Thursday, February 28, 2008

A prank from ‘The Office’ at the office

There’s a scene from the American version of the British sitcom “The Office” where paper salesman “Jim” hides a cell phone from his co-worker “Andy” by placing it above the ceiling tiles. When the phone rings, “Andy” is having a very difficult time locating it, yet he keeps hearing his very specific ring coming from somewhere around his cubicle.

Albie and I decided to play out the prank in our office. One of our reporters is seemingly fond of his cell phone, so we decided to make him the target. He is also pretty easy going, and would most likely not be too upset or too humiliated.

While the reporter was at the grocery store, we scoped out the perfect tile above his desk where the phone would be positioned for maximum effect. The only problem was… we had to separate the reporter from his phone somehow.

I tried to hold a private meeting with said reporter in a small office. About 30 seconds went by before Albie called me on the inter-office phone to say that the phone was in said reporter’s pocket.

Step two consisted of calling the reporter while he was at his desk with the goal of him taking the phone out from its hiding place and placing it on his desk. The mission was successful.

Later that evening, said reporter suddenly left his desk to visit the restroom. Albie and I stormed over to his desk, swiftly grabbed his phone, climbed up on his chair and picked up the ceiling tile. The phone was placed in perfect position and we were back in our seats in no time.

Said reporter noticed almost immediately that he didn’t know where his phone was. He began calling it from his office phone. A soft buzz from the vibrating phone filled the newsroom and we all looked around, surprised.

“It’s gotta be here somewhere,” the reporter said. “I thought maybe it was in my car, but I can hear it.”

“Yeah,” we said. “It’s coming from somewhere.”

“Are you sure it didn’t fall on the floor like it did before?” I asked, innocently.

We all pretended to help looking.

“You didn’t put it in your pocket, now, did you?” I said.

“No,” the reporter said, slightly confused. “At least I don’t think so.”

We gave up looking, and one after one sat back down at our own desks. The reporter was looking more and more perplexed. Then he finally figured it out.

"I feel like that guy on The O... Oh!" he said, realizing where the idea came from.

On “The Office,” the “Andy” character eventually punches a hole through a wall and has to attend anger management classes since he fails to locate his phone. It wasn’t quite that dramatic for us.

Albie helped the reporter retrieve his phone and we all had a good laugh.

Who says work can’t be fun? Although, I guess we shouldn’t call this work…

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Underbart! Så skulle jag vilja göra med eleverna stelefoner :) Fast då skulle jag sätta dme på ljudlös så de inte kan hitta dem igen! Moahahaha.

Anonymous said...

Good Job! It's about time Walt got a taste of his own medicine. I don't know if he told you but he plays pranks on us all the time. Even though he wont ever admit it, I'm sure he's very proud of the prank.

Good Work!

Anonymous said...

I can assure you that Walt was flipping out a lot more then he probably let on without his phone. The way he guards that thing, you'd think the phone contains his soul.

Anonymous said...

All growing up when you came into our house through the garage you had to take your wet or dirty shoes off and leave them on the stairs. We were in high school and my kid sister was in like 2nd grade and Walter thought it would be funny to put her shoes up on the beams of the garage. My mom didn't think it was so funny in the morning when she was trying to rush Caitlin out to the bus and couldn't find her shoes. She wound up having to drive her in herself. Man was she mad...and that's just ONE of the times Walter was banned from our house for a lengthy peroid of time. The other time was when he set her card table on fire...but that's a whole other story!! Keep up the pranks, Walter deserves it!