Many people have a problem with April Fools Day. For the most part it's because they see April Fools pranks as juvenile, cruel and stupid. Boy are they right (for the most part). The problem with most April Fool jokes is that they just aren't funny. The object is not to "get" somebody, it is to craft a unique and unexpected situation that the victim reacts to and ultimately appreciates. There are no points for playing a joke on somebody who either doesn't get it or doesn't appreciate it. That's just being inane or cruel, depending on what you do.

A proper prank takes planning and build-up. It should wash over the victim in distinct stages:

1. Victim encounters prank and suffers a moment of total confusion. The changes to their environment do not match what is expected and they have to pull out of autopilot and react with intentional reason.


2. Victim undergoes brief but severe disorientation. Realization that the expected environment is not there has reached the reasoning centers. Perhaps the victim looks around - is he in the right location? Did he make a wrong turn or somehow enter the wrong office?


3. The victim gets a spike of anger, fear, loss, humiliation or other negative emotion. As he realizes that the environment truly is altered and no simple mistake on his part can explain it away he'll suffer one or more negative emotions. Which emotion is suffered depends on what the specific prank was and how his personality reacts to the changed environment. Knowledge of the victim is very important in order to evoke acceptable negative emotions. People react to things differently and you need to have a good idea of how the victim will react. If a negative emotion is too strong or misplaced or simply not one the victim can handle then the humor has turned into cruelty at this point.


4. The victim feels immense relief as he realizes that the changed environment was the result of external intentional influence (a prank) and that his original environment has truly not been compromised in a harmful fashion. Coming from the negative feeling in the last step this can be an actual euphoric sensation. This is where many pranks fail miserably. If there is no reference for the victim to catch to realize he's been pranked he's stuck in the negative emotion above. If that lasts for any serious length of time there will be no emotional recovery when the prank is revealed.


5. The victim enjoys the humorous aspect of the prank played upon him. This stage works much better when the prankers are there to share it with the victim. Smiles and guffaws are passed around with "Man, you really got me" and "Oh, you should have seen the look on your face!", etceteras. If the joke doesn't bring the victim to this stage then it wasn't a joke.

I had the pleasure of working with a first rate prankster. Note that this didn't mean he was constantly pulling pranks on people. Quite the opposite - he very rarely did so. But when the right situation came up he had a knack of recognizing it and applying just the right amount of twist to make an exceptionally good joke that was appreciated by all involved. For example, let me relate the first one that he pulled on my boss:

After months of searching The Boss had finally found and hired a person for the critical Quality Assurance Manager position. The candidate had extensive schooling and was pursuing a doctorate. He was a family man who's values fit in well with the company's. He was intimately familiar with both the methods currently being used at the company and the methods that the company wanted to convert to. A salary had been agreed upon, the company had agreed to pay for the new manager's move and had begun lining up houses for him to look at in the local market.

On the afternoon that the new manager was supposed to arrive in town to look for a new home for his family The Boss got a letter. It was from that very same new manager. It started out thanking The Boss for this wonderful opportunity but then dropped a bombshell. He wouldn't be able to accept the position. When he had attempted to resign his job they brought out his non-disclosure agreements and pointed out that The Boss's company was technically within the scope of prohibited employers. Because of those legal agreements with his current employer he would have to sit idle for three months after leaving them before he could accept the job with the new company. He understood that there was no reasonable way he could ask The Boss to hold the position for him for this time so he was politely declining the position.

The Boss was floored. This guy had been perfect for the spot. Absolutely perfect. Three months of searching and interviewing and testing to find this guy, well into the process of bringing him into the fold and getting his family moved to Buffalo, now all of a sudden The Boss was going to have to start all over again from scratch.

In a daze he finished reading the letter. It once again thanked him profusely for the opportunity and expressed his profound regret for not being able to accept it as well as his apologies for this late notice. He closed with his signature and a post script that said April Fools. My wife and I are here right now looking at the houses you've found for us. We missed you for lunch so please consider this an invitation to dinner. Call me on my cell phone at xxxxx when you catch your breath.

This worked as a perfect prank because he had left nothing to chance. He was intimately familiar with the circumstances of his hiring. He had signed non-disclosure agreements with us so he knew that The Boss would be familiar with these employee/employer agreements. He had spoken and dined with The Boss a half dozen times during the hiring process so knew he had an excellent sense of humor. He also ran it by the receptionist when the prank popped into his head. In fact, she was the one who typed up the letter for him.

This prank worked so well in fact that it's one of The Boss's favorite anecdotes. That is truly the master's mark.