Shop Pranks/Stories

[Quick GMC]

I was thinking about some pranks and other things that happened in my brief career in the automotive field. i know a bunch of you have, or still do work in a shop environment. There is nothing that breeds pranksters more than downtime in a shop full mechanics.

I have so many, but a few that stand out:

1. We took a 1 gallon anti freeze bottle and cleaned it out. Drilled a hole in the cap and epoxied on an air fitting. Filled the jug with water and sealed the cap on. We hooked up an air hose and turned the air valve on the wall, off. One of the guys was working on a Dodge Stealth. He had it on the lift with the wheels about 6" off the ground, hook was up and he was looking over the engine and poking around. When he started messing with the belt and pulleys, we slid the jug under the car and hit the valve on the wall. Water bomb!

2. At UTI, we had one instructor that would mess with everyone. He was the ultimate prankster. I was in the night phase, there was about 300 guys going to school 7pm-12am. We hatched a plan to get him back.

•We had one other instructor on it. He used the excuse of driving a motorcycle to borrow the guys truck. it was about to rain and he wanted to go to the store to get some food during lunch he asked to borrow the guy's Ford Ranger for 15 minutes. Now we had the keys.

•during lunch a few of us went out to the parking lot and got into his truck. We had a side impact airbag from another car. One of the guys zip-tied it to the bottom of his leaf spring on the drivers side, facing down. I wired it to his headlight switch.

•300 students, plus about 15 instructors knew about this. Everyone except him.

•At midnight, we're done. Everyone rushes outside and stands in the shadows. literally everyone was standing in the bushes that made up the perimeter of the parking lot, except a few people acting casual sitting in their cars.

Instructor comes out, gets in his truck and turns it on. he shuts the door and his cell phone rings. He's talking to his wife. "aww baby i love you, i miss you, you want something to eat? Smoochy smoochy mushy stuff" At this point, the suspense is unbearable. Then he turns his headlights on. BOOOOM! He screams like a woman, his phone falls out of his hand outside and he just sits there for a second. It lift the rear corner of the truck off the ground by about an inch.

He gets out and here comes the entire school swarming out of the shadows cracking up. He took it well, but we didn't hear a peep out of him for about 4 months.

3. This one I heard second hand. A guy I knew was telling me about a shop he used to work at. one of the guys bought a new truck, i think a Ford Ranger. He was bragging about the gas mileage to the point of being annoying. So to mess with him, he would put about a quart of gas in the guy's tank every day. He had a short drive to and from work. So for the longest time the guy would not shut up about his gas mileage. Finally, after about a week and half, to two weeks, he stopped putting the gas in. Then the guy was complaining about how bad his mileage was getting. Classic.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Quick GMC

[Ace-Garageguy]

Years ago, a moron I worked with thought it would be funny to throw a string of firecrackers under a car I was pouring gasoline into. The crackers went off, I dropped the gas can, fuel spewed everywhere, and the rest of the string of firecrackers set it on fire. It went up in a big "whoomp", burned my hair and eyebrows, set fire to my feet and the legs of my jeans, and set the car on fire---which burned to the ground.

Real frigging funny. I beat half the crapp out of him, and then had him arrested for assault and felony property damage.

Yeah, practical jokes around machinery and flammable chemicals are REAL funny.

Oh, but we're careful, you say. So what's the worst that could happen? Well, I could have been severely burned over a large part of my body, or I could have been killed if the open fuel tank had exploded...and it could have if atomized gas had ignited in the filler tube.

Yeah, real funny.

Morons. Risk your OWN life, not someone else's. You NEVER know how somebody will react, and YOU COULD KILL OR PERMANENTLY INJURE SOMEONE.

A loud unexpected noise in a shop environment could startle someone who is working on a running engine. Their hand could slip into a belt or fan, removing flesh or fingers. Yeah, real funny.

The guy you used the airbag on could have jerked and plowed his car into a wall or an onlooker. Real funny.

I'd fire or expel any fool who pulled some idiot shitt like that, and seriously try to have them arrested for criminal stupidity.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[mnwildpunk]

Before I graduated I worked. At a muffler shop one of the classics was to hang a lose u bolt then when that got to easy we would weld it on.lol or put a piece of metal with a 7/8 inch hole at the end of the tailpipe so when he test drove the car all he would hear was a loud whistle

[Quick GMC]

Years ago, a moron I worked with thought it would be funny to throw a string of firecrackers under a car I was pouring gasoline into. The crackers went off, I dropped the gas can, fuel spewed everywhere, and the rest of the string of firecrackers set it on fire. It went up in a big "whoomp", burned my hair and eyebrows, set fire to my feet and the legs of my jeans, and set the car on fire---which burned to the ground.

Real frigging funny. I beat half the crapp out of him, and then had him arrested for assault and felony property damage.

Yeah, practical jokes around machinery and flammable chemicals are REAL funny.

Oh, but we're careful, you say. So what's the worst that could happen? Well, I could have been severely burned over a large part of my body, or I could have been killed if the open fuel tank had exploded...and it could have if atomized gas had ignited in the filler tube.

Yeah, real funny.

Morons. Risk your OWN life, not someone else's. You NEVER know how somebody will react, and YOU COULD KILL OR PERMANENTLY INJURE SOMEONE.

A loud unexpected noise in a shop environment could startle someone who is working on a running engine. Their hand could slip into a belt or fan, removing flesh or fingers. Yeah, real funny.

The guy you used the airbag on could have jerked and plowed his car into a wall or an onlooker. Real funny.

I'd fire or expel any fool who pulled some idiot shitt like that, and seriously try to have them arrested for criminal stupidity.

you're comparing firecrackers and gas to what I posted?

engine wasn't running when we blew up the water jug.

Maybe I wasn't clear on the airbag. The truck was in park. It was midnight. he couldn't have driven anywhere without his lights on. Lights on-then drive. Other instructors were in on it and the "victim" was the biggest prankster in the whole place. Options were discussed, this is what we decided on. If you want to call me a moron and idiot, that's fine, but you're reaching.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Do what you want. When you kill someone and say "sorry...I didn't think anybody would get hurt. We were only having a little harmless fun", that really won't cut it.

I've seen it happen.

Practical jokes around machinery are stupid, dangerous and irresponsible, no matter if the target is "the biggest prankster" and the instructors "were in on it" or not.

Feel free to think I'm a past-it old fart with no sense of fun.

Or try "responsible adult".

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Agent G]

#1. Do not, repeat DO NOT leave a police car unlocked. I will use the spare keys, steal it, park it back at the office, then call you to meet me.

#2. Ducks in lockers CAN happen so can possums in police cars too..................

#3. see #1, Hop in start the car and be greeted with a blaring radio, windshield wipers activated and if it's summer heat or winter AC.

G

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Dust in the air vents.

[Agent G]

OC spray in the vents.

Salad dressing under the door handles.

G

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Horn connected to accelerator, or alarm system on a timer.

[Joe Handley]

Had the sister of a friend and co-worker (well, he was technically, my supervisor as well as a friend since grade school) get me the keys to her brother's car when we were doing overnights one year at Toys "R" Us so I could move his car away from where we normally parked to the opposite side of the building. Got to work and did the deed, and he knew something was up because of how we were acting. We just played stupid the whole night then whe we left in the morning we walk out and notice the car missing. He started to panic until he put 2 and 2 together, realizing that's why we had been acting funny. Wasn't pissed at least though.

Another time, this same friend and I were working a different Christmas overnight and he always had a pager (pre everybody having a phone days) with voice mail, so his then GF and I had got together and hatched a plan......he HATES country music so I loaned her a Hank Sr. CD and around 1am she called and left one of the songs on his voicemail. Shortly after 1am he runs into the isle I'm stocking and starts swearing about the voicemail she left him. I'm doing my dangedest not to laugh at him to his face the rest of the night. She get's to the store the next morning (she also was a supervisor there) and I left him stewing with her,got into my Dodge Shadow ES turbo coupe, and was doing a little fiddling with something prior to leaving and next thing I know he's pounding on my D/S window and screaming at me something about being in on it the whole time and making it look like his GF was all on her own in this. He scared the carp out of me so bad at first I automatically hit the power switch on the door to roll down the window....forgetting that those switches were on the center console, locking the car's doors instead. I admitted to being involved and drove on home laughing while he walked back into the store swearing even more.

[Quick GMC]

Horn connected to accelerator, or alarm system on a timer.

I've done the horn to the turn signals a few times over the years.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've never really understood the desire to intentionally cause another person pain, shock, anger, discomfort or embarrassment.

Somebody want to explain what's "fun" about doing nasty things to other people?

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I've never really understood the desire to intentionally cause another person pain, shock, anger, discomfort or embarrassment.

Somebody want to explain what's "fun" about doing nasty things to other people?

Can't explain it. Hurting someone is not fun, but shocking them is.

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

Years ago, a moron I worked with thought it would be funny to throw a string of firecrackers under a car I was pouring gasoline into. The crackers went off, I dropped the gas can, fuel spewed everywhere, and the rest of the string of firecrackers set it on fire. It went up in a big "whoomp", burned my hair and eyebrows, set fire to my feet and the legs of my jeans, and set the car on fire---which burned to the ground.

Real frigging funny. I beat half the crapp out of him, and then had him arrested for assault and felony property damage.

Yeah, practical jokes around machinery and flammable chemicals are REAL funny.

Oh, but we're careful, you say. So what's the worst that could happen? Well, I could have been severely burned over a large part of my body, or I could have been killed if the open fuel tank had exploded...and it could have if atomized gas had ignited in the filler tube.

Yeah, real funny.

Morons. Risk your OWN life, not someone else's. You NEVER know how somebody will react, and YOU COULD KILL OR PERMANENTLY INJURE SOMEONE.

A loud unexpected noise in a shop environment could startle someone who is working on a running engine. Their hand could slip into a belt or fan, removing flesh or fingers. Yeah, real funny.

The guy you used the airbag on could have jerked and plowed his car into a wall or an onlooker. Real funny.

I'd fire or expel any fool who pulled some idiot shitt like that, and seriously try to have them arrested for criminal stupidity.

I was just thinking the same thing as I started reading this post...

I know it may seem harmless fun to others, but it's not a laughing matter when someone gets hurt...

[Greg Myers]

Shocking! The old charged up ignition capacitor left on the work bench.

[Greg Myers]

Nothing like a little fun with exhaust pipes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU3wnhqx_As

Edited September 26, 2014 by Greg Myers

[Greg Myers]

It's party time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SjD0TWxaF0

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht35P7GnvuQ

Edited September 26, 2014 by Greg Myers

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Change the topic to SAFE pranks.

[Greg Myers]

I've done this one a few times. The hose clamp is the key to success, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HejHNaNqhLw

[JTalmage]

A couple I can think of are the mtn dew bottles closed real tight after having the lid drilled to the appropriate size and a valve stem pulled thru... those go pop real loud.

uhh.. lets see... friend of mine put lighter fluid on a tire changer once. That made a loud boom.

I had an orange barrel tied to the back of my '89 Mustang GT once with caution tape. Made it a mile down the road before my friend who did chased me down the road and flashed his lights til I pulled over in a gas station. I couldnt see the barrel swinging back and forth from lane to lane LOL!

Came in the next day to work to wonder why the first garage bay door was stuck shut.

Apparently when I did my nightly clutch-drop to leave the parking lot after management left, the orange barrel tied to my car swung wide and nailed the 1st and 3rd garage bay doors. They never did figure out what happened.

[Quick GMC]

I've never really understood the desire to intentionally cause another person pain, shock, anger, discomfort or embarrassment.

Somebody want to explain what's "fun" about doing nasty things to other people?

they aren't nasty when you have a mutual understanding and everyone enjoys some humor. Humor is relative.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Quick GMC

[metalhead]

It's been done a few times, but still funny. Back when I was working at Lowes, a very good friend of mine let me borrow his car so I could go get some lunch. Instead of getting lunch, I went to the store and bought about twenty packs of post it notes. I spent my lunch hour covering the entire interior of his car in post it notes. He thought I was eating in his car the whole time, so he didn't suspect a thing. The look on his face was priceless as he walked up to his car and found all those sticky notes plastered all over the inside. But, being the good friend that I am, I did help him get them all taken down. I had to use my own car after that.

[mnwildpunk]

Boss of mine was moving on so we decided to shrink wrap his car

[Thatswhatshesaid]

Dust in the air vents.

Crickets work better.

[70mach1]

Years ago when I had my own body shop, we had a bead blaster cabinet in the corner. It was under a leaky roof, so all the glass beads got wet and I needed a way to dry them out instead of buying a new bag of beads. I found a box that a hood was shipped in that resembled a giant pizza box. So I put it on the floor next to the bead cabinet and dumped all the wet beads into it, spread them out, and pulled it to the center of the shop. A small trail of beads had leaked out of the corner of the box while doing so. I brought over a couple of heat lamps to dry out the beads which at this point had looked like a pile of wet beach sand.

A few minutes later, the delivery guy from my paint supplier shows up with a puzzled look on his face..."What's that??" Goofing around I told him I had brought in my pet clam, Seafoam. He didn't believe me, so I said "Come here, I'll show ya." I started digging around in the center of the mound of wet glass beads and started swearing and yelling, "That SOB escaped!!!" pointing to the thin trail of glass beads leading back to the cabinet. I then went to the office to write out a check for this delivery guy, came back a few minutes later and he's nowhere to be found. I started looking for him and I found him mumbling the name Seafoam under his breath..checking under cars, under milk crates, under battery chargers, all over the place looking for my "pet clam".

I handed him the check, shook my head in disbelief and walked away.