I previously worked in the engineering department of a car manufacturing department.
My apprenticeship involved me going to Australia for hot climate testing of new models
and Sweden for cold climate testing.
During my first visit to Sweden, I was invited by the others to join in on a sleigh ride.
I was given the privilege of sitting on the front seat, immediately behind the dogs.
I was assured I would get the best view.
I was not told the dogs do not stop for their toilet needs.
I got absolutely plastered, which was filmed and sent back to my office.
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Personally I never thought “practical jokes” were either practical nor funny, in fact at the workplace they can be positively dangerous and I have sacked people in the past for that very reason…
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@David_P , Ha! Ha! Nice one!
I used to go to work on my motor bike every day, and used to hang my biking
Jacket and Woollie hat and goggles on a peg in the workshop .
In the evening , after the hooter had gone l used to put my jacket and woolie
hat with goggles on in the workshop before clocking out ,
Well one evening l had clocked out went to the car park and got on and started the bike, ( it was my habit to pull my goggles down over my eyes, after pulling
away)
Well l pulled out one evening and started off down the road, when l pulled
my goggles down every thing went black, l could see nothing at all ??
Some Scouser git had stuck black insulating tape right over my goggles
lenses!!!
I continued my journey home with my goggles round my neck !!
Donkeyman! 
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That’s a good tip from David P, if offered a dog sleigh ride never to sit up front.
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While I mostly agree with you Barry, it can also depend on the joke perhaps.
Some idiots get carried away, and while they fall about laughing at the havoc they can cause, not everyone has the same sense of humour, but a little gentle joke can be amusing. It’s just that some people go way too far.
I don’t like ‘jokes’ that can embarrass people or hurt them in any way.
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Same.
Used to be the norm, on ships, to be sent to get something from the Fog Locker, or some vanishing cream!
All good clean fun!
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Not forgetting sky hooks, bubbles for spirit levels, factory humour.
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So long as nobody gets hurt or deeply insulted, a spot of fun kept ‘Jack’ from becoming a dull boy. I even listed myself as “Prankster” in my forum profile 
Barry
You are correct about discipline in the workplace.
In the car factory, there had been some pranks with air hoses.
Luckily it was stopped before someone got injured.
Another time, I asked someone why a colleague was nicknamed Bostick.
I was told that he asked someone in the pattern shop to repair his shoe soles as they
were falling off. They glued them alright with epoxy resin - to the floor in the building.
Poor chap had to go home with no footwear.
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Some of my female colleagues tipped a bottle of cheap perfume over me as I left to collect a senior out of area social worker from the railway station.
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I think it can be a bit cruel to prank newbies, especially if they are young, nervous and a bit shy.
Why humiliate and embarrass them?
I think sometimes it’s more to do with the old hands establishing the pecking order and showing them who’s boss than being funny
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My secretary wanted me to stay late, thought I was on a dead cert for some hanky-panky, turned out she wanted me to be godfather to her unborn child. 
As an apprentice from the age of 15 I had to endure any number of ‘pranks’. They were often traditional and well known in the trade, those who were no longer apprentices had already ‘been there’.
Much of this was also to ‘toughen up’ youngsters who, fresh from school, had no idea of working life and how hard it could actually be.
One of those ‘pranks’ that springs to mind was when we all took the usual hour lunch break. I had my lunch and a cup of tea, then headed up to where the waste paper was stored, all in sacks in an upstairs area, next to where it could be thrown directly into the collection lorry. It was at the very top of this pile of sacks right beneath the roof of the factory where I had ‘40 winks’ ready for an afternoon’s work. It was nice and warm and comfortable too. Someone would usually wake me at 2.00pm but this day they deliberately did not. The boss as usual wanted a cake with his afternoon tea and his usual pack of Senior Service cigarettes, it was me as the apprentice who usually took the afternoon orders from all in the factory and then went to the local shop.
The boss couldn’t find me and nobody let on where I was either. I was really humiliated when the boss himself found me, after being lectured in front of all the employees I was sent out on my usual errand. Very embarrassing. That was 60+ years ago and I still vividly remember that time.
Personally I have no time for what could be dangerous ‘pranks’ either but those I went through were never like that, just rather ‘toughening up’ embarrassing times for a ‘newbie’ apprentice.
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