work the next day someone grabs a box, opens it and shakes the roach out on to their hand. I love watching the reactions. Usually I get slugged but its soo worth it.

 

[Beason]

hate to be a downer but a shop isnt a place for pranks, too much can go wrong.

 

[USMCdodge]

Yeah Im not going to go kink anyones air hose or anything like that. A roach in an ear plug box is harmless.

 

[Hammer1963]

I know this is extreme, but there was a guy in a shop I worked in that refused to wear a bet and his *** crack was always hanging out. I do remember taking a pnuematic grease gun and filling this guys crack with grease as a prank. The recipient laughed so hard over it, that he rolled around on the floor and the grease spread through out his pants.

 

[kv501]

We had a guy when I was a welder who loved to break the sticks off of whistling bottle rockets and put them in your nozzle.

 

[OldMechanik]

Oh I got my buddy good....twice!

I was the new guy, the tech next to me knew who I was, but not really a lot about me.
After a few days of the uncomfortable silence he tossed a couple washers at my fluids shelf pinging a spray can or two.....after ignoring the washers for a few minutes, I jumped up and cleaned the shelf with a forearm and yelled "Is that what you wanted, happy now??!!"
He kind of cowered and had very little to say. Of course I was laughing inside but didn't let it show.
A couple days later a mutual friend says "Why you being an ahole to Tom Tech?"
I said "Just wait."
A couple weeks later while he was away at lunch I superglued a couple wrenches to the racks in his tool box. It was a real suprize when he grabbed the twelve millimeter wrench and the whole damn rack jumped out of the drawer!

Some months later he and the shop manager were dropping Cat firecrackers in the restroom....that'll get the poo out quick.
I didn't have any firecrackers so I shot some brake clean acrossed a lighter under the door. From inside I hear "AAA! You light the GD mat on fire.....now my shoe lace is on fire!!" He said later..."All I heard was shick and I knew I was in trouble."

That was in 91...we're still great buddies today!

 

[OldMechanik]

...Yeah Im not going to go kink anyones air hose or anything like that...

Some of the guys used to use airhose extensions....it was always fun to walk by and kick the snap connector, seperating the two hoses. "You ****" was usually the reply. Hahaha!

 

[Steevo]

I worked in a motorcycle dealership in the late 1970's, and we had a bike in the shop that was a pristine 1971 Honda CB 750, but the engine had no insides. No crank, pistons, gearbox, nothing. All of the oil seal locations were plugged with metal discs that were siliconed in place.
Whenever we had a new mechanic in the shop, the service manager would put a work order in their queue to do a service on this bike.
The tech would roll it onto their bench, yank the gas tank, slide a drain pan under it, and pop the drain plug. We all knew he was about to get a surprise, but we never knew what the service manager might have filled the oil tank with. Sometimes it was transmission fluid. Sometimes it was 120wt gear oil. One time it was orange juice. Another time it was full of milk. The new guy would always try to act casual as he asked one of the other techs to take a look at this strange oil . . .
It only got better when he'd try to set the points and the crank didn't turn, and the rocker arms flopped loosely in the head because there was no cam in it.

 

[tmike14400]

Take an acetylene torch and heat up some silver coins like quarters, etc., then flip them onto the floor when no one is around. They'll stay hot for quite awhile and the person that finds them and tries to pick them up gets a surprise!

Cruel, but funny.

 

[ret_Marine2003]

What do you guys do to get a laugh in the shop?

I work in hawaii so there is a abundance of large cockroaches. when I fine one I put it in a little ear plug box so when we all come to work the next day someone grabs a box, opens is and shakes the roach out on to their hand. I love watching the reactions. Usually I get slugged but its soo worth it.

That game is played everywhere BDU's are worn.
I remember the same business and worse while in 29 Palms, Japan, Okinawa, P.I., etc...

My personal favorite was the stray ammo can surprise.

Usually the surprise was a dead animal or nasty looking bug found out on the range, on occasion it would be something more intimate.

Severity of escalation depends on the intelligence of your co-workers and their associates.

I am usually left out of these games.

I do not like to interrupt or be interrupted and grew up with farming before enlisting.

Most things nasty do not affect me and my response is usually legendary.

 

[Steevo]

We used to charge up condensers and leave them on the counter where someone would pick it up and play with it while they were talking with the parts clerk or the service writer. Provides a good jolt when they touch both the case and the wire lead.

 

[metalmagpie]

Back in the '70s I worked in Seattle's shipyards. One pipefitter was really getting on my case. He was working silver soldering together copper nickel pipe with an oxyacetylene torch. His welding hose was probably about eight long lengths of hose winding down from the dock through the innards of the ship - a real pain to put together or take apart because so many other workers were running air hoses, welding lead, torch lead or flexible duct for smoke extraction down these companionways. Anyway, when he took off for the day I followed his lead about halfway up and broke two of his acetylene hoses apart and rolled up a little bit of an ear plug and inserted it and put it back together. The next day his torch didn't work and he ran around the whole day trying to figure out why, caught hell from his lead man too.

Another time a different pipefitter was squatting over underneath a ladderway working. He had about four inches of greasy looking white **** crack exposed. A guy was cleaning up above him who didn't like the fitter's racist attitude and "accidentally" missed his dustpan, sending a thick shower of floor dirt right down homey's **** crack. A bunch of us down there laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw up!

 

[Alcohol]

Back in the early 70's, while working in a mechanic shop,,,,I went outside the garage,opened the hood on a 69 chevy truck,pulled the coil wire out of the coil and inserted an eraser off of a pencil,put the coil wire back in and went on my business. Later that day my buddy was supposed to get the truck in for brake work,,,,well after about 7 hrs later,he finally found it. I never have told him about yet today.

 

[Sunstealer73]

I knew a guy who would charge up old points condensers and leave them laying around. Anyone who picked it up would get a pretty good shock.

 

[KermitFrog]

In the parts store back when Chrysler first came out with the Caravan they had plastic sealed beam headlights. I was able to get ahold of one of those and normally bumped it off the counter when our regular customers were around. Also had a "dummy" display battery. Everything about it looked genuine but it was for display only and only weighed about a pound. Every so often I'd slide that off the counter too, scared the heck out of people.

Nowadays I don't do as many pranks as I used too....getting old.

 

[BigAl62]

We used to have empty display batteries in the stock room, I loved to "heave" one at the new guy and watch him scramble to catch it so as not to spill acid! Also at that time Ford used plastic headlight bulbs (not the aero ones they use now, but the small and large rectangular ones), those were fun to toss to the new guys too! My buddy and I loved blowing up coolant jugs, they're load as hell! (you drill a hole in the cap and put a tire valve stem in, tape the cap on tight and hook it up to a shop air hose with a clip on tire chuck)

 

[BigAl62]

In the parts store back when Chrysler first came out with the Caravan they had plastic sealed beam headlights. I was able to get ahold of one of those and normally bumped it off the counter when our regular customers were around. Also had a "dummy" display battery. Everything about it looked genuine but it was for display only and only weighed about a pound. Every so often I'd slide that off the counter too, scared the heck out of people.

Nowadays I don't do as many pranks as I used too....getting old.

You beat me by a couple of minutes!!! I guess great minds think alike (and so do we!!)!! I agree on the too old part too!

 

[Brad54]

Can't believe nobody has pulled this one out:
Flip a styrofoam coffee cup upside down on the bench. Hang part of the open end over the bench and fill it with acetylene. Slide it back on the bench to capture the acetylene, and lay a lit cigarette on top of the cup.
The cigarette will slowly burn, until the cherry gets to the cup and burns a hole through (and you're on the other side of the shop, going about your business)

Good for a semi-loud "BANG!"

-Brad

 

[Brad54]

When I was a kid, I did clean-up at a local bodyshop.

One of the other guys demonstrated how quickly and how tall a handful of Bondo dust would burn. He snuck up behind another guy, held a lighter and dumped the dust from his other hand--instantly 8 foot tall flame right behind the guy's head.

-Brad

 

[blaker]

Tool box full of packing peanuts. In side of you work hat painted with anti seize.
Afew I have done.

 

[bradleykd]

Industrial atmosphere...

Hanging guys tool-bags from overhead cranes, wrapping toolbags in duct tape and putting them in a 5-gallon bucket, then filling it with quick-crete... and walking by someone in a genie-boom lift or scissor lift while they're up in the air and switching it to ground control so they can't get down... lol

 

[KermitFrog]

We used to have 6 inch thick corrugated cardboard, during lunch or a break we'd go out to their car and jack it up just enough the drive wheels were off the ground then put a few layers of that stuff under the car. Once they got in the car to go, they didn't go. We'd have to do this one to the more non-observant people.

 

[ZRX61]

When I was a kid, I did clean-up at a local bodyshop.

One of the other guys demonstrated how quickly and how tall a handful of Bondo dust would burn. He snuck up behind another guy, held a lighter and dumped the dust from his other hand--instantly 8 foot tall flame right behind the guy's head.

-Brad

Major ingredient in Bondo is talc... VERY explosive in the right air/talc mix...

 

[texasOFT]

vinyl tape covered with vasoline over car door key lock. really tought to peel the tape off. Good at weddings along with cutting a water melon in half, jacking up the car and placing the drive wheels in the water melon halfs - can take 5 to 10 minutes to burn through.

The acetylene under the cup is great - a bigger container will remove the dust from the rafers.

Hunters skunk scent mixed on a paper towel and hidden under the car seat of a boss that no one liked. Took 2 weeks before he found it.

 

[elevator joe]

Go in to the parking lot at break,take a long zip tie and tie it on to the drive shaft,they go home get up to speed and get a intermitent slap slap slap under their vehicile. Harmless,fun to watch from a distance.

 

[Norcal]

Tool box full of packing peanuts. In side of you work hat painted with anti seize.
Afew I have done.

Where I used to work, while a guy was off doing field service & he had left his VW Bug at work, they filled it completly w/ styro packing peanuts, management was not amused. There was a crane on the job & they were going to put it on a tower that was used by the Air Force for weather balloons years before, but the pranksters decided it would be too much of a problem getting it down.

 

[USMCdodge]

good Stuff! Sometimes when someone is mig welding as soon as they put their welding helmet down we will take off the ground and see how much wire they waist before checking it.

last week one of our guys had just gotten his wisdom teeth and he was out of work. apparently no one told our staff sergeant that. so he calls the guy to figure out where he is and of course the guy is all hopped up on pain meds and tells our ssgt that he got shot in the neck and patched up last night but he was okay now... Before then i had never drooled from laughing so hard.

 

[Johnny chaos]

My car was shrink wrapped at work one day, after laughing my *** off and finding the culprit, I nonchalantly took a handful of wheel weights and put them on one wheel of their truck......I got a call that night from her telling me she thought her wheel was gonna fall off

 

[Thruxton]

Worked on a brazing line in a GE transformer plant. Torches were auto-light, you just grabbed on (without really looking at it) and started brazing. A small paper tube on the end of the torch nozzle would create a pretty big bang and a big surprise when you picked up a torch...

 

[vegar]

During winter we put a little water in the tires. It will not freeze at work, but during the night

And if someone is welding a pipe, you could fill a booln with acetylene and put inside the pipe. I know of people wich have used plastic garbag bags, but that is dangerous!

 

[jeff602]

My father worked at GM Tonawanda engine plant, management got golf carts to get around over the weekend guys switched them out with big wheel toys

 

[DENALIAKITAS]

Wired the boss's horn relay to the brake light switch once. He wasnt amused.

 

[ghnl]

My Dad was a pilot flying out of Boston's Logan airport. He found out that the keys to his Chevy fit a supervisor's Chevy. Whenever he had to go to another part of the airport he'd take the boss's car. The guy would get off work and have to get the airport police to drive him all over until they found it - neatly parked & locked.

Another trick is to save a spare of some small critical internal part of a major assembly. When your co-worker is almost done with re-assembly, slip the "critical part" onto their workbench then watch them sweat when they think they have to take everything apart...

 

[Larwyn]

Another trick is to save a spare of some small critical internal part of a major assembly. When your co-worker is almost done with re-assembly, slip the "critical part" onto their workbench then watch them sweat when they think they have to take everything apart...

That was my favorite, only I would turn "parts" from brass or aluminum that were actually just free form shapes that fit nothing. Then I would drop that on a cluttered workbench where work was in progress and sit back and watch them scramble to figure out where that part goes.

 

[slob]

My old foreman, who we'll call Jim, told me a story. Jim was working a job at a power plant. There was crusty old tin knocker, who we'll call Bob, on his crew who had one of those sheet metal toolboxes he built himself way back when he was an apprentice, probably in the 30's. Everyday, Bob would lug this toolbox into work, and then home again at the end of the day. Jim had an idea. Starting on a Monday, Jim emptied Bob's toolbox of all its contents, placed a sheet of 16 gauge black iron at the bottom of it, and then replaced the contents. He did this for almost two weeks, every day the box getting a little heavier. Finally, Bob gave up. He said "Boys, I think it's time for old Bob to retire." Jim let him in on the gag. Everyone had a good laugh. And then Bob threw a hammer at Jim because Bob was a vicious old drunk.

My personal favorite is a variation on this prank that involves using a Hilti to fasten a guy's toolbox/toolbag to the floor.

 

[dtt454]

i seen a few, although i dont do these things,

we have 2 shifts dayshift had a head off and back on a dozer, an old man comes back between shifts and places a seal on the workbench that is same as the one that goes under the head. the night shift saw it and took the head back off. i was only an observer on that, and i didnt know it was a prank at the time either. but i still dont think that one is funny.


another time the dayshift welder took the night shift welder's mask, and spray painted the lens black.

we used to get oil from 55 gallon drums with an air pump in them, the air pump had a hose with a dispenser nozzle on the end. the tips normally be screwed closed to prevent drips. but you learned to make sure to check the tip is closed and the lever is not propped open before you hook the air up.


also one guy took and cut about half the treads off a grease fittng, glued it to the lid of another guys toolbox, and smeared a dab of grease to it, making it look like it was screwed in and pumped full of grease. the guy who owned the toolbox went and got manager before opening his toolbox next morning and when he opened it there was nothing.

 

[NUTTSGT]

When I worked at the gas station after HS, we pulled a few pranks. Ether and a lighter under the bathroom door was a good one.

We'd also super glue a quarter to the concrete in front of the door. We laugh our asses off as somebody tried to pick it up. As soon as they realized it was glued down, they would look around to see if anybody was watching.

The manager had a can of Mt Dew in the cooler one day and we noticed it on the afternoon shift. I put two small holes in the bottom, drained out the Dew. The it was filled up with water and we sealed the holes shut. The next day, after working on a car, the manager grabbed the can, cracked it open and took a long drink. . . his reaction "that's f'ing water"

In order to make amends for it, we put "Happy Birthday Joe" on the yellow daisy sign out front. Only problem, Joe's (manager) B-day was on Christmas and this was July.

 

[CCer]

One of the guys had a cheap radio, and a poor choice of what he listened to. We connected a very fine wire in the radio circuit, wrapping the wire around a firecracker fuse. He would come in , plug in the radio, it would play a few seconds, the fine wire would heat up, lighting the fuse , then...... BOOM. Sometimes it still played, sometimes not.

Nothing is as simple as just turning wrenches.

 

[NitroPress]

My dad told me some stories of working in aircraft maintenance depots just after the war. I guess there was one guy who always spent the last fifteen minutes of his shift preparing for a jet-speed departure when the whistle blew - stop working, position his stuff for a fast grab and gonnnnne!

So one day they distracted him and soldered his lunchbox to the metal benchtop. Whistle blew, he grabbed everything on a run... and stopped, with the handle in his hand, 25 feet away. He CAREFULLY picked up his lunch box every day after that and then ran... so they soldered it shut one day, meaning that when he got to the gate guard, they wouldn't let him leave.

Another story was a prank on my dad. His job of the day was to pre-adjust huge aircraft carburetors, which involved removing a plate with something like 12 screws, adjusting things, and then carefully replacing the plate, gasket, and all 12 screws to proper torque... and then doing a vacuum check to verify the adjustment. Three times he adjusted one unit, lower and lower... and the vacuum check came out higher and higher. It wasn't until he started to reassemble it for the fourth time that his work buddies finally cracked up and pointed to the guy under the bench, blowing in the vacuum tubing to give a false reading.

 

[trents99]

If you have shop sink with a kitchen style faucet get an adapter that will allow you to hook a garden hose to the end of the faucet. Then get a garden hose cap and drill a small hole in the side and aim it outwards. On most basins, because of the height, it's crotch shot full of water.

On a normal toilet with a tank; remove the lid and pull the small fill tube off the fill valve. Aim it outwards and gently set the lid on it so it holds the hose in place aimed towards the victim. Once the toilet is flushed it's a full jet but beware the only way to stop it is via the shut off valve so you may be the one mopping up the bathroom.