In the early seasons of the American version of The Office, Jim Halpert is the lovable prankster and Dwight Schrute is his favorite target.
As the series progressed and Rainn Wilson's character became a fan favorite, some of Jim's pranks seemed less funny and more cruel and childish.
Regardless of where you stand on the Jim pranking Dwight debate, the pranks themselves are a pretty good example of how to mess with a coworker.
Although in the real world where Toby Flenderson isn't the entirety of your HR department, you'll probably get fired after the first stapler in Jell-O.
Reddit user Uzzythemuzzy123 asked:
"What's the best way to subtly f*ck with someone?"
May We Recommend...
"My friend's boyfriend scared her as a prank."
"She sought revenge by waiting for him to fall asleep."
"Then watched a bunch of videos he would hate on his Youtube account to f*ck with his recommendations algorithm."
~ Ljet
Remote Control
"I put the dongle of a wireless mouse into the back of my coworker's computer."
"Whenever I feel like f*cking with him I just open my desk drawer and use the mouse in there to take over his computer."
~ Tightfistula
For Your Enjoyment
"I went to a small college back when we all used the library for computers."
"At this time Netflix was a DVD delivery system where you had a subscription and they mailed you the DVDs you had in your saved queue."
"It was quite amazing for the time."
"So I open Netflix to access my account and I see my friend's name pop up on the account as he had forgotten to log off when he had used the same computer in the library."
"So I changed all his Mission Impossible/battle type saved DVDs to romcons and dance movies."
"Later that week I asked him how he enjoyed his movies and he laughed and said they were actually quite good."
~ Think-Passage-5522
For The Birds
"It was only a few weeks, but a supervisor on a construction site I worked on was complaining about the birds in front of his office."
"That night I went to a pet shop and bought a big bag of birdseed. I hid it nearby, and when the coast was clear I would scatter a couple of handfuls."
"It took a few days, but more & more birds started stopping by to look for food. Had over 30 pigeons out there one morning when he came in."
"I let him in on what I was doing one day when he’d pretty much given up and was throwing old bread out for the birds."
"He later asked me to pick up another bag of seed, as he’d taken over throwing out seed to feed the flock and ran out."
~ Skelton_Porter
Mystery Messages
"Back in the day I used to cold call in a sales job and eventually I got bored. When I would ask for Mr Smith, and they would say he's not here can I take a message?"
"I used to leave messages."
"'tell him he was right, it's not going to fit'"
"Or"
"'tell him it'll have to be the blue one, the red one isn't available'"
"Or"
"'we can't do 7 o'clock because the cat isn't well'"
"If they queried it any further—and they usually didn't—I'd say 'he will know what it means'."
"I like to think I've left a legacy of people scratching their heads for days."
~ NormanskillEire
Cooked? 🍚
"Put a single grain of rice on something that belongs to them every day when they are not looking."
"In a shoe, a pocket, on top of their bag at work, on their desk. Always rice, always a different place."
~ TBK_Winbar
100 MPG‽‽ WOW!
"My grandpa used to work with a guy during the 1960s who used to brag about his car's gas mileage."
"So his whole office would pitch in and buy gas and sneak it into his car so his gas would last way longer than it should."
"Like weeks."
"And he would come in and brag about it, and everyone would laugh."
~ GaryNOVA
Ernie's Sesame Street Special
"One of my best friends was working as a section manager in a retail store. He bought a box of like, 400 rubber duckies off Amazon and started leaving a single one on his boss' desk at random times."
"Never said a word to her about it, and would pick odd times to do it to throw her off the scent—like if he came on an off day to shop, he'd sneak one in. He'd come in 30 mins before his shift started to do it. He'd stay late to do it."
"He did this for at least six months before he got promoted and got a transfer. On his last day of work he walked into her office with the box of the rest and turned them upside down on her desk."
"She hit something like a combo of hysterical laughter and sobbing, "OH MY GOD, I THOUGHT I WAS GOING INSANE!'."
~ Cardholderdoe
Baffle Them With BS
"Add in a random 'no pun intended' into a conversation."
~ TwoBadRobots
Fa La La Ha Ha
"When I was a kid in the 80s , my neighbor used to go on vacation for two weeks every year during the summer."
"And he relied on his friend (my dad) to go get his mail and check on his house. Which my dad did."
"My neighbor loved elaborate Christmas lights. Like all over his entire house."
"And that took a lot of work. So he left them up all year and only turned them on at Christmas time."
"So for two weeks of the summer my dad would turn his friend's Christmas lights on during the summer. But no one else in the neighborhood knew what was going on."
"Every once in a while, someone in the neighborhood would mention it to the neighbor, and he would act all confused—because he was."
~ GaryNOVA
Awkward 😬
"Go inside an elevator and don’t turn around and face the door."
~ B-52-M
Wait A Minute...
"One time, my buddy Steve was at my house and the phone rang. The call display showed his number, so I knew it had to be his roommate, probably looking for him."
"I picked up the receiver and immediately asked, 'Hi, is Steve there?'."
"There was a pause, then, 'Uh... no, he's out'."
"Just as quick I said, 'Cool, I'll try calling again later. Bye!' and hung up."
"It was probably a good minute before she called back to call me a bastard."
~ Cuppojoe
*chirp*
"I put one of those electronic cricket circuits (a small device that made a sound at random intervals) above the false ceiling in my old boss' office."
"Every so often (2-15 minutes) it would chirp like a cricket. It drove him mad. He never did find it."
~ mattthepianoman
Picture This
"Every week I bought 2 or 3 picture frames at the dollar store. I would find pictures of ugly babies online or odd celebrities."
"And I would leave it on people's desks. No one ever found out it was me."
"I imagine after I left for another job they pieced it together, though. Most people would get a laugh, though I remember one specific person got pissed."
"I put a picture of Maury Povich and wrote 'you are not the father!' and added a fake autograph. The person who sat there went in that morning and instantly yelled at everyone, 'Whoever's been doing this stupid sh*t, I'm not participating in these stupid office jokes, so leave me out of them'—he then went and violently smashed the frame into the trash."
"One of my favorite times though... We had an insurance rep who would come in and explain benefits to new hires."
"She would give everyone a card with her picture on it. One day I found a glorious picture frame in the shape of a heart with a gliterry mess of a bedazzled sign that said 'always and forever'."
"So naturally, I put her picture in photoshop and blew it up, the quality was horrible, but it just made it that much better because of the frame. It looked like a picture you'd find acceptable to frame if you were the type of person who would buy that type of frame."
"Then I stayed late and left it on my manager's desk. I left it facing the door of his office so it appeared like one of those pictures people put of their family facing you when you speak to them at their desk."
"This meant when he opened the door he would see it instantly because of how loud the frame was."
"Well, before he could see it, he injured himself and couldn't come into work. So it just sat in his office for days."
"He only came in about a week later specifically to welcome a new team member. And of course the benefits rep was there to walk the new member through their options."
"And of all f*cking days, this was the first time I heard her ask him if he had a minute to talk. He said yes and they go into his office."
"The second he opens the door he gives a very nervous laugh and says, 'Sh*t. I think I can explain..." then the door shut behind them."
"Everyone heard him, but no one else knew what had happened, everyone in the office looked at each other in confusion and shrugged at each other."
"I sat at my desk with my face in pain and tears in my eyes from trying so hard not to laugh."
~ juggling-monkey
And Here's A List Of Office Options We Don't Recommend...
"Take a screenshot of their computer desktop screen and then set that as their desktop background picture. Hide or move all their real desktop icons."
"Change their signature block in Outlook from the word 'Sincerely' or whatever business speak they used to 'All my love'."
"CTRL+ALT + Arrow key will flip their desktop view."
"Place an air horn/whoopee cushion under their chair, tape it so when they sit it goes off."
"Remove one of their office chair wheels."
"Download and change their office ringtone—using the system default password—to something by the Backstreet Boys."
~ Nearby_Day_362
What subtle ways have you found to mess with someone?