# Apprentice pranks



## FireInTheWire (Oct 30, 2011)

Since there's been a bit of apprentice discussion on here, I thought I'd add another thread. 

What is the funniest prank you've played on an apprentice or co-worker? My favorite ones that I've gotten is "Have you filled in your ID10T form?" and "go get me the black phase tape!"


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

Lady facility manager at Textron told me this one. New kid comes to the tool room and asks for a wrench....she asks him back what kind. He replies I dont know, the guy just said a wrench. She sent him back with a thirty six inch pipe wrench.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

~CS~


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## LightsOn81 (Jan 6, 2012)

I've done the id10t form! We had this new kid and its the end of the day and I'm like, dude you got to go to the shop and fill out your id10t form. He says ok what's the form again? So I write it down and say give it to the secretary when you get there. So he drives 30 minutes out of his way and hands the secretary, who also happens to be pretty hot, the piece of paper. Everyone up there laughed dead in his face.


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## LightsOn81 (Jan 6, 2012)

My favorite prank though was when one of my supervisors got the big dogs at the shop. First he called the safety guy and told this long drawn story of how I fell out of a lift and broke my arm. The next was great. He calls the guy the head honcho and the convo goes like this:
Supervisor Gary: hey Warren I got a little problem
Head Honcho Warren: what's wrong
G: well I was driving on to camp lejeune and the marines decided to search my vehicle and found my 9 mm. (company truck)
W: (you hear the man drop his head for a long time. I don't know how but I heard it.) why did you have a gun in your car driving on base.
G: I know you're mad about that but I'm going to have to tell you that later. But right now need some help. These guys got M16s on me and seem pretty pissed. Is there anything you can do to help me out?
W: (another long pause) we'll see Gary. (translated: ain't no way in Hell)
G: whatever you can do I'll never forget it. By the way April Fools!
Gary got good and cussed out for that one but it was worth every bit of it


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## TattooMan (Feb 10, 2012)

FireInTheWire said:


> Since there's been a bit of apprentice discussion on here, I thought I'd add another thread.
> 
> What is the funniest prank you've played on an apprentice or co-worker? My favorite ones that I've gotten is "Have you filled in your ID10T form?" and "go get me the black phase tape!"


Asking for them to find the pipe stretcher and wire stretcher is always good for a laugh


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## eric7379 (Jan 5, 2010)

Things I have asked newbies for:

Metric crescent wrench
Left-handed chain
An M6 bolt with 1/4-20 threads on it

My supervisor (stupidvisor; the guy was a complete moron) was having problems with his computer. He described the problems to me and I quickly told him that he had an ID10T error. He said "OK. Thanks for letting me know." Later on in my shift, I got my a$$ reamed for it big time because he called the IT guy at home and told him that he had an ID10T error. The IT guy duly informed him what it meant. I ended up getting written up for it, but it was well worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

"Get the fluorescent bulb bender, we got a U-bulb" :laughing:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

eric7379 said:


> Things I have asked newbies for:
> 
> Metric crescent wrench
> Left-handed chain
> ...













My favorite prank was going through the bank's drive-though that the company I worked for at the time used. My helper wanted to cash his paycheck.

While sitting in line at the drive up, we saw our newest noob walk into the bank. I waited about two minutes, then got on the 2-way radio, dialed his 2-way number and screamed, "EVERYBODY.... DOWN ON THE FLOOR!!!!!! I'VE GOT A BOMB!!!!!"


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

Tying those little pull string firecrackers in panel doors is pretty popular around here.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)




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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

How many threads do we need about stupid practical jokes? :laughing:


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## JoeKP (Nov 16, 2009)

John Valdes said:


> How many threads do we need about stupid practical jokes? :laughing:


I find them quite entertaining.


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

JoeKP said:


> I find them quite entertaining.


It is very rare to hear something original after all these years.


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## JoeKP (Nov 16, 2009)

John Valdes said:


> It is very rare to hear something original after all these years.


That's true. But I'm still young and have never heard some of these


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## The_Modifier (Oct 24, 2009)




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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

Handing out left handed bulbs for standard sockets. They got me in my first year, a tradition I continued.


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## Modern Castle Inc. (Nov 9, 2011)

On the sh we used to send the new guys up to medical for their channel fever shot on our way out to prevent them from getting sick. The corpsman being in on the game would fill a 50 cc syringe with Bedadine attach a heart needle, then turn to them and say" ok, drop them and bend over"......you could sit outside medical and giggle all day with that.....

Then the standards were, a bucket of steam or 20 ft of gig line


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## pistol pete (Jul 4, 2011)

My 2 favotires are lighting loose threads on pant bottoms on fire .... but better is screwing there boots to the ladder ... works awsome on wood ladders... i once screwded the helpers boot to the floor in an attic robed him of all srcew drivers and left him up there... what about locking them in the porta san and throwing a wolf pack / fire crakers down the stack?


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## Tpg392 (Dec 2, 2011)

I was 1st the victim as a 1st year helper and have carried it to the next generation of helpers I had.
Very simple,6' wooden ruler,remove metal tip,cut 3/4-1" off ruler, replace tips. Call out all your measurements to your helper with adjusted measurement, send him to help someone else,usually with in 10-15 mins you should hear "hey kid are you a moron"


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## flyboy (Jun 13, 2011)

John Valdes said:


> How many threads do we need about stupid practical jokes? :laughing:


I give up, how many?


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## mbednarik (Oct 10, 2011)

TattooMan said:


> Asking for them to find the pipe stretcher and wire stretcher is always good for a laugh


I have a wire stretcher. its for overhead cable. I used to play pranks on the boss. He had a 10' piece of 6" pvc on his truck to hold conduit, and on the back was a fta and a plastic pipe plug to hold everything in. I took pvc clear primer to the treads in the fta and spun in the plastic plug. I seem him later with a pipe wrench on the plug, broke it. Then looked at and said in disbelieve it just got stuck???:laughing:


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## darren79 (Dec 20, 2011)

Had a high school kid on our site for work experience. We have him drilling holes overhead in hollow core, water in one of the hollows. We had him searching for the plumber to tell him he broke through the main water line.

Saw the owner of the company show up to the site, send the high school kid down and told him the boss was bringing ice cream. The foreman sees him who is standing with the owner, foreman ask why he is there and he says the owner was bringing ice cream for the guys.


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## MollyHatchet29 (Jan 24, 2012)

These are always good for a chuckle... We did the same thing in the Army, so I was prepared. I was well aware of the "go get the pipe stretcher/sky hook/florescent tube bender" scavenger hunts, but I've had water in my hard after lunch (that would have been a mess if I hadn't seen it before I stuck it on my head), my lunchbox attached to a ceiling grid wire, eyeballs drawn on my safety glasses... I've also zip screwed hardware canister tops to carts complete with a full canister of bolts/nuts/etc, upside down, of course, attached a special lil "toy" present to someone's truck (he was a real ****, hahaha), poured goo-gone into the top tray of a toolbox, made use of the fact that my fellow apprentice was "horribly afraid of spiders" and my favorite, the tool box makeover: wrapped any tool handle I could get a hold of in pink Hello Kitty duct tape. They still call him Hello Kitty almost a year later. Nothing wrong with having a laugh once in awhile; I'll only prank if provoked and as long as safety isn't compromised, work still gets done and no personal belongings are damaged. Gotta have some rules...

K.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

Empty the guy's lunch box and put aquarium gravel and water and a goldfish in it. I saw that done to a guy at my old job.


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## yrman (Jun 12, 2011)

Screw the lunch pail to the floor. Tell new guy there are free T strippers in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket of yellow 77. Hang lunch pail from Tbar gtid. (from Jim)
Great thread. We are cracking up.


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## Svtlightning207 (Apr 2, 2012)

Oh we've sent some of the laborers to go find a bucket of steam one time... Needless to say they came back and asked for a description again, and went out and looked again. Not the brightest.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

erics37 said:


> Empty the guy's lunch box and put aquarium gravel and water and a goldfish in it. I saw that done to a guy at my old job.


 Now that is f-ing funny.

I saw a version that was a bit more malicious: Filled the guy's lunchbox with hydraulic cement and even trowelled the top of it smooth.

-John


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

After the painters annoyed me by painting over some of my new devices I took a #2 in his 1/2 full 5 gallon bucket during lunch. They got a new texture on the walls, the guy was scratching at it .


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## cdnelectrician (Mar 14, 2008)

Shockdoc said:


> After the painters annoyed me by painting over some of my new devices I took a #2 in his 1/2 full 5 gallon bucket during lunch. They got a new texture on the walls, the guy was scratching at it .


That's just gross man... A little bit of sand in the paint OK but poo? Come on dude...


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

John Valdes said:


> How many threads do we need about stupid practical jokes? :laughing:


The same number of threads we need about power savers, homework questions, if smokes detectors really need AFCI, etc. etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum ad infinitum.


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## nolabama (Oct 3, 2007)

480sparky said:


> The same number of threads we need about power savers, homework questions, if smokes detectors really need AFCI, etc. etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum ad infinitum.


You gotta put smokes on an AFCI? LOL


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## IBEW98 (May 12, 2012)

ask him to get the soap scooper from the bottom of the bucket...hey kid can you go get me the fluorescent "u" tube bender


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## Yukoner (Apr 7, 2012)

we had a clueless apprentice around a while back. we got him to go under the high line with a bucket and catch the voltage drop. he asked when will i know. our response "you'll know". he didn't come back for a while


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## ratrod56 (Jan 21, 2011)

We would pour water sown their crack when they were bending over. Tell them pick up their pants we arent plumbers....go get greenfield bender.....Summers are hot around here when 1st years would be fire caulking all day we would tell them they had to wear hard hat liners usually reserved for extreme cold weather, because the fire caulk had fumes that would f up their hearing:laughing: that was my favorite


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## leland (Dec 28, 2007)

I sent the kid to the supply house 3 times. For 277V lamps-

useless kidd- at the time- as things turned out- not sure if was my fault-

He is a great sparky now. Funny how things work out- We are even good friends now.

I challenge each and everyone. Makes them better. If you don't think- You don't learn.


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## NacBooster29 (Oct 25, 2010)

We Hung a kids tool bag where a high bay was supposed to go. He looked everywhere and then we asked when the last time he saw them.was . Working on the lights. He looks up and bingo.


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## JoeSparky (Mar 25, 2010)

Tiewraps on the driveshaft. Fistful of nuts/screws/nails/rocks behind their hubcap. Screw their hard hat to the floor where they left it at lunch time. Not an apprentice prank, but still funny - hang another trade's gang box from the bar joists.


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## kennydmeek (Sep 12, 2009)

John Valdes said:


> How many threads do we need about stupid practical jokes? :laughing:


Get your apprentice to count the number of threads on a 6' piece of allthread......that's how many.:laughing:


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## FranklinsApprentice (Apr 15, 2012)

I almost ripped my arm out of socket my first year when my tool bucket had been screwed down to the floor and I tried to pick it up. It was real heavy so I always strained to pick it up.


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## kennydmeek (Sep 12, 2009)

Shockdoc said:


> After the painters annoyed me by painting over some of my new devices I took a #2 in his 1/2 full 5 gallon bucket during lunch. They got a new texture on the walls, the guy was scratching at it .


...so was it like Mr. Hankey in there or something they could stir into the mix?:blink:


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## rnr electric (Jan 29, 2010)

When a helper is on a ladder, take your ***** and snip lowest lace of shoestring ( lowest loop where it crosses). They will not know for twenty min. Of walking and their shoes get so loose they wanna fall off.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

rnr electric said:


> When a helper is on a ladder, take your ***** and snip lowest lace of shoestring ( lowest loop where it crosses). They will not know for twenty min. Of walking and their shoes get so loose they wanna fall off.


Sounds like a good way to get your teeth kicked out if your spotted, haha.


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## rnr electric (Jan 29, 2010)

chewy said:


> Sounds like a good way to get your teeth kicked out if your spotted, haha.


Thankfully that hasn't happened yet. The bad part is I always have to buy them new laces cause I feel bad.


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## swissmiss177 (Feb 3, 2012)

Striped paint. Its been a hot commodity here. but we only have it in red...........


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## Turtle3000 (Feb 25, 2012)

*Piping back to the same box*

Piped thirty feet through a wall back to the same box. They never caught it, and came back to pull after drywall was up. Boss cussed up and down. It was a great time.


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## yrman (Jun 12, 2011)

Turtle3000 said:


> Piped thirty feet through a wall back to the same box. They never caught it, and came back to pull after drywall was up. Boss cussed up and down. It was a great time.


That is very funny but we'd probably fire someone for that.


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## kennydmeek (Sep 12, 2009)

yrman said:


> That is very funny but we'd probably fire someone for that.


Yeah....I laughed my @ss off too reading it..but I'da been pee-ohed in real life...:001_huh:


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## FireInTheWire (Oct 30, 2011)

kennydmeek said:


> Yeah....I laughed my @ss off too reading it..but I'da been pee-ohed in real life...:001_huh:


I would totally get my check the same day if I pulled that!


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## angryceltic (Feb 21, 2012)

480sparky said:


> My favorite prank was going through the bank's drive-though that the company I worked for at the time used. My helper wanted to cash his paycheck.
> 
> While sitting in line at the drive up, we saw our newest noob walk into the bank. I waited about two minutes, then got on the 2-way radio, dialed his 2-way number and screamed, "EVERYBODY.... DOWN ON THE FLOOR!!!!!! I'VE GOT A BOMB!!!!!"


This is by far the funniest thing I've read in a while.


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## chicagoremodeling (Apr 2, 2012)

Hey sparky now that is the best way to go about it! hahahahaha!!!!! :laughing::laughing:


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

Turtle3000 said:


> Piped thirty feet through a wall back to the same box...


 I would've paid to see the look on the face of the person doing the fishing.

-John


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## fanelle (Nov 27, 2011)

new kid came to me with a burnt out f32t8 and said he needed a new one. I told him they are rechargable and to go get the flourescent fluid, tank the cap off the end, fill it, and put it on charge it`ll be ready in an hour. He shattered the buld with a pair of channellocks and said the cap didn`t come off. I then told him he opened the wrong end.


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## jeffmoss26 (Dec 8, 2011)

one of the guys at my dad's work got his toolbag tied to a pipe in the ceiling lol


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## JohnR (Apr 12, 2010)

JoeSparky said:


> Tiewraps on the driveshaft. Fistful of nuts/screws/nails/rocks behind their hubcap. Screw their hard hat to the floor where they left it at lunch time. Not an apprentice prank, but still funny - hang another trade's gang box from the bar joists.


Know a guy who had the rocks in the hubcaps done to him, got mad, kept driving till he got home. Then he looked into getting the rocks out. Was only 10 Miles or so, all the nuts had rounded off corners, the exposed threads were all gone. Had to replace all the studs and nuts. The guy who did it got the bill.:thumbsup:


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## Gma Judy (Aug 5, 2021)

FireInTheWire said:


> Since there's been a bit of apprentice discussion on here, I thought I'd add another thread.
> 
> What is the funniest prank you've played on an apprentice or co-worker? My favorite ones that I've gotten is "Have you filled in your ID10T form?" and "go get me the black phase tape!"


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