My greatest Prank ... that went a little too far
Tags: officestories, prank, watercooler
Published: 2021-06-03 21:01:09

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<p>At work I try my best to be professional. Or at least to make others think that I am.</p>
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<p>Yet, I was once given the opportunity to pull a masterpiece of a prank on one of my colleagues. Needless to say that I took it.</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-background-color has-background"><span class="has-inline-color has-white-color">The Setup</span></h2>
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<p>It was a normal day at work. I was inspecting the task manager on one of our servers and to<br>my surprise I noticed that I was actually an administrator on said server.<br><br>Actually it was not too surprising. It was the development server. I am a developer. Getting total freedom to test things is kinda useful and only makes sense. But let us continue</p>
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<p>Curiosity took over and I started exploring this new world of possibilities. First, I noticed<br>that I was able to disconnect coworkers from the server. This is definitely the basis for some good prankery. But I was ultimately drawn towards a function that was a bit more subtle.</p>
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<p>It was possible to send a message to any user logged in to the server.</p>
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<p>I assume this can be used to inform users on a server directly about maintenance work<br>you have to perform. Totally serious stuff.</p>
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<p>But even the most upright tool can be turned into something devilish in the hands of<br>a fiendish mind.</p>
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<p>The functionality also played right into my hands. Not only was I able to freely choose<br>the message I send. Also the header of the message could be modified. Perfect for erasing<br>traces.</p>
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<h2 class="has-black-background-color has-background">The Prank</h2>
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<p>The target was quickly acquired. A new colleague with a great interest in Bitcoin. He was talking about that 90% of the time.</p>
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<p>It might sound like bullying to you. Picking on the new colleague. But rest assured that I really liked him personally. So it was more like a prank between friends.</p>
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<p>My message was custom tailored to him with a pinch of ludicrousness known from infamous<br>email scams and topped off with a touch of impending danger.</p>
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<p>But enough talk. Lay your eyes on the masterpiece I created.</p>
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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://topjer.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1166"/></figure></div>
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<p>The message was prepared. All that was left to do was to send it. Which I did. Expecting<br>a good laugh between colleagues.</p>
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<p>Little did I know that it would have a far bigger impact.</p>
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<h2 class="has-white-color has-black-background-color has-text-color has-background">The Fallout</h2>
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<p>I might be a genius trickster but my timing was abysmal. Because I sent my message immediately before went out for lunch. That way I was not able to stop the avalanche that was about to start moving.</p>
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<p>My colleague, understandably bewildered, send an email to all developers. 'All' meaning me and another one.<br>Unfortunately he also took our boss into the loop. Our boss who has a slight tendency for overreaction.</p>
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<p>Fearing the infection of chinese-russian malware he informed the server admins. A complete rollback of the server was in discussion.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, I was still on lunch break. Chuckling at the thought that I was playing a small prank.</p>
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<p>Luckily my boss got a hold of me before the server rollback plans were turned into reality. He asked me if I have any idea what was going on here. It was easy to play clueless since the conversation took place over teams.</p>
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<p>Unaware of the extend of the consequences of my actions I broke into laughter at some point.</p>
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<p>Needless to say, my boss did not find it funny.</p>
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<p>I got away with a lecture. The admins, exasperated, could be appeased. But I think they still<br>hold it against us.<br><br>Next time I checked, we developers were no longer admins on the server. Even though<br>that could be due to totally unrelated reasons. That's at least what I would like to believe.</p>
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<p>What about my colleague? After he stomached the shock, we were able to laugh about it. We<br>even now do that from time to time when the memory comes up again.</p>
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<h2 class="has-white-color has-black-background-color has-text-color has-background">Final Thoughts</h2>
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<p>Would I play a similar prank again if another chance arises?</p>
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<p>Probably not, I have "grown" since then and try to be more of a senior at work.</p>
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<p>Do I regret my actions? </p>
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<p>Not a bit because it was an excellent prank and is the source for some good laughs.</p>
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<p>What about you? Have you done something similar to a coworker? Feel free to share your<br>story in the comments.</p>
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