Practical jokes that go over the line..

[EagleJCS]

Messing with your food goes over the line in my book. Rearranging your desk, OK. Anything that requires replacing objects, costs the victim money, or causes bodily harm (or could) is NOT OK. NEVER mess with someone's food and/or drink. You paid for the food and the packaging you brought it in. Suppose you had some medicine you HAD to take with food and you HAD to take on a regular schedule. That's messing with your health and well-being.

I'd say you have a legit gripe to take to your superiors.

[O'Callaghan]

I feel that messing with someones food or vehicle is is really off limits..

I agree. There are some other things too, but those would be near the top of my list of things not to touch. Clothes and hair would be well up there as well.

[CDNSushi]

brice:

I would be torqued as well. However, as I get older I tend to be more calm about stuff like this. I would've resented it all day and been miserable, but knowing what I know today, I would've pulled the teacher aside, and quietly, man to man, explained that it was not funny, and that he crossed the line with his prank. I would go on to explain that a prank like this throws off one's metabolism, which can be especially bad if you are affected by low blood sugar.

If this happened to my wife, she would be more than just angry -- she would be ill. With her, missing a meal makes her really irritable and downright snarly.

My solution would be to have the teacher who stole my lunch watch my class while I went and bought something from a nearby store (at HIS expense, of course). If this solution were unacceptable, I'd be taking it up with the administration or shop steward.

I'm very sorry that this happened to you though, Brice. And I hope that you have the chance to speak with this other teacher and tell him how you felt and why it was not funny.

[Kiltedfirepiper]

we play pranks all the time at the fire station, but the rule is no messing with safety equipment ( turnouts) and one of the guys has a "no cars allowed" on his car because his wife is pregnant so he has to be able to leave in a hurry and not go looking for his tires ( done that) or thaw out his keys from a block of ice... or empty the cab of about 6 50 gal trash bags worth of movie popcorn.....or have to jack his car up because someone put it on jack stands just high enough that the tires dont make contact with the ground.......the list goes on.......the only thing that sucks is we have a community bunk room, so you can't fill his "room" with balloons or anything cool like that.

one of the guys has a rule that what ever you do to him, he will bring it back to you at least 10 fold. ( you freeze his keys? he'll freeze all your bedding, and clothes, AND your keys.......he doesnt get pranked often..)

I havent seen anyone get POd tothe point of blind rage, but I HAVE seen some very creative comebacks before. I remember one guy got his whole bunk room get covered in aluminum foil...even every page of the magazine on his desk. and in return he put everything upside down in the other guys room....and by upside down I mean attached to the celing....the bedside table had about 1.25 in change on it, and he glued it in the exact position it was when it was right side up! F-in Brilliant!!

lesson learned?

don't prank....unless you can handle being pranked.

to get back at him I suggest 1 or two zip ties around his drive shaft/CV joints.
it doesnt do any damage, but it'll make one hell of a racket and drive him NUTS till he figures out whats wrong.
theres other things you could do, but they would end up costing a little $ to repair, but since he crossed over the line .....alls fair game as far as I'm concerned

JMHO

KFP

[Brewboy]

I'm all for a good practical joke, but believe this did go a bit too far. If I was to do something like that (dispose of someone's meal) I would feel the need to not only replace the meal, but upgrade the meal (e.g. getting rid of a bologna sandwich, and when the person got steamed, presenting them with a steak). This would only work if you knew the person's dietary restrictions and food preferences, and my guess is that many would still think it was inappropriate. I myself am a diabetic and wouldn't find a lost meal remotely funny.

As far as practical jokes go, I have been party to some interesting ones. My father is a partner in a medical practice, and suggested a restaurant to one of his partners when he came to Chicago to visit. The doctor went to the restaurant with his son, both are very conservative. When at the restaurant the waiter asked him why he came, and the doctor mentioned that his partner had recommended the restaurant. The doctor's son immediately shamed him when the waiter left suggesting that the waiter would get the "wrong idea" because he used the term "partner." The doctor had a laugh and mentioned that from that point on the service was excellent.

My father had me write a letter on fake restaurant stationary mailed from Chicago to his office in Missouri, addressed to the doctor from the waiter. It mentioned how brave he was to refer to his partner in front of his son, and that maybe if he was up in Chicago again the doctor and his partner could go out with the waiter and his partner. The doctor bought it, and agonized over it the whole day before my father let him in on the joke.

[Spc. Scott]

One thing I learned in the Army:
Never mess with a soldiers food, pay or mail.

[Larry124]

On the one hand…
If you are angry the same day, it’s his responsibility.
If you are angry the next day, it’s your responsibility.
Beyond a temporary and ordinary response to a provocation, own your own mood.

On the other hand…
File a misconduct complaint with the appropriate authority and insist that there be an apology, a penalty, and a remedy or restitution.
Including an assurance that a same or similar or related offense will not recur.

Making a "big deal" over a "joke"?
Taunting, teasing, bullying etc. are unacceptable behaviors that should be confronted. They are generally NOT harmless or inconsequential.

[Brandane]

3 things that are not to be messed with are a mans wife his wages or his food any thing else is fair game. I do hope the payback is a good one.

[JolyStNicholas]

At place where I use to work we had one person who use to mess with everyone else the same way. Our parking lot wasn't very well lit, so a few people raised his car up and set it on concrete blocks, letting the tires rest just off the ground. Every one thought it was funny as he attempted to drive it away in the dark.
No one would help him get it down and it caused a lot of bad feelings all round.
Most jokes end up that way.

[Jerry]

We did little things at work also. One of the other Instrument Techs got me really good one night. It was well known in the shop that I hated overtime, especially being drafted over on my league bowling night. I was in our first game that night, with a pretty good game going, when I received a phone call. The caller said, "This is Bob XXXX (the shift supervisor) at the plant, the plant is down and we need you to come in to work. Of course I said I didn't want to come in, and he replied that this was a draft situation and anyone who answered the phone had to come in or face disciplinary action. I told him I had drank a few beers (working under the influence was a strict no no). But he said you sound fine to me. I finished my game and was packing my stuff up when I was called to the phone again. That time the caller said, "Jerry, this is Jimmy (a co-worker) You're not drafted that was me a few minutes ago." I have to admit, he got me pretty good. He had done the supervisors voice so well that I had been sure it was him. The next day, Jimmy was sent to another section of the plant after lunch. He stayed there for afternoon break, so I went back to the locker room and filled his lunch box with packing peanuts. He was a little ticked off the next day. It seems that his air conditioner was malfunctioning and his wife had opened his lunch box in front of a fan. He said it took them nearly half an hour to chase down all of the packing peanuts. We decided on a truce after that.