Playing pranks on "technologically challenged" marketers is fun, but sometimes it backfires. This happened to F.D. and a colleague a few years back when they worked as internal tech support at a large electronics company in California.
We had a user who kept complaining about his mouse and repeatedly demanded new ones. It wasn't the right shape, it wasn't sensitive enough, or the buttons were too hard to press. This guy even claimed his mouse was solely responsible for what he swore was the beginning of carpal tunnel syndrome, even though he spent more time holding a coffee mug in various meetings than - heaven forbid! - actually doing some work on his computer.
After 5 or 6 mouse replacements we got yet another call. This time his complaint was that the cord was too long, since it kept getting tangled up and interfering with his hand movements. As it happened, you could now get cordless versions of the same mouse the user currently had. It didn't take long for us to recognize this coincidence, and soon an innocent practical joke was born.
We got one of the new, cordless mice and drilled a little hole next to the sensor. Then we inserted a cable far enough into the hole, so that only a forceful yank would pull it free. Since marketers always leave at 5 PM sharp, we walked down to his cubicle and set up the cordless mouse before going home. The mouse was now set up so it looked like his old mouse with the fake cable disappearing down under his desk.
The next day I walked down to the marketer in response to his latest mouse-related issue.
"See here, it keeps getting tangled up!" he snapped, motioning towards the fake cord.
"Oh... Then get rid of it." I said casually.
"Huh? Get rid of the mouse?"
"No, the cord. It's only there to provide power for the mouse," I said. "Look!"
I picked up the mouse, yanked the cable out of the mouse and put it back on the mousepad.
"See, it works just fine," I said. "However, now you'll need one of these chargers, so make sure to leave your mouse in the charger before going home every night, ok?"
The marketer nodded with a stunned expression, and I left without revealing the laughter bubbling inside. Before stepping into the elevator I looked over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of the marketer holding up his cordless mouse and studying it like it was an alien artifact.
After a hearty laugh my colleague and I went to lunch. However, when we came back we had some disturbing new emails. More specifically, these were emails from various people in marketing requesting mouse chargers.
"Uh oh..." I said.
"Oh, $%#@!" my colleague added.
As you've probably guessed, word of our little prank had spread like wildfire. The Great Mouse Massacre was in full swing, with mouse cords being cut and pulled all around. We had to send a company-wide email where we confessed our little prank and begged people to stop destroying their computer mice. Needless to say, our supervisor was not pleased.
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