Office Pranks – Top 10 office tricks to play on your colleagues

April Fool’s Day is the obvious day that brings out the joker in us all and has us all gently teasing those around us with practical jokes to see if we can catch anyone out. Obviously, the jokes have to stop at midday or else it means the jokes on you. Don’t let a joke go too far, you don’t want to get sacked, cause injury or too much distress!

Jokes in the office can be enjoyed all year round. A little gentle humour can help colleagues get on better together, just a way of acknowledging that we all have our little foibles, we’re all different, but that’s they way we are, and everyone loves us for it. Some people are so clean and tidy that they can’t bear anything to be out of place or a bit dusty. No in-trays stacked with rubbish here, everything neatly stored in the office drawer or cupboard, all carefully labelled and filed away. Just a tiny rearrangement of their system will completely throw them. Others like to gather things, magpie-like, a treasure trove of things they have stumbled across that will make a great idea for their next project or plan. Some like to take everything very seriously and earnestly, others are a little more relaxed and take things in their stride. So, whichever personality you are, here are some funny ideas that will bring a smile to the faces of others in the office, probably at someone’s expense, but they should see the funny side (hopefully!)

1. Boardroom Lyrics

In the next office meeting, arrange with your circle of friends to see how many song lyrics you can seamlessly weave into the general stream of general boardroom discussion. You need to show that you have picked up on the lyric by trying to feed the next line into the discussion. It has to flow with the general conversation so that those who are not in the game don’t sense anything happening. A similar game is boardroom bingo where you agree a range of typical phrases and all write a selection on your pad. Cross them off as the meeting progresses and the cliché’s are thrown around the room. The winner is the one who has crossed out most phrases.

2.Are you Sitting Comfortably Joke

Tell the new person that the boss is a very keen practitioner of yoga and meditation and a firm believer that a person is much more productive if they’re sitting comfortably. Tell him that he’s a very fair and considerate man, and generally leaves people to get on with their jobs, but occasionally, if he thinks a member of staff is really underperforming, he will very politely come and assess their posture and offer them a new chair.

Tell your boss that the new chap is settling in very well, but was complaining that he thinks his chair might be broken and it’s giving him backache. Suggest to your boss that he should go and look into it for him.

3.Buy the Boss’s Car Joke

Tell the new person that the boss is really fed up with his current flashy car and desperately wants to sell it so he can buy a new one. He’s so desperate now that he’s said he’ll sell it to the next person who offers to buy it, no matter how silly their offer might be.

4.Write a Company Song Joke

Tell the new person that the boss has just come back from a business trip to Japan and was very impressed by the forward thinking companies that boosted staff morale and fostered a sense of belonging by starting each working day with a communal singing session of the company song. The boss thought this was so impressive that he desperately wanted someone to compose a company song for him. Mention that so far, most members of staff have had a go at writing and performing a song for him, but he’s been really disappointed because he’s looking for something rousing and uplifting, a real anthem that will say that a company is only as good as its boss and how a good man can lead a workforce to prosper. He thinks that the person who can come up with the right song will be the one he’s looking for to take up a key leadership role with the company. Suggest to the new person that they should have a go at it!

5.Fancy a Drink Joke

Tell the new person that the boss is a really nice man but is desperately lonely in his private life and is always trying to make friends with the staff so he’s got someone to go out for a drink with or go bowling or to the theatre. Say that it’s best just to politely decline and say you’re busy.

Tell the boss that the new person seems to be settling in very well and their only complaint so far has been that they really miss the great social life from their last place. Say that, apparently, their last boss was the life and soul of the party and all the staff loved him because he was a firm believer that a happy bunch of staff worked so much better together, so he was always offering to take them out for a drink or taking them bowling or to the theatre and just wouldn’t take no for an answer. Suggest to your boss that he tries to arrange something similar to welcome the new person on board.

6.Warm Tea Joke

Tell the new person that the office practice is that the last person to join the company has to make the tea for everyone in their department. Tell them that the boss found that if people were drinking very hot drinks they took too long and wasted too much time, so there was a rule that you have to switch off the kettle before it reaches boiling point, so that the drinks are warm, but not hot. See how long it is before everyone complains.

7.Birthday Cake Joke

Shortly before your birthday tell everyone how you’re going to bake cakes and bring them in. Look stressed about it. Say how you’ve had to go out and get all the ingredients, and how busy you’ve been making them all. Bring the cakes in and watch people’s expressions change from expectation to polite surprise as you reveal slightly burnt cakes, or cakes that haven’t risen or baked very well. See how many people make polite excuses that they are on a diet, or are not hungry. Later, you can reveal the real scrummy cakes that you made!

8.Mr Forgetful Joke

Tell the new person that the security code on the office door is changed twice a week on random days, but not everyone is told the new code. Tell them it’s best to just check with the receptionist or other colleagues every day before you leave what the entry code for the door will be in the morning. Tell your colleagues that the new person is settling in well, but does seem a bit forgetful.

9.Feng Shui Joke

Tell the new person that the boss has been on an evening course to learn Feng Shui and is very interested to learn more. Tell them that when they are in his room, or in a meeting, just move a few small things around and look knowingly at him and say “that’s better”. Tell the boss the new person is settling in well, but is a bit OCD and insists on everything being in just the right place.

10.Paperclip Magnet Joke

Buy a magnetic paper clip holder for your desk. Put a few paperclips on it. Tell your colleagues how useful it is and what a powerful magnet it has. When they’re not looking, take the paperclips and staples from their desks and add them to your magnetic holder, so it seems like it is sucking all the paperclips and any other bits of metal to it. End up with a huge pile of metal bits stuck on your super-powerful magnetic holder.