Good pranks are fun, but it's even better when the mark is an over-ambitious career climber who steals your 'great idea' and presents it as his own to impress upper management. This is Dr. J.H.'s hilarious story of how a would-be IT manager found himself on the curb with his personal stuff in a box just an hour after introducing the amazing Finger-Operated Mouse Pointing Device.
A few years ago, I was working at the IT Department of a Private Investment Bank. One day a new guy arrived who immediately claimed he would be the next IT Service Manager. When his probation time was over, that is. My colleagues and I couldn't quite believe this, as he did not really look or behave like a budding IT Service Manager. Frankly, we found him a bit 'under-aged,' 'under-experienced' and 'under-brained'. He tried to make up for those minor shortcomings by being 'over-confident,' but we remained somewhat skeptical. We decided to test him, which turned out to be the best practical IT joke of the year at our company.
You've probably seen those infrared receivers that come as separate accessories with most Laserjet Printers. No one ever uses those anyway, but if you look at these with your eyes squinted, they almost resemble a small computer mouse. So, the idea was born: we would show these IR devices to the new guy and tell him these were the new Finger-Operated Mouse Pointing Devices that we were testing. One of our guys used Windows Installer to create a Finger Mouse Setup Program. It looked perfectly realistic, with all the Next buttons, little graphics and progress-indicators, but it was of course as fake as could be.
We explained to the new guy we wanted to propose to the top IT manager to replace all the current mouse devices with this excellent new device, as it would be better, faster, and cheaper, and it would prevent repetitive stress injuries (RSI). The new guy, as we expected, sensed his opportunity to come in good favor with higher management. To make sure he got the credit for our suggestion, he grabbed the device and the fake software setup disk and literally ran off to the upper floor.
To this day we really don't know what happened up there, but one hour later this new guy was escorted back to his desk by an HR employee and a burly security guard. He packed his personal stuff in a box and was led out the building. We never saw him again.
The next morning, we all felt a little ashamed about the consequences of our deed. We sat at our desks when the IT manager walked in to our office (which he never visited before), and walked up to the desk closest to the door. Without saying a word he dropped the Finger Mouse and the setup disk on the desk. Then he turned round, and just before walking through the door, he said: 'Great prank, guys, great prank...'
Lesson learned: Got a jerk on the team? Give him an idea so bad he just can't resist stealing it and let him do the rest.
Do you have your own blooper? Send it in and claim your fame.
