Cubicle Warfare: 101 Office Traps and Pranks

[Dr Pickles]

Bottomless Box

1) Remove the bottom of a random shipping box.
Use a utility knife to create a clean cut around the bottom of the box.

2) Place the box in front of your coworker’s office.
Set down the box in the middle of your mark’s door, so he or she will be tempted to pick it up. Next, fill the box up with thousands of popcorn seeds. Remember not to pick up the box after this step, because you removed the bottom… remember?

3) Seal the top of the parcel with industrial packing tape.
Use parcel tape to seal the lid of the box. Not only does this add to its authenticity of a real parcel, but it also entices your
mark to carry it to his desk to open it.

4) Wait quietly for your coworker to return.
As soon as your victim picks up the tainted box, thousands of popcorn seeds pour out onto the floor.

Who deserves this? That guy who gets the most packages.

 

[alsh]

I like that one. Imaginative.
This is an o-o-old one but it's still worth trying once in awhile. Make dribble cups out of the paper cups at the water cooler. Just poke a tiny hole near the bottom.
Hang one of those motel "do not disturb" signs on a co-worker's office door.

 

[Dr Pickles]

See Me

1) Carry out this mission late one night!
This simple but very effective corporate antic concentrates on the pure fundamentals of psychological office warfare. The ideal time of execution is late one night when you find yourself surrounded by only custodial staff.

2) Fill out a ton of sticky notes.
Armed with only your penmanship and a handful of sticky notes, begin to fill duplicate notes with the saying “See me when you get in.” Then sign your mark’s signature.

3) Walk around the office and place the “See Me” notes on everyone’s monitor.
Start with everyone who knows your victim first, and then place the excess on random monitors around the office.

4) Come in early the next morning to witness the interruptions.
Unbeknownst to your victim, he or she will settle into the daily morning routine. Then it starts. Little by little, employees trickle into their individual offices, read the note, and then venture down to your mark’s office. The more notes, the bigger the payoff.

 

[Dr Pickles]

LABEL CRAZY

1) Lock and load!
It is fairly simple; just break out the label maker and hit everything in your victim’s office—from the storage boxes, cabinets, shelves, and folders to pens, pencils, keyboard, mouse, monitor, chair, paper clip, phone, phone cord, speakers, headphones, plants, pictures, people in the pictures, radio, and of course the coffee mug.

2) Team up with a fellow coworker to increase your labeling effort!
It is probably best to team up on this one, or be prepared for some strange carpal tunnel issues from all the micro typing!

Who deserves this? Anyone with obsessive-compulsive behavior who could use a lavish label makeover.

 

[Dr Pickles]

RAIN FOREST

1) Gather up all the vegetation you can get your green thumbs on.
Notice an abundance of plants in your area? During non-work hours, gather up all the plants in the office. You may want to use a small presentation cart to truck the load to the plants’ new destination.

2) Relocate the borrowed plants to your victim’s space.
Plastic or real, fill up the space. I can guarantee you this overgrown mess will upset more than one person. It might be a good idea to label each plant with possible extensions or office numbers.

Who deserves this? That VP who infested the entire floor with bugs from his exotic plants.

(!) Another suggestion: You can purchase fake marijuana plants on the Internet. Place this Mary Jane in the lobby by all the other plants. It will be interesting to see who notices it first.

 

[Dr Pickles]

BRING YOUR KID TO WORK DAY

1) Nothing like escaping from your chaotic home only to come to work and find a huge mess made by kids in your office.
Set up your associate’s office as if some random kid had been playing in it for hours during the previous night. Candy wrappers, coloring books, empty pop cans, and a few toys are a total giveaway. Place all the props on the floor in a childish disarray.

2) Once she sees it, expect a few expletives.
The first reaction will be priceless. It will start with confusion, then cursing, and then a bombardment of questions. If she asks you, reply with “I think the boss had his kids in yesterday.” Periodically execute this over the course of a month. Who deserves this? The mother who just returned from leave and won’t stop talking about her kids.

(!) Another suggestion:
Switch out your entire victim’s writing utensil collection with children’s crayons.

 

[nevyn68]

Niman, you are the man.

 

[Dr Pickles]

5 CLUES

1) Select an item from your mark’s desk that is simply indispensable.
The item you select should have personal or professional worth. It should also be worth 20 minutes of rummaging around the office trying to find it, or it’s not worth your trouble to pull this prank off.

2) Think of some creative clues, specific to your office.
When thinking of clues, don’t concentrate them in one area; instead, utilize the entire office space so your detective can entertain everyone watching.

3) Sit back and enjoy the show.
Try not to look involved or responsible for the clues. Keep your head down, avoid unnecessary laughter, and tell the fewest people possible. As soon as he suspects it was you, he will forget about your clever clues and go right to the source—you. Where is the fun in that?

Who deserves this? That coworker who always borrows your stuff and never brings it back.

 

[Dr Pickles]

TUNA SMELL

1) The foul smell of success.
Mystery smells in the workplace are just as much a distraction as a nuisance. Detecting an offensive odor could take hours out of someone’s productive day and possibly have him question his own personal hygiene. Variations:

• Tape a can of opened tuna under your coworker’s office chair.
Even if your victim loves to eat tuna, the stuff still smells. Tape the can underneath the seat, and try to conceal it as best as possible, but the chances he will look under his chair are slim.

• Slide a can of tuna under or in his desk.
This one will take him a bit longer to discover.

• Upset and disrupt an entire office by placing a can of tuna in the ceiling tile.
The first question you need to ask is, do you like your job? If you do, then don’t get caught pulling this one.

Who deserves this? The slob who always leaves food to rot in the fridge.

 

[Dr Pickles]

OFFICE WEB

1) Arm yourself with a good-sized spool of kite string.
Begin from the rear of the office and make your way to the door. Create a web of string around the office. Tie as many things as possible to one another— the chair to the coffee mug, the ceiling tiles to the computer, the filing cabinets to the monitor…

2) Once you’ve decided how much retribution your victim deserves, tie your last knot.
The amount of string you use is solely up to your judgment. Finish up and cut off the extra.

3) Add a few office supplies!
If you want to inconvenience your mark even more, hang the supplies up. This prank could be quickly executed during your lunch break or after work.

Who deserves this? The office gossip who weaves webs of halftruths.

 

[Dr Pickles]

LITTLE HEADS

1) Locate a head shot of your victim.
Pictures on his or her desk, teambuilding photos, or the company Web site are good bets.

2) Print off multiple copies of just the head.
Using a photocopier or a computer printer, duplicate your victim’s head in color or black and white (Figure 1). The number of heads you print out is up to you.

3) Cut out the individual heads.
With a scissors or a hobby knife, separate all the heads.

4) Prepare the little heads for quick deployment.
Assemble small tape balls, place one on the back of each head, and slide them around your fingers.

5) Randomly disperse the heads all over the office.

 

[Dr Pickles]

ADULT PARCEL

1) Run off the sample labels supplied on your office copy machine, or create your own.
One shipping label and 2 or 3 age warning labels will do the trick.

2) Find a very large box, one that will grab the attention of anyone entering the office.
Find an extra-large box to capture the attention of anyone who might be dropping something off or passing by the office. When it comes to the adult world of shipping, bigger is better.

3) Place the mock adult parcel in the vacationing coworker’s office.
Seal the box, and possibly add some dead weight. Next, fill out the mock shipping label, and secure both labels onto the box.

4) Gossip about the box and speculate about its possible contents.
You need to get the word out, so start talking about the mystery box. What would possess someone to ship a box like that to work?

Who deserves this? The coworker who decides to go on vacation right in the middle of a project.

 

[Dr Pickles]

ALARM ALARM

1) Purchase several inexpensive alarm clocks.
Set the timers 10 minutes apart from one another.

2) Cleverly conceal them around your colleague’s office.
You’ll want to place them in areas he or she wouldn’t normally look for annoying devices that make noises—for example, in the trash can, in the bottom of file boxes, taped under the chair or desk, and in the ceiling if possible.

3) Time for work!
Hold in the laughter as you watch your neighbor waste over an hour looking for the sound of alarms.
Who deserves this? The coworker who always lets you know what time you got in.

(!) Another suggestion:
Electrical timers are used for aquarium lights and holiday trees. Hide a radio under your mark’s desk or in the ceiling, and have the volume setting on high. As soon as the timer is activated, the radio will blast a barrage of uncontrollable audio.

 

[Dr Pickles]

CUBE MONITOR

1) Set up a simple surveillance system to covertly collect classified intel.
So simple, even a baby could use! Your surveillance equipment is an ordinary set of baby monitors. You will want to install a set of fully charged batteries before concealing the units. Next, find a good monitoring area to fix the transmitter unit, such as a conference table or your target’s desk.

2) Hide the receiver unit in your office.
Make sure your unit has a headphone jack. Hide the unit under your keyboard tray or behind your computer, and then plug in the headphones. People will assume you are listening to music or talk radio, not aware that you are transmitting information from behind enemy lines.

(!) Warning: possible job termination.
Security might not like your breach of privacy and lack of corporate confidentiality and this may be illegal in many states. So hide the receiver well, and never go back for the transmitter.

Who deserves this? You, of course! If alliances have been made and the hostiles strongly outnumber you, it’s time for a counterbalance.

Don't tell anyone, but I put one of these in the Admin lounge... :whistling:

 

[Dr Pickles]

SNOWING FLOUR

1) Pour a small pile of flour outside your victim’s locked door.
You need only a small pile of flour at first. Too much will clog the door gap.

2) Use a powerful hair dryer or a can of compressed air to move the flour under the door.
The flour will become airborne and start floating around your victim’s office.

Repeat several times.

3) Clean up any evidence outside the door and on the floor.
Vacuum up the carpet, and wipe the door of any flour residue.

4) Most importantly, avoid the cleanup process.
After a pound of this stuff, the office should have a nice white dusting of flour —and it’s going to be messy! Do not
claim responsibility.

Who deserves this? This prank is going to be messy, so be sure your victim can take it!