Tis the season

The DNT recently ran a piece relating various reader-submitted stories of April Fools’ Day pranks gone by. Now, with all due respect to those whose stories appeared, I was…  a little underwhelmed. Convincing half of scenic (and credulous) Carrboro, North Carolina (“The Paris of the Piedmont”) that a Hooters was going to take over a defunct restaurant smack in the center of town, by contrast–that was sinister brilliance (I was one of the twits who fell for it, mind you, not the architect).

Can you share any tales of memorable 1 April hijinks past without endangering your latest master plan?

8 Comments

edgeways

about 15 years ago

not really my prank or one played on me directly, but I work in a group home and a few years ago one of my clients got some ketchup and put it on the floor at the bottom of the stairs where he lay motionless until one of the staff found him... it was simultaneously hilarious and frightening.

Bad Cat!

about 15 years ago

Every year my grandmother and I would put a rubber band around the kitchen sink hose (leaving it in the "on" position), the "casually" laying a kitchen rag around it to cover the rubber band.
In theory, someone would walk up to turn on the sink and get sprayed with the hose. In actuality, my grandmother would forget and be the first to spray herself (we laughed every year).

The Big E

about 15 years ago

Our friend baked cupcakes a few years ago...  Our 4 year-old and her college-age niece got ones made of meatloaf and frosted with mashed potatoes, which produced the kind of reactions you'd hope for.  We turned the tables and served creampuffs last year (hers filled with, yes, mashed potatoes).

zra.

about 15 years ago

okay, i just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

meatloaf cupcakes?

Mel

about 15 years ago

I was going to say the kitchen sprayer one--i got hit with that once by a guy I lived with, who had no intention of getting me.

One April Fools my (guy) roommate got really drunk that night before, and then accidentally crawled in bed nearly naked with my (girl) roommate. He tried to pass it off as April Fools when we told him the next day.

In high school we had a big group of Danish exchange students. The host group told them to bring formal wear, because they would be going to a fancy restaurant in a big white castle. I think you can see where this one went...

Danny

about 15 years ago

My show...last year:

The best local April Fools joke of the day...
http://www.areavoices.com/buzz/?archive=2008-04

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

My best April Fools' Day joke happened somewhat by accident rather than through careful planning.

It was 1997, and I was news editor for the Budgeteer. Dick Palmer was executive editor. This was just a few months before the Budgeteer had e-mail.

We did have a modem that we used so Mr. Palmer could send in his articles from home. (He was semi-retired.)

One day, I was trying to find something on the computer and accidentally came across the programming for the modem and discovered it was very easy to change the prompts. So ...

Usually, when Mr. Palmer would send in an article, he would have to click "yes" or whatever to a series of two or three questions. I think the last question was, "OK to send document?"

I changed that question to "Destroy entire system?"

A few days went by, and, as luck would have it, it was April Fools Day when Mr. Palmer went to send in his next article. As you can image, he was quite alarmed.

I mean, imagine what you would think if a prompt popped up on your screen asking if it's OK to destroy the entire system. On one hand, it can't be serious, but on the other hand, how can you click "yes" to something like that?

The Big E

about 15 years ago

Nice, Paul.

We just discovered that our bed was wet.  After some brief discussion as to whether the dog might have been responsible (unprecedented), our 6 year-old appeared, chirping, "April Fools."  

On the one hand, I'm kind of proud of her.  On the other hand, some discussion of the bounds of what constitutes "acceptable" is going to be in order.  

Also:  she is going to pay for years to come.

Leave a Comment

Only registered members can post a comment , Login / Register Here

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!
Read previous post:
“Just sayin’…” (thanks, Jim)

Close