At Devolutions, we’re very proud to have IT pros from 140 countries around the world as part of our community. We also appreciate that customs and conventions differ between countries. For example, during midsummer in Estonia, many people light a bonfire and jump over it for good luck. And in the alpine regions of Germany and Austria, finger pulling is a competitive sport with strict rules (you’ve been warned).
Why do we bring this up? Because those of you who aren’t in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and a few other countries in Europe and Asia may not be aware that April 1 is a very special — and strange — day known as April Fools’ Day.
About this Weird Custom
April Fools’ Day is not a day to celebrate fools. Instead, it is a day to trick and prank people — and as such, make them look foolish. Of course, it’s all in good fun. If you’re really interested in learning more about the origins of this weird custom, check out this article.
Now for the FUN Stuff
OK, I’ll be the first to admit it: I love April Fools’ Day! As you might expect, we have plenty of jokers here at Devolutions. And so, in the spirit of the season, we put our (foolish) heads together and came up with some epic prank ideas for you to try. Here we go:
- The Nicolas Cage
This hilarious prank was pulled by — yes, you guessed it — ME! This prank is simple to pull: when your coworkers leave their computers, you jump on and install the Nicolas Cage extensions (Firefox or Google Chrome), which, as you might expect, turn every image on the web into images of Nicholas Cage. Then you sit back and wait for the screams of horror. Simple, yet very effective and elegant, wouldn’t you say?
In fact, once I pulled this prank on a colleague without realizing that he had gone out for the day. When he arrived the next morning (which was no longer April Fools’ Day) and was overwhelmed by visions of Nicolas Cage, Nicolas Cage and yet more Nicolas Cage, he freaked out and thought he had been hacked. Isn’t that hilarious? When he finally talked with our web integrator, Michael, he learned the truth. I must say this prank was so well executed it would make Jim Halpert proud!
- The “Back from Vacation”
This is a CLASSIC, and just like the one above, it’s easy and hysterical. Basically, your job is to mess with someone’s desk while they’re away. Now, you may think this is kind of a low-level hoax and not very sophisticated. But here at Devolutions we take this prank very seriously. For example, a little while ago I went to Florida with our marketing coordinator Joey. Yes, you know where this is headed: my colleagues took their revenge (even though it wasn’t April Fools’ Day!), and when we came back, it took us half an hour to clean our desks. As the old saying goes: revenge is a dish best served cold. Watch out guys!
- Photoshop
The amount of April Fools’ Day fun you can have with Photoshop is limitless! Think of all the ads, digital paintings and pictures you can modify to humiliate your friends (hey, what are friends for?). Around here, most of us are pretty basic when it comes to Photoshop and are no match for our master graphic designer Stacy.
When you are a mastermind at Risk Europe and people make fun of you:
Your Turn
And so my fellow pranksters: please share what tricks you’ve pulled, or that have been pulled on you or someone you know. Please describe the gory details below, and even better, share a picture of your achievement!