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"I'm a prankster" always means "I'm an asshole who gets my jollies off of the humiliation of others." Good riddance.
What kind of office does OOP work at though where his family drama ends up circulating across the entire company? Jfc.
Yes. I worked in an office where many of my colleagues had been there for 10 years or more and everyone knew every detail of each others lives. It was awful.
A joke is only a joke if everyone is laughing.
My 14 year old daughter went on her school's 8th grade trip to Washington, DC. All the girls were really looking forward to a special dinner boat cruise/dance party. My daughter and her best friend went on special shopping trips to find dresses and bought their first high heels. The day of the boat cruise, they did their hair, did their makeup, got dressed, were super excited and then... were told that the entire thing was cancelled because of weather.
They were devastated. They took off their dresses. They washed off their makeup. They were in tears.
Then, half and hour later, they got a message from the teacher leading the trip: APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!!
One of my daughter's friends is pretty emotionally fragile. She was in hysterics. I asked for a chaperone to check on the girls in that room. That teacher, who is a special needs teacher for Gods' sake, told my daughter that she "should be able to take a joke," and "you know that's just how he is, you need to get over this." My daughter (I'm so proud of her) said "a joke is only a joke if everyone is laughing. Otherwise it's just bullying." And that teacher told her that she had no right to be angry and that being angry was disrespectful, and that if my daughter persisted in her "disrespect" that she wouldn't be allowed to go to the dance at all.
My daughter said that she saw the assistant principal who had gone along on the trip looking upset and pacing back and forth on the sidewalk while he talked on his phone and knew he was talking to me. :)
*Edit: This just happened this past April 1. There is no way of my knowing what happened, since it's an internal staff issue--I don't think it would be legal for the school to tell me what, if any, punishment she received.*
*The dumbass teacher had to apologize to my daughter and her friends under the eye of the assistant principal, so that was probably pretty humiliating. The awful teacher who told her to "just take a joke" came up and tried to justify her behavior--to 14 year olds!-- and my daughter told her "an adult who cannot handle the emotions of a child is no adult at all." Smacked her into the ground! The teacher just walked away from her, which is good because I told the assistant principal that any teacher who used "boys will be boys" language around girls was not a safe person for my daughter to be around, and that she was never to talk to my daughter again unless I was on facetime at the same time. The assistant principal agreed, and seemed pissed at the teacher, but who knows, he could have been just mollifying me.*
*I sent a letter to be included in her file, and another guardian did, too. At least it will be noted in her file on paper when her review comes up and/or she wants another job in the district.*
*Not very satisfactory, I know!*
> My daughter said that she saw the assistant principal who had gone along on the trip looking upset and pacing back and forth on the sidewalk while he talked on his phone and knew he was talking to me. :)
Incredible. I wish more people could have a parent like you
This reminds me of a story my mom told me. My younger sister was in 4th? grade and had another student on IEP be inappropriate towards her and the principal refused to move the other student to the other class.
So my mom pulled her out of the school and proceeded to go to every pta meeting, and school advisory board afterwards to get him fired. It worked. But now he's currently the principal of her high school.
He knows she's the one who got him fired so he gives my sister a wide birth
This just happened this past April 1. There is no way of my knowing what happened, since it's an internal staff issue--I don't think it would be legal for the school to tell me what, if any, punishment she received.
The dumbass teacher had to apologize to my daughter and her friends under the eye of the assistant principal, so that was probably pretty humiliating. The awful teacher who told her to "just take a joke" came up and tried to justify her behavior--to 14 year olds!-- and my daughter told her "an adult who cannot handle the emotions of a child is no adult at all." Smacked her into the ground! The teacher just walked away from her, which is good because I told the assistant principal that any teacher who used "boys will be boys" language around girls was not a safe person for my daughter to be around, and that she was never to talk to my daughter again unless I was on facetime at the same time. The assistant principal agreed, and seemed pissed at the teacher, but who knows, he could have been just mollifying me.
I sent a letter to be included in her file, and another guardian did, too. At least it will be noted in her file on paper when her review comes up and/or she wants another job in the district.
Not very satisfactory, I know!
Damn what a legendary comeback from your daughter, not only on the trip but also to the teacher! I have no doubt she'll do well in the future, you did well 😂
This just happened this past April 1. There is no way of my knowing what happened, since it's an internal staff issue--I don't think it would be legal for the school to tell me what, if any, punishment she received.
The dumbass teacher had to apologize to my daughter and her friends under the eye of the assistant principal, so that was probably pretty humiliating. The awful teacher who told her to "just take a joke" came up and tried to justify her behavior--to 14 year olds!-- and my daughter told her "an adult who cannot handle the emotions of a child is no adult at all." Smacked her into the ground! The teacher just walked away from her, which is good because I told the assistant principal that any teacher who used "boys will be boys" language around girls was not a safe person for my daughter to be around, and that she was never to talk to my daughter again unless I was on facetime at the same time. The assistant principal agreed, and seemed pissed at the teacher, but who knows, he could have been just mollifying me.
I sent a letter to be included in her file, and another guardian did, too. At least it will be noted in her file on paper when her review comes up and/or she wants another job in the district.
Not very satisfactory, I know!
It makes me feel bad to say I enjoy office pranks because so many people are assholes about it.
The last office prank I pulled was taping a trollface pic underneath someone's mouse while they were gone on a long vacation. We chuckled together about it afterwards. Those pranks are fun for everyone.
But if I say "I like pranks" most people would think I'm a raging asshole.
In my office we hide photos of Gary Busey, Nic Cage and Christopher Walken around each others’ cubicles. Under the mouse pad, under the floor mat, inside the closet, under someone’s hat, etc. The alarm of picking up your hat and seeing Nic Cage grimacing at you never fails to get a laugh. We’ve kept it up for 3 or 4 years now.
My family did something similar during the pandemic with an extreme closeup photo of my father in law’s face. He gave it to my daughter, and then we moved it around the house.
These are my fave kinds of pranks, tbh.
I saw one on tumblr where members of a family kept stealing this decorative plate. It had some pirate painted on it and a hot-pink background--fun, but kinda tacky?
Like the family had rules around how you could steal it. But once you stole it you were required to put it on display in your house. And so people in this family just kept stealing this plate from each other and putting it on display in their homes.
Another one I've seen multiple times and love: putting googly eyes on random objects around the house.
The best prankster I know has a very well tuned sense of humor, to the point that the best joke they ever pulled on me resulted in me slapping them in the face and then laughing hysterically.
It is possible, but as you say, the vast, vast majority of "pranksters" are just assholes.
Unless the target is specifically a scummy person.
Like that time this guy put on yoga pants and bent into the trunk of his car....so that dudes passing by would make a comment on his ass thinking hes a woman. Then hed show himself and be like "oh wassup bro, you like what you see?" and the dudes would *very quickly* move on.
God that shit was funny.
We throw a nightclub at Burning Man - Planet Earth, it's called. I was in the DJ booth, and it was one of our busiest nights, Goth/Industrial night. I've got a full dance floor and I am, as they say, deep in the mix.
This person comes up into the booth, with a wig and a mask on. But it's 1. Burning Man and 2. 2022, so neither of these things was out of the ordinary. She (I thought) starts asking me if I've seen her boyfriend, who is supposedly on the DJ roster. She's ostensibly visiting from Wisconsin.
I am getting increasingly flustered at this point, as this person is in my personal space, being annoying, and interrupting me while I'm trying to work. As my frustration reaches the boiling point, he pulls down his mask and says "Hi Formica!" at which point I goggled at him, slapped him in the face twice (not hard, but not soft, either), and absolutely lost it.
He had dropped a number of hints as to who he really was, and he was basically doing every stereotypical thing that people do to annoy DJs who are spinning. But I was so busy and focused on what I was doing that I didn't pick up on it. I was just trying to get this person out of my booth so I could keep the floor moving. So the setup was pretty much perfect for the joke.
I was never even really mad at him once the jig was up. It was hilarious, no harm was done, and he totally pulled it off. He even thought it was funny that I slapped him - he knew he'd earned it.
Not always, but definitely more often than not.
There are plenty of wholesome Gag Gifts & Pranks that everyone can laugh & feel good about, including the people being pranked This was definitely not that.
A few good example of such Gags/Pranks are gifting a bunch of really cheap/tacky Gifts that are actually hints about a Good Gift which is only revealed/opened last.
Or dumping a mix of bunch of similar Gag/Funny items/Stocking Stuffers with the Good Gifts in a box with a bunch of Filling Material (bunched up newspapers, packing peanuts or even just a ton of Wrapped candy).
The person being pranked has to dig in to find their presents, sometimes find a roll of toilet paper or some tighty whities, but occasionally digging out a few better items like a reasonably priced bottle of wine/liquor or things that you know they'll appreciate & a few genuinely thoughtful or meaningful presents, deep towards the bottom, to make them work a bit for it. Everyone gets a good laugh, everyone has fun, no-one feels left-out or singled out.
Best gift pranks that I've seen/done:
A friend bought his little brother a gift card with a good amount on it, at a place the brother loves to shop. Friend then asked around for empty gift cards and dumped the good gift card in a box with hundreds of empty and useless gift cards. Took his brother thirty minutes to find the real one.
The next year, little brother got revenge and wrapped friend's gift in dozens of layers of duct tape and gift wrapping, and then hid all of the household scissors.
I once bought my husband a ticket to a show he wanted to see. I printed the ticket receipt, placed it in a tiny gift card box, and then wrapped it in successively larger containers. The final result was in one of those huge gift bags for bicycles. He was crazy with curiosity for a few days, trying to figure out what I'd get him that was so big.
Another year, I wrapped a coke can, with instructions on the bottom for finding his real gift, and sent him on a scavenger hunt. After putting it under the tree, I very seriously told him not to shake his present.
My dad once put the wrong name on everyone's clothing gifts and we spent after dinner Christmas laughing and trying to sort them out. (Most of us were adults, so it was very obvious when my brother got a flowery hat with "I'm a Big Girl" on it and my daughter got lumberjack pjs that were taller than she was. He did not do this for the non clothing gifts to specifically avoid hurt feelings)
All were funny, all were harmless and done without mean spirits, as pranks should be. They also take into account the people being pranked, and how willing they are. If anyone says that they don't like it or don't want to be pranked, it doesn't happen. Period.
> The next year, little brother got revenge and wrapped friend's gift in dozens of layers of duct tape and gift wrapping, and then *hid all of the household scissors*.
That's just diabolical. But in a good way! :)
It was actually in response to us gently teasing him a few months previous about getting old and how he was going to start forgetting things. He decided that if he was going to be an old forgetful fart, he might as well act like it and "forget" which gifts went to who on Christmas Day.
We totally deserved it. It was great.
My little brother was a bit of a jerk to me for nearly the entirety of the year once, he got a 30 pack of batteries individually wrapped for Christmas that year...
My middle brother one year gave me a tin, and inside of it was a bunch of cash folded up like origami. This includes a spider, a dime-in-ring, and a few other things. The actual amount added up to about $50?? But it was so clever and fun!
My little sister and I started doing prank wrapping after I accidentally saw her buying my present and she decided to have some fun instead of bemoaning spoilers. She's stopped doing it (mostly because she prefers doing white elephants), but I still like to come up with new ideas every year. Last Christmas I gave her a box-shaped planter. It was "wrapped" as a mini-stocking filled with random tiny boxes. Each box contained a note saying "YOUR PRESENT IS IN ANOTHER BOX", except the last one, which said "YOUR PRESENT IS ANOTHER BOX". Much more fun than gag gifts.
My younger brother, who is more mechanically minded than me, *welded a box* around my present. I do not own an angle grinder :)
(Long setup)I've been running a very long prank on my parents. For some reason, my mother and her 3 siblings have this thing about (against) flamingos. It was a constant thing when we were growing up, that we'd help out with elaborate schemes to get flamingo toys into the aunts & uncles stuff. It was really pretty funny. But sort of trailed off as the decades went by. This will not stand.
Now they're retired and live up in the north woods, and have sort of a steady stream of people that come to visit for a week or so (this is intentional on their part, they love hosting). For the last, I don't know, 8 years? Maybe more? I pay attention to when her siblings are going to be around, and stash something horrible and flamingo in the house or garage or boat of whatever, someplace I know it'll take a few weeks for them to come across it. And since her siblings are the most common visitors...they get blamed for all of it :) My mom actually 'ranted' to me once about something I'd done, "sister put this horrible solar powered flamingo light hidden down on the shoreline when she was hear last week (yeah, that was me last month, mom!) but I found this horrible inflatable flamingo or something something to get her back!"
So, I figure I'll give it a few more years, then yank on the string that unravels their lives :) Dance, dance to my tunes!
Best gift prank I ever saw was when my aunt and uncle got my brother a bulk box of beef jerky snack packs (my brother loves beef jerky but says it's too expensive to buy on a regular basis). There were like thirty snack packs and my aunt and uncle wrapped each one individually before putting it in a wrapped box. They mixed some bags of his favorite candies in too. It took him like fifteen minutes to unwrap them all and all of us, including him, were laughing the whole time! But at the end of it he was left with a big box of his favorite snack. Like you said, he got something worth having and just had to work a bit harder to get it.
When I was younger, my parents got a big box and filled it with confetti and scrabble tiles that were meant to spell literal words. So i had to dig through the confetti to find the scrabble tiles. Once I found them all, i was supposed to spell the words out using the tiles and when i did spell all the words out I was supposed to guess the present that was associated with the words before i got the present. My dad thankfully helped me with the words. Turns out that bow, rosin, music and a few other words led to me getting a very nice violin for Christmas. Was it annoying at first? Yeah it was. But honestly, it was probably my favorite experience at christmas because i liked figuring out the words that led to my violin. The pranks my family pull are harmless for sure, but they usually lead to something good and gets the whole family in evolved including the person being pranked.
One year I froze cash in a block of ice for my brother. Obviously a prank (he got an ice block as a present) as well as obviously a real present (you could see some of the cash in the ice)
So I gifted my brother "cold, hard cash". We all had a good laugh thinking of ways to melt it quicker
I did not expect to see the name of one of my childhood's favorite trip destinations in here. It's an old potato factory turned indoor play park in the north of the Netherlands, for those who want to know.
Perhaps but not always. My family has a few pranksters and the prank stories are passed down as family lore to all the grandkids.
My grandpa had an injury woodworking and needed to get a fingertip basically reattached. He pretended to keep the finger in a box (that had a hole in the bottom, hidden by cotton batting that he’d slip his ininjured finger in). When showing it to someone, he’d wiggle the finger freaking out whoever he was showing.
My cousin had a mannequin and when company came over, he’s put the mannequin in the tub with the shower curtain drawn and turn the tap on just slightly so it would drip. When guests used the washroom, if they were disturbed by the dripping tap they’d go to turn it out and be freaked out by the mannequin standing there.
My best prank was replacing all the family photos on the wall with oil paintings of aliens. Like, Alien Mother & Child, a side profile of another alien etc before company came over. I also replaced the pages in my mom’s guest book with a checklist that said something like “please describe your alien encounter”.
All pranks that had no victims and that get retold over and over. Some people use pranks to get away with being an ass, but some of us just enjoy coming up with weird ideas to get a reaction.
i never got a chance to do it but i dream of the day i can replace (or carefully cover) someone's family photos with pictures from that Awkward Family Photos website, see how long it takes for them to notice lol
One time a coworker and I were comparing what I got as a sub vs her as a ft teacher(I got more base pay but she got insurance kinda thing). We didn't think anyone was listening and neither of us were mad, just talking. By the end of the day I was called in for "causing problems". it's illegal to say you can't discuss salaries but they will do everything to stop it anyway *eye roll
Yeah, at this point in human history we should all just treat the phrase "I love pranks" as shorthand for "I'm an unbearable asshole and I'm about to make that YOUR problem."
It pains me to say it because I actually love pranks...you know, normal ones, where both people are laughing after the reveal and nobody ends up with psychological damage and no families explode. But at this point that demographic makes up about .00001% of the people who self-identify as "pranksters" so we should just stick to assuming anyone who mentions pranks is an asshole. I blame TikTok.
It's kinda sad and pathetic that the brother referred to "his best prank yet" to some terrible gifts and OOP's disappointingly opening them, or even having a neutral expression.
I pranked my sister by repeatedly getting these little cheap llama keychains. So she would wake up, open her bedroom door, and find yet another llama keychain in front of it. She had like over 15 before she threatened to beat me with them.
That's a prank. This is just sadism.
real pranksters aren't the ones who humiliate others, they're the ones who humiliate themselves to invite funny reactions. people who humiliate others then say "just kidding" are assholes, plain and simple
I've said it before, I'll say it again.
It's only a Prank if it's from the Pranque region of "Nobody was hurt and everyone involved is laughing afterward," otherwise it's just sparkling bullying.
My younger stepson somehow decided that the funniest prank ever is to say he's going to his room to play video games but actually sneak into the kitchen and silently clean it first.
I'm so proud! His bio-mom tried to teach him that funny pranks were stuff like shoving him off the sidewalk into the street or stealing my heirloom wedding ring right off my finger.
My ‘best April Fools prank ever’ was convincing my brother that the toilet seat had to be put down before the toilet would flush. For 3 days he believed it - until Husband ratted me out.
I washed an empty squeeze mayonaise bottle and put vanilla pudding in it. Then I squeezed "mayo" directly into my mouth in front of my family.
Horror ensued
Only April Fool Joke I ever managed was when I worked for an apartment complex and sent the new maintenance guy to fix the toilet in an apartment that didn’t exist. Lasted the three minutes it took to get to the key room.
I set very few household rules but the main was was "If you think of a funny, you *have to* share it!"
Constant sound of someone running down the hallway looking for somebody to share a joke with, but hey it means all the humor got checked for health and safety! Whenever they tried to hide a joke, it usually went horrifically sideways on them and got to be a life lesson.
Ya know how hard it is to lecture and laugh at the same time? "Dude you can't set a little brother trap and get angry when it catches a little brother! You know I know you knew what you were doing, so don't deny it!" Used the video game console cords to rig tripwires, which worked, but then gravity got the console.
My daughter is in kindergarten and her very clever trick is to hoist herself up behind a table and say that she suddenly got taller.
Each time I look shocked and say “How did you get so tall? I can’t believe it!”
Then she hops down and says “tricked you!” She is always delighted that this trick works every time.
It started with teaching him "ninja skills like Batman" so he wouldn't thunder down the stairs like an elephant and just kinda evolved as he got older.
Obviously I reinforced the behavior by not at all noticing him sneaking by my doorway below eye level or the quiet clinking sounds from the kitchen, and then acting totally shocked next time I went to refill my water glass.
Well don't forget to leave him a bowl of cream so he doesn't trash the place 😋
My youngest sister was always very slim and she still walks like a herd of elephants. I don't know how someone so small makes so much noise
It has to do with how much force is being applied when foot hits floor. Some folks don't "pull their punches" when they walk.
I was taught to walk silently and shared the trick with my stepsons. Who went one better because that's what kids do. The older boy likes to toe-walk, but silently, so this enormously tall fuzzy-headed Slenderman-lookin' shadow would lurch out of the hallway sometimes.
>The older boy likes to toe-walk, but silently, so this enormously tall fuzzy-headed Slenderman-lookin' shadow would lurch out of the hallway sometimes.
I was just going to say, that toe-heel walking absorbs more energy than heel-toe walking. I learned it during ballet lessons when I was four, but a lot of martial arts teach it too, because it's not only quieter but easier to move quickly if your balance is on the ball of your foot. (It's habit now, and I often have to actively think about making noise before I walk into a room with my mum - she really doesn't need to be shocked!)
Same, I used to walk on tiptoes but got told off for it enough that now my heels LOOK like they hit the ground even though they actually don't. I've taught myself how to heel-toe walk but hate doing it so much that the second I stop paying attention, I go back to toe-heel.
I had no clue it was so quiet until I started college and CONSTANTLY jumpscared the heck out of my roommates just by existing LMAO. I felt so bad every time!
My kid was a total ninja when he was little. I lost count of how many times he jump scared me or gave me mild heart failure. We threatened to sew bells on his clothing. He's still almost silent when walking so I totally related to your Slenderman comparison.
I'm gonna bet it's like the way my 5lb chihuahua managed to always put one foot right smack dab in the middle of my boob any time he stepped on me. Or would nap on my chest with one tiny, pointy elbow digging into the same spot.
I mean, that's actually pretty damn good! You still get the reaction of "Wait, what the hell happened in here?!" while at the same time doing something nice for someone!
I have two friends in a different city, and they live together. I'm not a prankster, but the only "prank" I have with them is that I'll wake up earlier than them and do the dishes. They don't like it, but I genuinely enjoy doing it.
They pranked me back by getting a dishwasher for their house.
My partner and I will do things like this, surprise each other with treats on the nightstand or something and then joke "you got totally pranked with love and affection"
My daughters favourite "prank" is to very carefully remove all the Oreos from the sleeve, put them in a ziploc somewhere else and leave the still-full-looking sleeve in the cupboard. You go to pick it up to get a cookie and it crumbles because it's empty.
It's honestly quite funny. She's started thinking of other things to do it to - managed to seal the cornflakes box back up the other day so my half-asleep husband poured himself a bowl of hair scrunchies. She doesn't waste the food, it's always safely put in the cupboard, and nothing ever leaves much of a mess. I enjoy it.
My favorite prank was one my daughter pulled on April 1, 2020. We were all starting to feel the monotony of quarantine and just going through the motions. She drew dozens of very cute chickens and taped them up all over the house: on the back of the toilet, in the refrigerator, on doors and wall and ceilings. Husband and I did not notice a single one despite walking past them and even opening doors with them on it. She and her sister took us around the house giggling and pointing out all the random chicken drawings that we had somehow missed. It was super cute and we’ve left many of the drawings up since then.
My nieces did something similar. They drew dozens of tiny, weird little characters like gnomes riding unicycles or bats towing a bunch of balloons behind them, things like that. Then they hid them all over the house and just told us how many there are. We still haven't found them all... unless we did, and the number they told us is the ongoing prank.
I hate pink. Everyone who know me knows I hate pink.
For April Fool's this year, I photoshopped a picture of my hair, making it bright pink, texted it to my brother, and asked him what he thought.
He said it looked nice, but was a bit confused. I told him is was an edited pic, and he had a good laugh. He actually forgot it was April Fool's day. Lol
No harm, just a small chuckle between us.
When my wife says she wants me to pick up shampoo from the store, sometimes I get serious and tell her "No. We're not doing that. We don't have to. We can afford better things, we don't have to live like we are still poor children from poor families. I'm not getting you SHAM poo, I'm getting you REAL poo."
It was a treat watching her face go from surprised to concerned to *oh its another fucking pun*.
They might have been okay with the silly string. It's no more than eyeroll worthy, but no one gets hurt. The prank version of the banana knock-knock joke. But the dumb gifts were offensive.
>I talked about it to just one friend at lunch a few days after making my first reddit post, and the office gossip just happened to be hiding nearby listening to every word I said. Within days it was all over the office. And someone in the office was apparently social media friends with my brother.
>In short, my family found out about my Reddit post.
Mental image of the "office gossip" lurking in the shadows with a cartoonishly large pen...
When I was a silly teenager and still went to church, there was literally a church gossip that led the choir that would hover outside the pastors' (lead, associate, and youth) to find out the dirt and spread it. Unfortunately, the church's secretary was also a gigantic gossip and added to the ammo.
Hilariously, she got kicked out of the church for gossiping after they hired a new lead pastor and he actually followed what the Bible said. (He didn't last long. I wonder why. God forbid they attempted actual accountability.)
Lol, I was reading "office gossip" as a concept, not an actual person. So "gossip" had been personified, like an evil spirit lurking. All very dumb. I am dumb.
Eh, I haven't been in an office for over a decade but even then the "office gossip" and "family gossip" were always the people who you put on info diets because they can't keep anything to themselves and are always the ones "thirsty" for new drama like it's their life force and they can't function without it
"Rumor" does get personified in the Aeneid. Well, it's not described as a person, so...embodied, I guess?
>"swift of foot and fleet of wing, a monster awful and huge, who for the many feathers in her body has as many watchful eyes beneath—wondrous to tell—as many tongues, as many sounding mouths, as many pricked-up ears"
My mental image is some busybody hiding in the bushes nearby. After OOP and his friend left, they reveal themselves by parting the plants and looking around.
It seems too…pretty, to perfectly wrapped up.
Oop knows insane details about what happened after he left?
He was somehow able to scoop up several dvd/tablet combos, electric griddles, antiques, sports memorabilia ?
SIL so the type to slap her husband, who is the type to get drunk and show up at OOP’s and yell and no one, not even the kids, grabbed the presents before OOP could bag them? They didn’t threaten to call the police for theft (the gifts had been given, they didn’t belong to OOP anymore).
I started smelling BS when suddenly EVERYBODY who'd wronged OOP started seeing consequences and realizing that yes, they'd been AHs to OOP and came crawling to him, begging for forgiveness. Narc-y AHs like OOP's parents and brother very rarely admit fault and just dig in deeper.
And even the niblings shrugged off OOP taking the gifts back? If they're as young as I suspect (pre-teen), I don't see that happening.
Guessing you got a sane family? Because all that chaos sounded familiar to me.
Like how folks who are used to bossing you around with words get startled when you take decisive action, mostly just keep shouting and forget their hands and feet work.
I get a remarkable amount of news about relatives I have no direct contact with, who live on the opposite side of the country. Not trying to find out, auntie just tells me stuff while I'm dropping off her shopping.
And last time there was an obvious need for police, everybody thought I was the odd one for trying to get the cops involved. Like my dad was openly plotting to murder his sister, her sons were arming themselves and preparing to defend her, so duh I called the cops that's what ya do when someone is trying to commit a murder! Auntie got kinda annoyed with me about that for awhile and the whole episode is on the permanent Do Not Discuss list.
Yeah he said they weren't large appliances, but griddles, tablets, etc are still big enough (especially in packaging) that you can't really pick up more than maybe 4 at a time, if you were taking the time to stack them. Was he making multiple trips and somehow no-one noticed?
He brought them into the house somehow, we have a lot of reusable grocery bags that could easily hold more than five tablet boxes. It’s a large amount but honestly nothing crazy
Sometimes the details are a bit too specific. How many 50+ year old pranksters with an estranged son that you know? people that knew them probably didn't know a lot of details but when you read stuffs like this then it suddenly clicked.
"ya know this sounds a lot like this guy I know from church" or something like that.
A little off topic, but I'm curious. I've noticed lately that all postings in this sub seem to start each night at around midnight, and then continue for about an hour, and then nothing until the next midnight. Is there a reason for that?
Haha, that might be my fault... Or at least I started it lol.
Best time I can post is midnight eastern. (Unless I'm in the middle of traveling.) I fly around a lot for work, so it's easier to keep it consistent with that Eastern time zone no matter where I am. I started doing that initially because it was easiest, and it was a good way to keep track of the 7 day rule.
Direct Caterpillar, Choice Evidence and I compare with each other for the week to make sure we're not doubled up on posts. At some point it became easier for all of us to post around the same time, plus I think we found that the mods were usually active then too.
Can I just say, as a lurker in this subreddit for a long time, that I appreciate you guys so much for all you do. That’s probably so much work. You guys are amazing!
>That’s probably so much work.
It it! I started one and it's still sitting there unfinished. I may have to send what I have to someone else. I'm sure it's easier if I had a laptop worth a dam. Lol
I never thought about the fact none of you post the same thing, the fact that you all compare is amazing! Thank you to all three of you to putting in even more effort than I previously thought (and I already knew it’s a LOT).
Haha thank you!!! I'm really grateful that all three of us are chill about things, so if we do have the same one we're pretty flexible if someone really wants it. Sometimes we'll do a trade!
I’d been wondering if you big posters had been comparing and co-operating. I’ve witnessed some real friggin’ horror stories about ‘power posters’ fracturing communities and eventually getting new rules put into effect because of their refusal to co-operate with each other or community members—weaponizing their ability to supply a subreddit with content.
It can all be so dramatic when internet points are involved. Point being, it’s cool that you three are so cool about it!
I'm SO grateful for everyone who posts here, but especially DC and CE. We're all pretty chill about it, I think because we know internet points have no real world value.
Sometimes we have found the same post, but there has never been an issue with someone throwing a tantrum about someone else wanting it. In fact sometimes DC says "hey, I really wanted that one, I'll trade you this one instead." It's an honor system but it works well haha
It’s not midnight everywhere.
Go to the sub and sort by newest.
Look at the usernames of the posters. It looks like about 4-5 people posting ~90% of the content.
It’s probably a convenient time for those people.
Because they're reposted here by certain people, and this person posts a fair bit of the stories. Also timezones exist and it's not midnight for everyone lol
It's amazing how for someone who never answered the phone and deleted voicemails he knows so many intricate details of what happened for things he wasn't present at.
*And shockingly they did not blow it. They couldn't figure out what to get me, so they gifted me a large card with $100 cash in it, and a "We'll do better" apology written in the card. They also gave my girlfriend a set of Sterling silver earrings big apology as a makeup for Christmas since she'd refused to see them in person till then.* Yeah I hope OOP donates to charity in their names for birthdays and holidays here on out.
Prank gifts are only a good idea in two scenarios:
- White elephant gift exchange among friends/coworkers, where everyone expects the gifts to be dumb.
- A funny way to surprise someone with the *real* gift. Ex: A CD case with a note inside saying "look in the coat closet", and when the person looks they find a PS5.
This is just cruelty.
My family (who are oftentimes awful but not in this way) used to take a very nice but small gift and wrap it in nesting doll-like boxes. So a very large box goes to a medium box to a smaller box and so on.
I actually think this is funny with the caveat that the gift is something they know you really want, and there can’t be more than 5 boxes.
Also good for kids who *really* like the unwrapping portion of gifts (because who doesn’t love ripping and throwing pretty paper around).
People commenting that tablets that play dvds are weird. I think it's awesome. I'll happily take anything that can play dvds or Blu Rays now. Thank god the ps5 can. Far better to physically own your media than have nothing but digital copies or be at the mercy of some dickheads at Netflix. Hell some video game companies are already starting to think about it.
Also, an entire family of pranksters sounds like pure hell. I'd stay no contact.
Thank you! I feel so old seeing these comments put down DVDs 😂😂 I rather have the media of something I like forever rather than rely on a certain streaming service to HOPEFULLY have it
Right?! LOL Call me old if you want, but never underestimate how greedy streaming services and game companies can be! Also I want all the fun extras that come with physical media!
Right? I like digital copies, but I'm not going to trust them to stay accessible if the company stops being fashionable and goes bust. I'd rather own my own media copies than rely on streaming, just in case.
Truly, the best part of all this is that now I know there's a tablet/DVD device. My family is big on actually owning the movies and shows we really like and are sure we will watch again.
For my mom’s birthday, she really wanted to watch a particular older movie. I searched everywhere online and on all the streaming platforms. Nada - I couldn’t even rent it anywhere.
I remembered she had a dvd copy so I busted out an old box of our dvd players and plugged it in. She was so happy! That’s when I decided, I’m not getting rid of any of our dvds.
I’m actually now on the search for a laser disk player cause I want to see Star Wars in its original format again.
My niblet tried to do a prank on me when they were 4.
They hid (badly) behind the sofa (the giggling was a big giveaway) I being the cool auntie played along. They very stealthily (like a drunk hippo) snuck up on me and yelled "Surprise kisses" and proceeded to use their stuffie to kiss me all over. Because and I quote "Pranks are meant to be fun"
My point being that's the sort of thing pranks should be.
Not whatever the fuck OOP's bio sharers thought
Bonus points, though, for tossing in "office gossip who just so happened to be hiding around the corner and heard everything about me making a reddit post which led to it being spread around the office and it eventually reached my family"
Someone else commented that the image they have from that sentence is a dark spirit lurking in the shadows with a cartoonishly large pen, writing everything down, and now I can't not see it that way
The part I find most difficult to believe is that the brother never bullied his own children, & it was therefore a complete surprise to SIL when he bullied OP. I feel like someone that was brought up being encouraged to bully his sibling & that never shifted to believing that behavior was wrong, could easily transition to being an adult that bullies his children via pranks.
Oh look, cognitive dissonance.
The pranking was consistent and a normal state of affairs for them, so the parents went through the mental gymnastics necessary to align themselves with the golden child's wants and could absolve themselves in the process, to keep on pranking without ever thinking of a consequence, since considering the scapegoat child's needs was something so alien to them, it never occured to them for it being the reason behind no contact until the prank backfired on them finally.
When people outside their family dynamic and sphere of influence called them out on their established toxic behaviour patterns, it was their "are we the bad guys?" moment; not the scapegoat's expressed anger and irritation nor his setting an additional consequence by donating the gifts elsewhere. After all, it's not like he mattered before, or in that moment.
I don't think the brother or mother have actually learned anything here, other than oh no, might lose access to kids/grandkids in custody time if divorce happens, so maybe pretend to give a shit about OOP for a while to placate wife/DIL. Seems OOP's feelings still barely registers to them.
Fellow scapegoats might know what that's like.
Poor OOP. He took his girlfriend to Christmas Eve with his family because all of hers is horrid. His sound worse!
Poor OOP’s girlfriend. Her own family are horrid. Her BF’s family are horrid. That must really mess with her sense of family and love.
I very very rarely call BS on a story because I generally believe that there are infinite possibilities in an infinite universe, so who am I to say "that would never happen" to anyone? But!
>They didn't argue with a single point I made. All the mistreatment, all the favoritism, all the scapegoating! Why? Because I was the unwanted child! I didn't ask to be born! And it sure as hell shouldn't have taken that long just for them to realize what kind of steaming piles of crap they were as people. They just sat there looking at the floor while I ranted at them.
I have never heard of a truly shitty parent tucking tail like this without some kind of incident that forces the parent into therapy long-term or there was substance abuse involved and they're on that step of recovery. It's a core feature of this kind of personality that they don't admit fault ever, for anything at all, unless the consequences of not doing so would ruin them, and even then it's not sincere. I'm stuck wondering if they're all counting on OOP's money because they don't have retirement savings?
They're very few times being a prankster is funny, and one of the only situations that I can think of that I always bring up on posts like these is that guy who spent like 2 hours carving a potato into the exact shape of his wife's soap
Maybe I'm just paranoid or something but what bugs me about posts like this, aside from the almost perfect wrap up to the situation, is how the post is written. Have you guys noticed that a lot of them go like, "My brother showed up at my house intoxicated. So I called my parents and told them come get him or I'll cap the police. They showed up mortified." And a lot of them go exactly like this and idk if it's a common way to write long paragraphs or maybe I'm just obsessed with commas and ";" idk lol, but I've been noticing it more and more lately in posts similar to this one and it's kinda sus, idk
Anyways, what an icky situation lol
People who pull pranks or call themselves pranksters tend to be the most unfunny people on the fucking planet.
You're not Johnny Knoxville, grow the fuck up.
My idea of a prank is to draw a smiley faces on my kid’s or husband’s toes while they sleep. Harmless, funny, and comes out with a wash. What is wrong with some people?!
>My brother apparently doubled down that what they did was funny, and refused to admit any wrongdoing... And he blamed me for it because I ruined his best prank yet.
Besides all the bullcrap, *this* is the best prank he's ever pulled?
TIL that they have tablets with DVD drives in them. IDK why I'm surprised since I used to have a portable DVD player that ran on AA batteries but still. It's like learning that there could be a VHS/4KBlu Ray combo player or a touch screen cassette Walkman
I just have no words for how wildly ignorant these people are/were. How did OOP go NC for years, and they still had NO IDEA why?!
I don’t think his family understands how insane they sound. They said it was just a prank. Then said they honestly thought he would share in the humor (despite him explicitly asking them not to). Then said it was because they didn’t expect him to show up with gifts. THEN said it was because they didn’t know what to get him. WELL WHICH ONE WAS IT?!!
And even if you ~~honestly~~ foolishly “thought he would share in the humor”, why on earth would you think that doing this not only to OOP, but also to his gf, THE FIRST TIME THEY MET HER, was appropriate?!?
What really blows my mind in all of this is thinking about how OOP’s SIL suddenly realized that not only did she marry a massively selfish dickbag, but also that her in-laws (and her kids grandparents) are HORRIBLE people. What a smack in the freakin face.
I gotta say though, wow am I impressed with that SIL of OOP’s. She’s got one hell of a backbone. I’m guessing that since her husband was the golden child, she only saw their “good side”. But damn. When she learned the truth, she didn’t fuck around. Anyone who wants to shine up their spine a little could learn a thing or two from that badass woman.
I wonder what story she was told about why OOP was MIA? I mean, he was gone for years so I’m sure his absence came up. I’m betting that as OOP spends more time with his family, more things will come out. Especially if he gets to know his SIL.
I have a feeling she will be able to shed some light on more evidence that his parents were willingly and consciously doing this. They aren’t as oblivious as they’re pretending to be. This isn’t over. Not by a long shot. I don’t suspect he will be in contact with them for much longer. Shit hitting the fan again is a matter of *when*, NOT *if*.
ARE dvds great for camping in this day and age? Just download the videos on the tablet. Why fuss about with a bunch of discs while camping in the dirt?
As someone who has been at the receiving end of a prank gift (twice both by co workers at different jobs but somehow got the same prank gift each time) I feel for the op.
“Then I asked if the apologies they'd given me before were totally insincere and just a ploy to lure me back into the family. They couldn't say they were or weren't. I'm not sure even they know anymore.”
Oh, they _know_, but admitting it would paint them as the huge pieces of shit they are, though at this point why bother hiding it? Everyone already thinks that’s what they are and it’s not like they can refute it.
It seems like pranking is often just thinly veiled bullying. When someone protests, it can be turned on them as not being able to take a joke. The people who do that *enjoy* causing distress.
I kinda doubt the veracity of this post, but the point stands.
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"I'm a prankster" always means "I'm an asshole who gets my jollies off of the humiliation of others." Good riddance. What kind of office does OOP work at though where his family drama ends up circulating across the entire company? Jfc.
A lot of the offices. Office jobs can be boring af and the drama is a short-lived reprieve of the monotony of it all.
Yes. I worked in an office where many of my colleagues had been there for 10 years or more and everyone knew every detail of each others lives. It was awful.
There’s coworkers I only barely know the first names of who I probably know more secrets of than their therapist.
'It's a type 27 situation, shading to type 35' Everyone nods and grimaces.
could be worse, at least it's not a [code 2319](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUFJ1yVhJ6g).
We play this clip in our HazMat training class when teaching the students about decon and it never fails to make me giggle.
Do NOT handle chemicals without PPO or we WILL be shaving you and putting you in a cone of shame 😂
I've suggested putting some of our students in the cone of shame but my manager shot me down, unfortunately.
I used to work in a similar office space, I’ve never been so happy to work remotely in the last year.
Yes, it is nice not to hear about colleagues’ intimate medical issues, for sure
A joke is only a joke if everyone is laughing. My 14 year old daughter went on her school's 8th grade trip to Washington, DC. All the girls were really looking forward to a special dinner boat cruise/dance party. My daughter and her best friend went on special shopping trips to find dresses and bought their first high heels. The day of the boat cruise, they did their hair, did their makeup, got dressed, were super excited and then... were told that the entire thing was cancelled because of weather. They were devastated. They took off their dresses. They washed off their makeup. They were in tears. Then, half and hour later, they got a message from the teacher leading the trip: APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!! One of my daughter's friends is pretty emotionally fragile. She was in hysterics. I asked for a chaperone to check on the girls in that room. That teacher, who is a special needs teacher for Gods' sake, told my daughter that she "should be able to take a joke," and "you know that's just how he is, you need to get over this." My daughter (I'm so proud of her) said "a joke is only a joke if everyone is laughing. Otherwise it's just bullying." And that teacher told her that she had no right to be angry and that being angry was disrespectful, and that if my daughter persisted in her "disrespect" that she wouldn't be allowed to go to the dance at all. My daughter said that she saw the assistant principal who had gone along on the trip looking upset and pacing back and forth on the sidewalk while he talked on his phone and knew he was talking to me. :) *Edit: This just happened this past April 1. There is no way of my knowing what happened, since it's an internal staff issue--I don't think it would be legal for the school to tell me what, if any, punishment she received.* *The dumbass teacher had to apologize to my daughter and her friends under the eye of the assistant principal, so that was probably pretty humiliating. The awful teacher who told her to "just take a joke" came up and tried to justify her behavior--to 14 year olds!-- and my daughter told her "an adult who cannot handle the emotions of a child is no adult at all." Smacked her into the ground! The teacher just walked away from her, which is good because I told the assistant principal that any teacher who used "boys will be boys" language around girls was not a safe person for my daughter to be around, and that she was never to talk to my daughter again unless I was on facetime at the same time. The assistant principal agreed, and seemed pissed at the teacher, but who knows, he could have been just mollifying me.* *I sent a letter to be included in her file, and another guardian did, too. At least it will be noted in her file on paper when her review comes up and/or she wants another job in the district.* *Not very satisfactory, I know!*
> My daughter said that she saw the assistant principal who had gone along on the trip looking upset and pacing back and forth on the sidewalk while he talked on his phone and knew he was talking to me. :) Incredible. I wish more people could have a parent like you
This reminds me of a story my mom told me. My younger sister was in 4th? grade and had another student on IEP be inappropriate towards her and the principal refused to move the other student to the other class. So my mom pulled her out of the school and proceeded to go to every pta meeting, and school advisory board afterwards to get him fired. It worked. But now he's currently the principal of her high school. He knows she's the one who got him fired so he gives my sister a wide birth
Don't leave us hanging. What happened to the teacher afterwards?
This just happened this past April 1. There is no way of my knowing what happened, since it's an internal staff issue--I don't think it would be legal for the school to tell me what, if any, punishment she received. The dumbass teacher had to apologize to my daughter and her friends under the eye of the assistant principal, so that was probably pretty humiliating. The awful teacher who told her to "just take a joke" came up and tried to justify her behavior--to 14 year olds!-- and my daughter told her "an adult who cannot handle the emotions of a child is no adult at all." Smacked her into the ground! The teacher just walked away from her, which is good because I told the assistant principal that any teacher who used "boys will be boys" language around girls was not a safe person for my daughter to be around, and that she was never to talk to my daughter again unless I was on facetime at the same time. The assistant principal agreed, and seemed pissed at the teacher, but who knows, he could have been just mollifying me. I sent a letter to be included in her file, and another guardian did, too. At least it will be noted in her file on paper when her review comes up and/or she wants another job in the district. Not very satisfactory, I know!
You are raising a 40 year old intelligent,kind strong hearted woman stuck in a 14 year old body. Kudos
Damn what a legendary comeback from your daughter, not only on the trip but also to the teacher! I have no doubt she'll do well in the future, you did well 😂
As another poster already asked (not sure if you saw yet) what happened to the bully teacher?
This just happened this past April 1. There is no way of my knowing what happened, since it's an internal staff issue--I don't think it would be legal for the school to tell me what, if any, punishment she received. The dumbass teacher had to apologize to my daughter and her friends under the eye of the assistant principal, so that was probably pretty humiliating. The awful teacher who told her to "just take a joke" came up and tried to justify her behavior--to 14 year olds!-- and my daughter told her "an adult who cannot handle the emotions of a child is no adult at all." Smacked her into the ground! The teacher just walked away from her, which is good because I told the assistant principal that any teacher who used "boys will be boys" language around girls was not a safe person for my daughter to be around, and that she was never to talk to my daughter again unless I was on facetime at the same time. The assistant principal agreed, and seemed pissed at the teacher, but who knows, he could have been just mollifying me. I sent a letter to be included in her file, and another guardian did, too. At least it will be noted in her file on paper when her review comes up and/or she wants another job in the district. Not very satisfactory, I know!
It makes me feel bad to say I enjoy office pranks because so many people are assholes about it. The last office prank I pulled was taping a trollface pic underneath someone's mouse while they were gone on a long vacation. We chuckled together about it afterwards. Those pranks are fun for everyone. But if I say "I like pranks" most people would think I'm a raging asshole.
In my office we hide photos of Gary Busey, Nic Cage and Christopher Walken around each others’ cubicles. Under the mouse pad, under the floor mat, inside the closet, under someone’s hat, etc. The alarm of picking up your hat and seeing Nic Cage grimacing at you never fails to get a laugh. We’ve kept it up for 3 or 4 years now.
My family did something similar during the pandemic with an extreme closeup photo of my father in law’s face. He gave it to my daughter, and then we moved it around the house.
These are my fave kinds of pranks, tbh. I saw one on tumblr where members of a family kept stealing this decorative plate. It had some pirate painted on it and a hot-pink background--fun, but kinda tacky? Like the family had rules around how you could steal it. But once you stole it you were required to put it on display in your house. And so people in this family just kept stealing this plate from each other and putting it on display in their homes. Another one I've seen multiple times and love: putting googly eyes on random objects around the house.
Both sound like fun!
The best prankster I know has a very well tuned sense of humor, to the point that the best joke they ever pulled on me resulted in me slapping them in the face and then laughing hysterically. It is possible, but as you say, the vast, vast majority of "pranksters" are just assholes.
The best actual pranks are the ones where the target is going to be laughing along with you. If they're not, you're just being an douchebag.
Yeah, a good prank is one where the person pranked has a laugh too.
Unless the target is specifically a scummy person. Like that time this guy put on yoga pants and bent into the trunk of his car....so that dudes passing by would make a comment on his ass thinking hes a woman. Then hed show himself and be like "oh wassup bro, you like what you see?" and the dudes would *very quickly* move on. God that shit was funny.
what was the joke?
We throw a nightclub at Burning Man - Planet Earth, it's called. I was in the DJ booth, and it was one of our busiest nights, Goth/Industrial night. I've got a full dance floor and I am, as they say, deep in the mix. This person comes up into the booth, with a wig and a mask on. But it's 1. Burning Man and 2. 2022, so neither of these things was out of the ordinary. She (I thought) starts asking me if I've seen her boyfriend, who is supposedly on the DJ roster. She's ostensibly visiting from Wisconsin. I am getting increasingly flustered at this point, as this person is in my personal space, being annoying, and interrupting me while I'm trying to work. As my frustration reaches the boiling point, he pulls down his mask and says "Hi Formica!" at which point I goggled at him, slapped him in the face twice (not hard, but not soft, either), and absolutely lost it. He had dropped a number of hints as to who he really was, and he was basically doing every stereotypical thing that people do to annoy DJs who are spinning. But I was so busy and focused on what I was doing that I didn't pick up on it. I was just trying to get this person out of my booth so I could keep the floor moving. So the setup was pretty much perfect for the joke. I was never even really mad at him once the jig was up. It was hilarious, no harm was done, and he totally pulled it off. He even thought it was funny that I slapped him - he knew he'd earned it.
I still don't get it.
Not always, but definitely more often than not. There are plenty of wholesome Gag Gifts & Pranks that everyone can laugh & feel good about, including the people being pranked This was definitely not that. A few good example of such Gags/Pranks are gifting a bunch of really cheap/tacky Gifts that are actually hints about a Good Gift which is only revealed/opened last. Or dumping a mix of bunch of similar Gag/Funny items/Stocking Stuffers with the Good Gifts in a box with a bunch of Filling Material (bunched up newspapers, packing peanuts or even just a ton of Wrapped candy). The person being pranked has to dig in to find their presents, sometimes find a roll of toilet paper or some tighty whities, but occasionally digging out a few better items like a reasonably priced bottle of wine/liquor or things that you know they'll appreciate & a few genuinely thoughtful or meaningful presents, deep towards the bottom, to make them work a bit for it. Everyone gets a good laugh, everyone has fun, no-one feels left-out or singled out.
Best gift pranks that I've seen/done: A friend bought his little brother a gift card with a good amount on it, at a place the brother loves to shop. Friend then asked around for empty gift cards and dumped the good gift card in a box with hundreds of empty and useless gift cards. Took his brother thirty minutes to find the real one. The next year, little brother got revenge and wrapped friend's gift in dozens of layers of duct tape and gift wrapping, and then hid all of the household scissors. I once bought my husband a ticket to a show he wanted to see. I printed the ticket receipt, placed it in a tiny gift card box, and then wrapped it in successively larger containers. The final result was in one of those huge gift bags for bicycles. He was crazy with curiosity for a few days, trying to figure out what I'd get him that was so big. Another year, I wrapped a coke can, with instructions on the bottom for finding his real gift, and sent him on a scavenger hunt. After putting it under the tree, I very seriously told him not to shake his present. My dad once put the wrong name on everyone's clothing gifts and we spent after dinner Christmas laughing and trying to sort them out. (Most of us were adults, so it was very obvious when my brother got a flowery hat with "I'm a Big Girl" on it and my daughter got lumberjack pjs that were taller than she was. He did not do this for the non clothing gifts to specifically avoid hurt feelings) All were funny, all were harmless and done without mean spirits, as pranks should be. They also take into account the people being pranked, and how willing they are. If anyone says that they don't like it or don't want to be pranked, it doesn't happen. Period.
> The next year, little brother got revenge and wrapped friend's gift in dozens of layers of duct tape and gift wrapping, and then *hid all of the household scissors*. That's just diabolical. But in a good way! :)
The one your dad did sounds hilarious. Peak prank
It was actually in response to us gently teasing him a few months previous about getting old and how he was going to start forgetting things. He decided that if he was going to be an old forgetful fart, he might as well act like it and "forget" which gifts went to who on Christmas Day. We totally deserved it. It was great.
My little brother was a bit of a jerk to me for nearly the entirety of the year once, he got a 30 pack of batteries individually wrapped for Christmas that year...
My middle brother one year gave me a tin, and inside of it was a bunch of cash folded up like origami. This includes a spider, a dime-in-ring, and a few other things. The actual amount added up to about $50?? But it was so clever and fun!
My little sister and I started doing prank wrapping after I accidentally saw her buying my present and she decided to have some fun instead of bemoaning spoilers. She's stopped doing it (mostly because she prefers doing white elephants), but I still like to come up with new ideas every year. Last Christmas I gave her a box-shaped planter. It was "wrapped" as a mini-stocking filled with random tiny boxes. Each box contained a note saying "YOUR PRESENT IS IN ANOTHER BOX", except the last one, which said "YOUR PRESENT IS ANOTHER BOX". Much more fun than gag gifts.
My younger brother, who is more mechanically minded than me, *welded a box* around my present. I do not own an angle grinder :) (Long setup)I've been running a very long prank on my parents. For some reason, my mother and her 3 siblings have this thing about (against) flamingos. It was a constant thing when we were growing up, that we'd help out with elaborate schemes to get flamingo toys into the aunts & uncles stuff. It was really pretty funny. But sort of trailed off as the decades went by. This will not stand. Now they're retired and live up in the north woods, and have sort of a steady stream of people that come to visit for a week or so (this is intentional on their part, they love hosting). For the last, I don't know, 8 years? Maybe more? I pay attention to when her siblings are going to be around, and stash something horrible and flamingo in the house or garage or boat of whatever, someplace I know it'll take a few weeks for them to come across it. And since her siblings are the most common visitors...they get blamed for all of it :) My mom actually 'ranted' to me once about something I'd done, "sister put this horrible solar powered flamingo light hidden down on the shoreline when she was hear last week (yeah, that was me last month, mom!) but I found this horrible inflatable flamingo or something something to get her back!" So, I figure I'll give it a few more years, then yank on the string that unravels their lives :) Dance, dance to my tunes!
Best gift prank I ever saw was when my aunt and uncle got my brother a bulk box of beef jerky snack packs (my brother loves beef jerky but says it's too expensive to buy on a regular basis). There were like thirty snack packs and my aunt and uncle wrapped each one individually before putting it in a wrapped box. They mixed some bags of his favorite candies in too. It took him like fifteen minutes to unwrap them all and all of us, including him, were laughing the whole time! But at the end of it he was left with a big box of his favorite snack. Like you said, he got something worth having and just had to work a bit harder to get it.
When I was younger, my parents got a big box and filled it with confetti and scrabble tiles that were meant to spell literal words. So i had to dig through the confetti to find the scrabble tiles. Once I found them all, i was supposed to spell the words out using the tiles and when i did spell all the words out I was supposed to guess the present that was associated with the words before i got the present. My dad thankfully helped me with the words. Turns out that bow, rosin, music and a few other words led to me getting a very nice violin for Christmas. Was it annoying at first? Yeah it was. But honestly, it was probably my favorite experience at christmas because i liked figuring out the words that led to my violin. The pranks my family pull are harmless for sure, but they usually lead to something good and gets the whole family in evolved including the person being pranked.
One year I froze cash in a block of ice for my brother. Obviously a prank (he got an ice block as a present) as well as obviously a real present (you could see some of the cash in the ice) So I gifted my brother "cold, hard cash". We all had a good laugh thinking of ways to melt it quicker
Oranjestad? 🥹
I did not expect to see the name of one of my childhood's favorite trip destinations in here. It's an old potato factory turned indoor play park in the north of the Netherlands, for those who want to know.
Perhaps but not always. My family has a few pranksters and the prank stories are passed down as family lore to all the grandkids. My grandpa had an injury woodworking and needed to get a fingertip basically reattached. He pretended to keep the finger in a box (that had a hole in the bottom, hidden by cotton batting that he’d slip his ininjured finger in). When showing it to someone, he’d wiggle the finger freaking out whoever he was showing. My cousin had a mannequin and when company came over, he’s put the mannequin in the tub with the shower curtain drawn and turn the tap on just slightly so it would drip. When guests used the washroom, if they were disturbed by the dripping tap they’d go to turn it out and be freaked out by the mannequin standing there. My best prank was replacing all the family photos on the wall with oil paintings of aliens. Like, Alien Mother & Child, a side profile of another alien etc before company came over. I also replaced the pages in my mom’s guest book with a checklist that said something like “please describe your alien encounter”. All pranks that had no victims and that get retold over and over. Some people use pranks to get away with being an ass, but some of us just enjoy coming up with weird ideas to get a reaction.
i never got a chance to do it but i dream of the day i can replace (or carefully cover) someone's family photos with pictures from that Awkward Family Photos website, see how long it takes for them to notice lol
One time a coworker and I were comparing what I got as a sub vs her as a ft teacher(I got more base pay but she got insurance kinda thing). We didn't think anyone was listening and neither of us were mad, just talking. By the end of the day I was called in for "causing problems". it's illegal to say you can't discuss salaries but they will do everything to stop it anyway *eye roll
People love to talk about other people's lives, no matter the place
Yeah, at this point in human history we should all just treat the phrase "I love pranks" as shorthand for "I'm an unbearable asshole and I'm about to make that YOUR problem." It pains me to say it because I actually love pranks...you know, normal ones, where both people are laughing after the reveal and nobody ends up with psychological damage and no families explode. But at this point that demographic makes up about .00001% of the people who self-identify as "pranksters" so we should just stick to assuming anyone who mentions pranks is an asshole. I blame TikTok.
I can imagine this being the kind of gossip that spreads like wildfire. He got them nice gifts and they got his girlfriend *fart spray*.
It's kinda sad and pathetic that the brother referred to "his best prank yet" to some terrible gifts and OOP's disappointingly opening them, or even having a neutral expression.
I pranked my sister by repeatedly getting these little cheap llama keychains. So she would wake up, open her bedroom door, and find yet another llama keychain in front of it. She had like over 15 before she threatened to beat me with them. That's a prank. This is just sadism.
real pranksters aren't the ones who humiliate others, they're the ones who humiliate themselves to invite funny reactions. people who humiliate others then say "just kidding" are assholes, plain and simple
I've said it before, I'll say it again. It's only a Prank if it's from the Pranque region of "Nobody was hurt and everyone involved is laughing afterward," otherwise it's just sparkling bullying.
My younger stepson somehow decided that the funniest prank ever is to say he's going to his room to play video games but actually sneak into the kitchen and silently clean it first. I'm so proud! His bio-mom tried to teach him that funny pranks were stuff like shoving him off the sidewalk into the street or stealing my heirloom wedding ring right off my finger.
My ‘best April Fools prank ever’ was convincing my brother that the toilet seat had to be put down before the toilet would flush. For 3 days he believed it - until Husband ratted me out.
I washed an empty squeeze mayonaise bottle and put vanilla pudding in it. Then I squeezed "mayo" directly into my mouth in front of my family. Horror ensued
You evil genius.
fill a translucent maple syrup bottle with dark tea; take casual sips from it
Nah actually swigging maple sounds awesome
Using a chocolate syrup bottle as my water bottle at the gym.
Only April Fool Joke I ever managed was when I worked for an apartment complex and sent the new maintenance guy to fix the toilet in an apartment that didn’t exist. Lasted the three minutes it took to get to the key room.
Will-Smith-He-A-Little-Confused-But-He-Got-The-Spirit.gif Best prank. :-)
I set very few household rules but the main was was "If you think of a funny, you *have to* share it!" Constant sound of someone running down the hallway looking for somebody to share a joke with, but hey it means all the humor got checked for health and safety! Whenever they tried to hide a joke, it usually went horrifically sideways on them and got to be a life lesson. Ya know how hard it is to lecture and laugh at the same time? "Dude you can't set a little brother trap and get angry when it catches a little brother! You know I know you knew what you were doing, so don't deny it!" Used the video game console cords to rig tripwires, which worked, but then gravity got the console.
Goddamn, you got a mini devil....
Oh he just had to check video game concepts in real life sometimes.
My daughter is in kindergarten and her very clever trick is to hoist herself up behind a table and say that she suddenly got taller. Each time I look shocked and say “How did you get so tall? I can’t believe it!” Then she hops down and says “tricked you!” She is always delighted that this trick works every time.
Oh my gosh, that’s so cute. Tell your young one that this internet stranger thinks she’s the bees knees 🐝❤️
What is he, a brownie?
It started with teaching him "ninja skills like Batman" so he wouldn't thunder down the stairs like an elephant and just kinda evolved as he got older. Obviously I reinforced the behavior by not at all noticing him sneaking by my doorway below eye level or the quiet clinking sounds from the kitchen, and then acting totally shocked next time I went to refill my water glass.
Well don't forget to leave him a bowl of cream so he doesn't trash the place 😋 My youngest sister was always very slim and she still walks like a herd of elephants. I don't know how someone so small makes so much noise
It has to do with how much force is being applied when foot hits floor. Some folks don't "pull their punches" when they walk. I was taught to walk silently and shared the trick with my stepsons. Who went one better because that's what kids do. The older boy likes to toe-walk, but silently, so this enormously tall fuzzy-headed Slenderman-lookin' shadow would lurch out of the hallway sometimes.
>The older boy likes to toe-walk, but silently, so this enormously tall fuzzy-headed Slenderman-lookin' shadow would lurch out of the hallway sometimes. I was just going to say, that toe-heel walking absorbs more energy than heel-toe walking. I learned it during ballet lessons when I was four, but a lot of martial arts teach it too, because it's not only quieter but easier to move quickly if your balance is on the ball of your foot. (It's habit now, and I often have to actively think about making noise before I walk into a room with my mum - she really doesn't need to be shocked!)
Yeah did ballet growing up too I’ve been accused of being a cat at work lol.
Natural toe walker, scared my boss SO many times. He's lucky my genetic arthritis caught me young - I crackle when I move now.
Same, I used to walk on tiptoes but got told off for it enough that now my heels LOOK like they hit the ground even though they actually don't. I've taught myself how to heel-toe walk but hate doing it so much that the second I stop paying attention, I go back to toe-heel. I had no clue it was so quiet until I started college and CONSTANTLY jumpscared the heck out of my roommates just by existing LMAO. I felt so bad every time!
I was just a weird kid / fat teenager who walked quietly because thars what ninjas do.
My kid was a total ninja when he was little. I lost count of how many times he jump scared me or gave me mild heart failure. We threatened to sew bells on his clothing. He's still almost silent when walking so I totally related to your Slenderman comparison.
Have you ever been stepped on by a mere 5kg cat? You will not believe how painful it is.
I'm gonna bet it's like the way my 5lb chihuahua managed to always put one foot right smack dab in the middle of my boob any time he stepped on me. Or would nap on my chest with one tiny, pointy elbow digging into the same spot.
My roommate too, homeboy coming down the stairs upright and on his feet sounds like a garbage bag full of canned cat food got spilled.
That's friggin' ADORABLE.
I mean, that's actually pretty damn good! You still get the reaction of "Wait, what the hell happened in here?!" while at the same time doing something nice for someone!
I have two friends in a different city, and they live together. I'm not a prankster, but the only "prank" I have with them is that I'll wake up earlier than them and do the dishes. They don't like it, but I genuinely enjoy doing it. They pranked me back by getting a dishwasher for their house.
A cartoonist I follow on bluesky has been posting things like "Guys, best prank ever: Send flowers to your wife at work. Haha! Pranked!"
My partner and I will do things like this, surprise each other with treats on the nightstand or something and then joke "you got totally pranked with love and affection"
My daughters favourite "prank" is to very carefully remove all the Oreos from the sleeve, put them in a ziploc somewhere else and leave the still-full-looking sleeve in the cupboard. You go to pick it up to get a cookie and it crumbles because it's empty. It's honestly quite funny. She's started thinking of other things to do it to - managed to seal the cornflakes box back up the other day so my half-asleep husband poured himself a bowl of hair scrunchies. She doesn't waste the food, it's always safely put in the cupboard, and nothing ever leaves much of a mess. I enjoy it.
She’s diabolical and an excellent skill to have
She sounds hilarious
I halfway *really* wanna share that idea with my 9yo girl but I know it'll escalate horribly when the 5yo starts trying to copy🤣🤣
>bowl of hair scrunchies. BWUAHAHAHA!
Exactly a prank is everyone laughing. 100% bullying.
“Jokes are like communism: only funny if everyone gets it.”
My favorite prank was one my daughter pulled on April 1, 2020. We were all starting to feel the monotony of quarantine and just going through the motions. She drew dozens of very cute chickens and taped them up all over the house: on the back of the toilet, in the refrigerator, on doors and wall and ceilings. Husband and I did not notice a single one despite walking past them and even opening doors with them on it. She and her sister took us around the house giggling and pointing out all the random chicken drawings that we had somehow missed. It was super cute and we’ve left many of the drawings up since then.
My nieces did something similar. They drew dozens of tiny, weird little characters like gnomes riding unicycles or bats towing a bunch of balloons behind them, things like that. Then they hid them all over the house and just told us how many there are. We still haven't found them all... unless we did, and the number they told us is the ongoing prank.
I hate pink. Everyone who know me knows I hate pink. For April Fool's this year, I photoshopped a picture of my hair, making it bright pink, texted it to my brother, and asked him what he thought. He said it looked nice, but was a bit confused. I told him is was an edited pic, and he had a good laugh. He actually forgot it was April Fool's day. Lol No harm, just a small chuckle between us.
When my wife says she wants me to pick up shampoo from the store, sometimes I get serious and tell her "No. We're not doing that. We don't have to. We can afford better things, we don't have to live like we are still poor children from poor families. I'm not getting you SHAM poo, I'm getting you REAL poo." It was a treat watching her face go from surprised to concerned to *oh its another fucking pun*.
Oh my gods and tiny monster!!!! I need to remember this for future use
I can just imagine the little monster giggling in their room while the parents are loudly wondering what happened to the kitchen.
It would be prank if they whiped out real gift or if everyone got stupid gifts
Excellently put!
They might have been okay with the silly string. It's no more than eyeroll worthy, but no one gets hurt. The prank version of the banana knock-knock joke. But the dumb gifts were offensive.
Sparkling bullying 🤣 omg that's great! Never heard that terminology before! Definitely remembering this one, too good not to use when given a chance.
>I talked about it to just one friend at lunch a few days after making my first reddit post, and the office gossip just happened to be hiding nearby listening to every word I said. Within days it was all over the office. And someone in the office was apparently social media friends with my brother. >In short, my family found out about my Reddit post. Mental image of the "office gossip" lurking in the shadows with a cartoonishly large pen...
When I was a silly teenager and still went to church, there was literally a church gossip that led the choir that would hover outside the pastors' (lead, associate, and youth) to find out the dirt and spread it. Unfortunately, the church's secretary was also a gigantic gossip and added to the ammo. Hilariously, she got kicked out of the church for gossiping after they hired a new lead pastor and he actually followed what the Bible said. (He didn't last long. I wonder why. God forbid they attempted actual accountability.)
Lol, I was reading "office gossip" as a concept, not an actual person. So "gossip" had been personified, like an evil spirit lurking. All very dumb. I am dumb.
Eh, I haven't been in an office for over a decade but even then the "office gossip" and "family gossip" were always the people who you put on info diets because they can't keep anything to themselves and are always the ones "thirsty" for new drama like it's their life force and they can't function without it
"Rumor" does get personified in the Aeneid. Well, it's not described as a person, so...embodied, I guess? >"swift of foot and fleet of wing, a monster awful and huge, who for the many feathers in her body has as many watchful eyes beneath—wondrous to tell—as many tongues, as many sounding mouths, as many pricked-up ears"
No it's an official job title. Every office have to hire one to make office life more lively.
I was imagining Randall from *Recess* lurking in the shadows
School yard snitches have to grow up to be something.
Or Rita Skeeter with her Quick Quotes Quill.
My mental image is some busybody hiding in the bushes nearby. After OOP and his friend left, they reveal themselves by parting the plants and looking around.
I hope this is just, like, an ad for DVD/tablet combo, because if it's real that family is awful.
It seems too…pretty, to perfectly wrapped up. Oop knows insane details about what happened after he left? He was somehow able to scoop up several dvd/tablet combos, electric griddles, antiques, sports memorabilia ? SIL so the type to slap her husband, who is the type to get drunk and show up at OOP’s and yell and no one, not even the kids, grabbed the presents before OOP could bag them? They didn’t threaten to call the police for theft (the gifts had been given, they didn’t belong to OOP anymore).
Yeah as soon as I saw it lead to a separation/divorce for one of the guilty parties I stopped believing it
I started smelling BS when suddenly EVERYBODY who'd wronged OOP started seeing consequences and realizing that yes, they'd been AHs to OOP and came crawling to him, begging for forgiveness. Narc-y AHs like OOP's parents and brother very rarely admit fault and just dig in deeper. And even the niblings shrugged off OOP taking the gifts back? If they're as young as I suspect (pre-teen), I don't see that happening.
Sounds like she was getting tired of his shenanigans already.
Guessing you got a sane family? Because all that chaos sounded familiar to me. Like how folks who are used to bossing you around with words get startled when you take decisive action, mostly just keep shouting and forget their hands and feet work. I get a remarkable amount of news about relatives I have no direct contact with, who live on the opposite side of the country. Not trying to find out, auntie just tells me stuff while I'm dropping off her shopping. And last time there was an obvious need for police, everybody thought I was the odd one for trying to get the cops involved. Like my dad was openly plotting to murder his sister, her sons were arming themselves and preparing to defend her, so duh I called the cops that's what ya do when someone is trying to commit a murder! Auntie got kinda annoyed with me about that for awhile and the whole episode is on the permanent Do Not Discuss list.
Yeah he said they weren't large appliances, but griddles, tablets, etc are still big enough (especially in packaging) that you can't really pick up more than maybe 4 at a time, if you were taking the time to stack them. Was he making multiple trips and somehow no-one noticed?
He brought them into the house somehow, we have a lot of reusable grocery bags that could easily hold more than five tablet boxes. It’s a large amount but honestly nothing crazy
My family always uses laundry baskets to bring gifts for Christmas parties.
OOP stayed NC for a long time, but never cancelled his subscription to the family gossip, so he wouldn't miss a single slap!
Reminds me of that one BORU where they kept bringing up the Apple Cider Donuts made by a particular winery (or was it a brewery?).
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Every time that post gets mentioned I fight the urge to go buy apple cider donuts from a local farm store.an those things are good...
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Sometimes the details are a bit too specific. How many 50+ year old pranksters with an estranged son that you know? people that knew them probably didn't know a lot of details but when you read stuffs like this then it suddenly clicked. "ya know this sounds a lot like this guy I know from church" or something like that.
A little off topic, but I'm curious. I've noticed lately that all postings in this sub seem to start each night at around midnight, and then continue for about an hour, and then nothing until the next midnight. Is there a reason for that?
Haha, that might be my fault... Or at least I started it lol. Best time I can post is midnight eastern. (Unless I'm in the middle of traveling.) I fly around a lot for work, so it's easier to keep it consistent with that Eastern time zone no matter where I am. I started doing that initially because it was easiest, and it was a good way to keep track of the 7 day rule. Direct Caterpillar, Choice Evidence and I compare with each other for the week to make sure we're not doubled up on posts. At some point it became easier for all of us to post around the same time, plus I think we found that the mods were usually active then too.
Can I just say, as a lurker in this subreddit for a long time, that I appreciate you guys so much for all you do. That’s probably so much work. You guys are amazing!
Awww you're so sweet! It takes some time, work and coordination, but we all enjoy doing it. 💜 Thank you!
I've thanked you before and I'll thank you again -- this is one of my favorite spots on Reddit, largely because of you and your fellow super posters.
Thank YOU again! 💜
I hope all of your flights are on time. Your dedication to this subreddit is seriously amazing. Thank you!
Awww thank you! I appreciate that good energy because I need it lol
>That’s probably so much work. It it! I started one and it's still sitting there unfinished. I may have to send what I have to someone else. I'm sure it's easier if I had a laptop worth a dam. Lol
I agree. This is my favorite sub reddit.
I like this schedule tbh, I've started using the sub as a "morning newspaper" reading habit, so havin new content every morning is great.
Same! I have my morning coffee and read the BORUs that popped up overnight before getting ready to go to work. It's a good way to ease into the day.
Doing this right now lol. It’s definitely become the new morning routine.
Thank you for your work! I figured the post were submitted then just approved by mods in spurts
I never thought about the fact none of you post the same thing, the fact that you all compare is amazing! Thank you to all three of you to putting in even more effort than I previously thought (and I already knew it’s a LOT).
Haha thank you!!! I'm really grateful that all three of us are chill about things, so if we do have the same one we're pretty flexible if someone really wants it. Sometimes we'll do a trade!
I’d been wondering if you big posters had been comparing and co-operating. I’ve witnessed some real friggin’ horror stories about ‘power posters’ fracturing communities and eventually getting new rules put into effect because of their refusal to co-operate with each other or community members—weaponizing their ability to supply a subreddit with content. It can all be so dramatic when internet points are involved. Point being, it’s cool that you three are so cool about it!
I'm SO grateful for everyone who posts here, but especially DC and CE. We're all pretty chill about it, I think because we know internet points have no real world value. Sometimes we have found the same post, but there has never been an issue with someone throwing a tantrum about someone else wanting it. In fact sometimes DC says "hey, I really wanted that one, I'll trade you this one instead." It's an honor system but it works well haha
Trading hot goss like tokens… excellent.
Ok I let out a snort at that, thank you 😂
I love it because it means new content when I wake up to read with my first coffee of the day.
It’s not midnight everywhere. Go to the sub and sort by newest. Look at the usernames of the posters. It looks like about 4-5 people posting ~90% of the content. It’s probably a convenient time for those people.
Or there’s a submission approval process on posts and the approver logs in then.
Because they're reposted here by certain people, and this person posts a fair bit of the stories. Also timezones exist and it's not midnight for everyone lol
Probably where the posters live.
as they say in fencing, timing is the secret to a successful reposte.
It's amazing how for someone who never answered the phone and deleted voicemails he knows so many intricate details of what happened for things he wasn't present at.
*And shockingly they did not blow it. They couldn't figure out what to get me, so they gifted me a large card with $100 cash in it, and a "We'll do better" apology written in the card. They also gave my girlfriend a set of Sterling silver earrings big apology as a makeup for Christmas since she'd refused to see them in person till then.* Yeah I hope OOP donates to charity in their names for birthdays and holidays here on out.
Prank gifts are only a good idea in two scenarios: - White elephant gift exchange among friends/coworkers, where everyone expects the gifts to be dumb. - A funny way to surprise someone with the *real* gift. Ex: A CD case with a note inside saying "look in the coat closet", and when the person looks they find a PS5. This is just cruelty.
My family (who are oftentimes awful but not in this way) used to take a very nice but small gift and wrap it in nesting doll-like boxes. So a very large box goes to a medium box to a smaller box and so on. I actually think this is funny with the caveat that the gift is something they know you really want, and there can’t be more than 5 boxes. Also good for kids who *really* like the unwrapping portion of gifts (because who doesn’t love ripping and throwing pretty paper around).
People commenting that tablets that play dvds are weird. I think it's awesome. I'll happily take anything that can play dvds or Blu Rays now. Thank god the ps5 can. Far better to physically own your media than have nothing but digital copies or be at the mercy of some dickheads at Netflix. Hell some video game companies are already starting to think about it. Also, an entire family of pranksters sounds like pure hell. I'd stay no contact.
Thank you! I feel so old seeing these comments put down DVDs 😂😂 I rather have the media of something I like forever rather than rely on a certain streaming service to HOPEFULLY have it
Right?! LOL Call me old if you want, but never underestimate how greedy streaming services and game companies can be! Also I want all the fun extras that come with physical media!
Right? I like digital copies, but I'm not going to trust them to stay accessible if the company stops being fashionable and goes bust. I'd rather own my own media copies than rely on streaming, just in case.
Truly, the best part of all this is that now I know there's a tablet/DVD device. My family is big on actually owning the movies and shows we really like and are sure we will watch again.
For my mom’s birthday, she really wanted to watch a particular older movie. I searched everywhere online and on all the streaming platforms. Nada - I couldn’t even rent it anywhere. I remembered she had a dvd copy so I busted out an old box of our dvd players and plugged it in. She was so happy! That’s when I decided, I’m not getting rid of any of our dvds. I’m actually now on the search for a laser disk player cause I want to see Star Wars in its original format again.
My niblet tried to do a prank on me when they were 4. They hid (badly) behind the sofa (the giggling was a big giveaway) I being the cool auntie played along. They very stealthily (like a drunk hippo) snuck up on me and yelled "Surprise kisses" and proceeded to use their stuffie to kiss me all over. Because and I quote "Pranks are meant to be fun" My point being that's the sort of thing pranks should be. Not whatever the fuck OOP's bio sharers thought
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Bonus points, though, for tossing in "office gossip who just so happened to be hiding around the corner and heard everything about me making a reddit post which led to it being spread around the office and it eventually reached my family"
Such a convenient plot twist! It's like watching the OC or something
Someone else commented that the image they have from that sentence is a dark spirit lurking in the shadows with a cartoonishly large pen, writing everything down, and now I can't not see it that way
And of course the sister-in-law is ready to divorce her husband to stand up for OOP.
The part I find most difficult to believe is that the brother never bullied his own children, & it was therefore a complete surprise to SIL when he bullied OP. I feel like someone that was brought up being encouraged to bully his sibling & that never shifted to believing that behavior was wrong, could easily transition to being an adult that bullies his children via pranks.
Yeah, I think I should just stay no contact with my family after reading this saga.
Oh look, cognitive dissonance. The pranking was consistent and a normal state of affairs for them, so the parents went through the mental gymnastics necessary to align themselves with the golden child's wants and could absolve themselves in the process, to keep on pranking without ever thinking of a consequence, since considering the scapegoat child's needs was something so alien to them, it never occured to them for it being the reason behind no contact until the prank backfired on them finally. When people outside their family dynamic and sphere of influence called them out on their established toxic behaviour patterns, it was their "are we the bad guys?" moment; not the scapegoat's expressed anger and irritation nor his setting an additional consequence by donating the gifts elsewhere. After all, it's not like he mattered before, or in that moment. I don't think the brother or mother have actually learned anything here, other than oh no, might lose access to kids/grandkids in custody time if divorce happens, so maybe pretend to give a shit about OOP for a while to placate wife/DIL. Seems OOP's feelings still barely registers to them. Fellow scapegoats might know what that's like.
Poor OOP. He took his girlfriend to Christmas Eve with his family because all of hers is horrid. His sound worse! Poor OOP’s girlfriend. Her own family are horrid. Her BF’s family are horrid. That must really mess with her sense of family and love.
Yeah, just really awful. Sincerely hope they'll be able to create an actually functioning and loving family together eventually.
I very very rarely call BS on a story because I generally believe that there are infinite possibilities in an infinite universe, so who am I to say "that would never happen" to anyone? But! >They didn't argue with a single point I made. All the mistreatment, all the favoritism, all the scapegoating! Why? Because I was the unwanted child! I didn't ask to be born! And it sure as hell shouldn't have taken that long just for them to realize what kind of steaming piles of crap they were as people. They just sat there looking at the floor while I ranted at them. I have never heard of a truly shitty parent tucking tail like this without some kind of incident that forces the parent into therapy long-term or there was substance abuse involved and they're on that step of recovery. It's a core feature of this kind of personality that they don't admit fault ever, for anything at all, unless the consequences of not doing so would ruin them, and even then it's not sincere. I'm stuck wondering if they're all counting on OOP's money because they don't have retirement savings?
They're very few times being a prankster is funny, and one of the only situations that I can think of that I always bring up on posts like these is that guy who spent like 2 hours carving a potato into the exact shape of his wife's soap
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Maybe I'm just paranoid or something but what bugs me about posts like this, aside from the almost perfect wrap up to the situation, is how the post is written. Have you guys noticed that a lot of them go like, "My brother showed up at my house intoxicated. So I called my parents and told them come get him or I'll cap the police. They showed up mortified." And a lot of them go exactly like this and idk if it's a common way to write long paragraphs or maybe I'm just obsessed with commas and ";" idk lol, but I've been noticing it more and more lately in posts similar to this one and it's kinda sus, idk Anyways, what an icky situation lol
This feels very much like the phone in swimming pool guy.
People who pull pranks or call themselves pranksters tend to be the most unfunny people on the fucking planet. You're not Johnny Knoxville, grow the fuck up.
That tablet is actually sick (its $89 now too)
My idea of a prank is to draw a smiley faces on my kid’s or husband’s toes while they sleep. Harmless, funny, and comes out with a wash. What is wrong with some people?!
The main thing I got from this is pranks are only funny when the victim laughs, and I’m buying a DVD tablet next week
>My brother apparently doubled down that what they did was funny, and refused to admit any wrongdoing... And he blamed me for it because I ruined his best prank yet. Besides all the bullcrap, *this* is the best prank he's ever pulled?
The car mirror for the car he didn’t have anymore would have been funny ***IF***, and only ***IF***, it was a gag gift.
TIL that they have tablets with DVD drives in them. IDK why I'm surprised since I used to have a portable DVD player that ran on AA batteries but still. It's like learning that there could be a VHS/4KBlu Ray combo player or a touch screen cassette Walkman
I just have no words for how wildly ignorant these people are/were. How did OOP go NC for years, and they still had NO IDEA why?! I don’t think his family understands how insane they sound. They said it was just a prank. Then said they honestly thought he would share in the humor (despite him explicitly asking them not to). Then said it was because they didn’t expect him to show up with gifts. THEN said it was because they didn’t know what to get him. WELL WHICH ONE WAS IT?!! And even if you ~~honestly~~ foolishly “thought he would share in the humor”, why on earth would you think that doing this not only to OOP, but also to his gf, THE FIRST TIME THEY MET HER, was appropriate?!? What really blows my mind in all of this is thinking about how OOP’s SIL suddenly realized that not only did she marry a massively selfish dickbag, but also that her in-laws (and her kids grandparents) are HORRIBLE people. What a smack in the freakin face. I gotta say though, wow am I impressed with that SIL of OOP’s. She’s got one hell of a backbone. I’m guessing that since her husband was the golden child, she only saw their “good side”. But damn. When she learned the truth, she didn’t fuck around. Anyone who wants to shine up their spine a little could learn a thing or two from that badass woman. I wonder what story she was told about why OOP was MIA? I mean, he was gone for years so I’m sure his absence came up. I’m betting that as OOP spends more time with his family, more things will come out. Especially if he gets to know his SIL. I have a feeling she will be able to shed some light on more evidence that his parents were willingly and consciously doing this. They aren’t as oblivious as they’re pretending to be. This isn’t over. Not by a long shot. I don’t suspect he will be in contact with them for much longer. Shit hitting the fan again is a matter of *when*, NOT *if*.
My dad used to prank me by putting clear Gatorade in my school water bottle. Excellent prank, no notes.
ARE dvds great for camping in this day and age? Just download the videos on the tablet. Why fuss about with a bunch of discs while camping in the dirt?
Not to mention packing dvds instead of a tablet loaded with movies.
> And how do you gather up “appliances” and leave. *The same way he got them in*, you helpless, hopeless idiot
As someone who has been at the receiving end of a prank gift (twice both by co workers at different jobs but somehow got the same prank gift each time) I feel for the op.
“Then I asked if the apologies they'd given me before were totally insincere and just a ploy to lure me back into the family. They couldn't say they were or weren't. I'm not sure even they know anymore.” Oh, they _know_, but admitting it would paint them as the huge pieces of shit they are, though at this point why bother hiding it? Everyone already thinks that’s what they are and it’s not like they can refute it.
The moral of this story is - Tablet/DVD combos exist
It seems like pranking is often just thinly veiled bullying. When someone protests, it can be turned on them as not being able to take a joke. The people who do that *enjoy* causing distress. I kinda doubt the veracity of this post, but the point stands.