You can pick your friends, and sometimes your enemies, but you can’t pick your coworkers. Ideally, of course, you’d all get along — at least well enough to get the job done. Sometimes, however, your inner Jim Halpert rises to the top and insists on getting revenge the old-fashioned way: by driving your coworkers up a wall.
To be clear, we’re absolutely not suggesting that you play tricks on your coworkers. But if you are looking for ideas (or fodder for office daydreams) a recent Reddit thread may be of interest. (Note: like many Reddit threads, this one is occasionally NSFW.)
A few highlights:
“Change their auto-correct settings in Outlook so when they type their name it adds a ridiculous title. Example: Tom Smith = His eloquence, master of ceremonial duck herding, and debater of microwave etiquette, Thomas ‘The Velvet Hammer’ Smith, Esq.” – USMC_0481
“I have hidden a tiny speaker in an adjacent cubicle wall that emits a soft cat meow every two hours.” – whistled*ck
“I placed blue M&M’s in another coworker’s French coffee press. When he was away, I’d place them between the top of the filter and the lid of the container. He didn’t press down on the filter until the water was already in, so he wouldn’t find them until he poured the coffee. It took him a while to figure out how I got them into his cup.” – Aranthar
“I sent a coworker I loathed a manila envelope full of glitter. She prompted tore it open. That was two years ago, and she still finds glitter everywhere.” – Wonder_WomanUnderoos
“Screen-capture the desktop, rotate image so it’s upside down and set as background. Hide desktop icons if there are any and start bar. Reverse mouse direction and then set graphics card to turn desktop upside down.” – slashystabby
“I may or may not have convinced several people, including our secretary, that I lack the ability to read. When asked how I’ve gotten this far (five years of undergrad and halfway through a master’s program), I confidently state that I memorize the shapes and fake it.” – theneckbone
“I whistle Christmas songs in months other than December. Just the first few lines once or twice an hour. Give it a few hours and they’re questioning why ‘Jingle Bells’ is stuck in their head mid-June.” – JameszPS
“Reply all to say ‘tank you,’ then reply all again to your previous reply all to say ‘thank.’ If anybody complains about using reply all, reply all to apologize for using reply all.” – thehonestyfish
“For a while, my favorite thing was to unplug their mouse and put a sticky under the mouse sensor. Was great when people plugged it back it and it still didn’t work.” – Statscollector
“My boss keeps pictures of his kids on his desk, when he’s gone, I replace them with photos of Owen Wilson.” – cnik70
Stories have been lightly edited for clarity and style.
Tell Us What You Think
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