Survey: Nearly a Third of Workers Involved in April Fools' Pranks at the Office
According to an online survey of U.S. workers conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com, 32 percent of workers say they have either initiated or been on the receiving end of an April Fools' Day prank at work. Nearly 6,900 workers participated in the online job site's annual survey, completed last month.
While covering someone's cube with aluminum foil, faking a resignation, or gluing office supplies to the desk continue to be among the most common pranks, CareerBuilder.com has once again named its estimation of the top 10 most memorable capers uncovered in this year's survey, some of which seem to rely on co-workers' sense of humor and/or test the limits of office propriety more than others:
- Placed a pair of pants and shoes inside the only toilet stall in a men's room to make it appear someone was using the stall. It sat there for hours until someone called security to check if the person had died.
- Sent a fake love note to a co-worker from another co-worker.
- All the women in office individually spoke to the president, confiding that she is pregnant. By noon, he 'knew' that all of his female workers were pregnant and he could not tell anyone because each asked for confidentiality.
- Called electric company, used a co-worker's name (and personal information) and said he was moving so the electricity got turned off at the co-worker's house.
- Filled the vending soda machine with cans of beer.
- Adjusted the sprayer in the kitchen sink to squirt co-workers when they turned on the water.
- Placed a sign on the restroom door that read, "The Company ran out of toilet tissue; please use your own resources."
- Paged a co-worker over the loud speaker claiming the CEO was looking for him. The worker went into the CEOs office and the CEO didn't know who he was or why he was there.
- Shrink-wrapped everything in a co-worker's cubicle.
- Put a 'house for sale' ad in the newspaper regarding a co-worker's home.
The survey was conducted online among 6,897 U.S. employees (employed full-time; not self-employed) ages 18 and over between February 11, 2008 and March 13, 2008, according to a press release from CareerBuilder.com.