April Fool’s!

Last year for April Fool’s Day, a couple of us in the office decided to play a couple of harmless jokes on other co-workers. This year another co-worker was recruited to help with the hijinks. The only bummer for me was that March 31st was my last day in the Bellingham office, so I didn’t get to see the reactions, only hear about them.

Everyone on the audit side of the office had malfunctioning computer mice – thanks to a post-it placed over their lasers. We also had changed the “Cubicle Etiquette Rules” to be more fun and not so etiquettous. (I don’t think that’s a word yet, but I’m submitting it to the folks at Webster.) One person came in to find her cubicle toilet-papered, and then her plants mysteriously disappeared later in the day. (And that trick was impressive, as she has A LOT of plants!) Another person had trouble actually getting into her cubicle, as the entrance was blocked with half-full paper cups of water – well over 80 of them, and they were all stapled together! A third co-worker noticed something awry with her cubicle – all of the faces in the pictures in her cubicle had been covered with the boss’s face! Yet another co-worker had her research files re-located. The boss came in to find his office had been taken over by a pre-schooler, complete with tiny chair, Barbie computer, and crayons instead of pens.

I heard the next day that everyone thought I had carried out the jokes myself before I left on the 31st. I was an April Fool’s joke legend. That is until…

One of the gals at the office decided to play a joke on the men in the office. She set up one of the stalls in the men’s bathroom to look like someone was in it, complete with boots, pants, etc. She wondered how long it would take for them to realize that it wasn’t someone who was taking a long time in the bathroom, but a joke. She left a note to the janitors to leave it as-is when they cleaned the evening of March 31st, but to please throw away the note. Turns out the janitors don’t read English well, and were concerned about the man in the stall. They called the police, who came in and realized what was going on. The police called the landlord to inform him that they’d been in the building. The landlord then called headquarters in Olympia. And someone from headquarters called the Bellingham office to see what happened. Good thing everyone had a good sense of humor about it. But I think it’s safe to say that the gal who played the joke is the real April Fool’s joke legend!