Personal Business is Now Everyone's Business

we REALLY wish we would have thought of this one a long time ago

note reads: "Food in fridge"

leaving personal reminder notes in random places in the building

brilliant :)

more to come...stay tuned...

Prank on Juan

Juan is our most beloved co-worker to prank, because he takes it the best. This time around, we poured day-old coffee into a glass and labeled it as coke. hehehehehehehehehehehehehe. He didn't fall for it. But we all had a good laugh....mostly just us :)

"A coke for our favorite co-worker! Enjoy!"

April Fools 2011

April 1st, 2011.

Sadly, we weren't prepared for this day. We really shot ourselves in the foot by playing the prank of the century in 2009 and fooling every one of our co-workers. Read about it here.

In 2010, we did some pretty lame pranks that didn't work. The classic chain o' scraps around Juan's desk, the ol' glass upside down filled with water (major pain to clean up), and the packing peanuts fall from the ceiling gag...except it wasn't so classic becuase they didn't fall.

Enter 2011!

Marni: BAH! It's April Fool's Day! We need a joke!
Emily: I could get crutches?
Marni: I'm pregnant?
Cristobal walking by: Nice try, I heard both of those.

Marni: Dang it!
Emily: Uuhh...I'm schizophrenic!
Marni: I have post traumatic stress syndrome...you can't tell...but I do!

- no response from the boss -
Emily: I know, let's google office pranks.


Although not as good as 2009, definitely better than 2010.

We call it Vintage Office Gag and it goes a little something like this:

Label everything in your co-worker's office with post-it notes.

We'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

prank

marni: I'm in the mood for a prank.

emily: ok, do one.

marni: and juan's at the dentist. so this would be the perfect time!

the result:

Juan's Office

One day, every knee

Buffalo in the Elevator, by Marni

Ok, so I wish I had planned this as a social experiment. If I had, it would have been hilarious. But I didn't, and it was mortifying.

A little background:

This is our mail key.

A buffalo key chain that was given to me by Jorge. He got it at a conference in Nicaragua.

This is what happens when you squeeze the buffalo:

Yes. Poop comes out. Surely you've seen one of these before, right? It's a pooping buffalo key chain, what's not to love?

Ok, so here's the setting:

I have to check the mail, so I grab the mail key, and push the elevator button to head downstairs to the mail room. I'm on the phone with my husband, which helps to pass the time. The elevator door opens to a full crowd of friends all chatting away leaving me in the middle of the elevator with the pooping buffalo key chain..

Out of habit, whenever I have the mail key in my hand, I squeeze the buffalo. I don't even think about it.

Well, as I'm chatting with the hubs, I see in the mirror (the elevator walls are mirrors) one of the ladies has a horrified look on her face, and is nudging her friend pointing at my pooping buffalo key chain.

"Oh, dear," I think to myself.

I turn around and look at her.

Me: Oh, are you talking about this? (holding up my pooping buffalo)

Lady: Yeah, what IS that?!? (disgusted face)

Me: It's a buffalo.

Lady #2: Oh...? (clearly needing more of an explanation)

Chatter has stopped. All 12 eyes are on me.

I've created a monster. I sigh and go on.

Me: Yeah.... when you squeeze it...well... it...... (I demonstrate the pooping buffalo)

Ladies: Eeewww!!!

Me: Yeah, it's kind of vulgar.

Ladies: So GROSS!! (not laughing, very disgusted)

Me: Yeah...

Lady #2: Where did you GET that??

Me: Oh, it's from one of my coworkers...he got it at a conference in Nicaragua.

Ladies: (again) Eww...

Guy from the back: Oh, I thought she had a voodoo doll or something!
Me thinking: voodoo doll????

I don't know what to say, so I just turn back around. I see in the mirror that my face is beet red. Awesome. The elevator continues to make it's way down, going slower than it's ever gone before. When the door opens I can't wait to take my pooping buffalo and get the heck outta dodge.

Myth Busters (Office Edition)

Silly Putty cracks!?
We put this Myth to the test at the Office.

Meet the Myth Busters.
Juan- model-builder.
Marni- lead tester.
Emily- aerodynamics specialist.

Step 1.
Lay silly putty flat. Position Hammer.


















Step 2.
Hammer.


















Step 3.
Analyze data.


















Step 4.
Myth Busted.


















Conclusion: Silly putty does not crack. It does however provide for a good 15-minute distraction and a curious look from the maintenance staff.

My Diabolical Plan. By Marni

Marni: Emily Emily Emily Emily Emily Emily, come in here!!!! The copy room smells like static electricity!!!

Emily: Not now Marni.
Marni: I'm serious, hurry!!!!

Emily goes into copy room.

Emily: It always smells like this.
Marni: I know. It was just my ploy to get you in here.
Emily: Why?
No answer from Marni, only a mischievous grin.

10 minutes later I still have no idea why Marni tricked me into walking into the copy room. If it were anyone but Marni I might be a little more curious.

A Scary Christmas Tale

It was a cold and dark December day. A Friday, to be precise.

Marni and Emily were the only ones in the office. Jorge was off galavanting in Nicaragua, Diego went home because he was "violently ill," Tomás was celebrating an early Christmas with his family, and Cristobal and Juan had mysteriously disappeared in a cab to go to a 4+ hour lunch.

Business was slow, because, as it is said, "business shuts down from Nov-Feb." Marni and Emily had already taken care of all work-related tasks, decorated the office with Christmas decorations, and made a dance video to Christmas music.

All the fluorescent lights were off in the office, in order to make Christmas lights shine brightly.

Emily and Marni were sitting in Emily's office shooting the breeze (actually, updating the bloog), when all of the sudden - the phone rang. Emily answered it. It was a potential customer with some questions. They had a routine conversation.... And then, all of the sudden - they heard a SNEEZE come from just outside Emily's office door!

Emily and Marni looked at each other, eyes wide, and silently screamed. Emily had to keep talking to the person on the phone, and Marni reached for the scissors on Emily's desk.

She poked her head out of the office, and started to look around.

WHO WAS THERE???

The sneeze sounded as though it had come from one of the back offices.

"Surely we would have heard if someone had come back, though, right??" Marni thought to herself.

Emily hung up, and whispered to Marni, "WHO WAS THAT??" She ran to the front of the office and turned on the lights, and the two tiptoed around the office, in search of the intruder.

They were soon too spooked to look around anymore, so they ran out of the office to get help from the lawyers across the hall.

On the way out, a man from across the hall came walking by from the bathroom.

Emily: Did you just sneeze?

Man: Uh, yeah, just a minute ago...?

Marni: Out here in the hall?

Man: Yeah, right about here...

Emily: OH...IT WAS JUST YOU!

The man looked down at Marni's scissors, still in her hand.

Marni: Oh...uh...protection...

Emily: We're the only ones in the office...

Man: (clearly a little weirded out) You should lock yourselves in then.

Marni and Emily: (a tad bit embarrassed) Oh yeah, good idea.

The end.

Trash cans are for trash

...they are not for expensive soundboard equipment.

Imagine the look of horror on the owner's face upon sighting this strategically placed 'trash' in the trash can with his precious soundboard.

(no soundboards were harmed in this classic mistake-the-soundboard-storage-can-for-a-trash-can gag.)

The Great ShoppyBag Ruckus

So I opened an e-mail and accidentally gave it permission to spam every single one of my gmail contacts. so sue me. Innocent mistake, won't happen again.

Marni: you have created a monster...and it's called ShoppyBag...!!!!!

December 2 at 1:45pm comment

Emily: we will all laugh about this in a few years.

December 2 at 1:50pm · Delete

R.D. if by laughing you mean dart throwing at pics Emily Burrows then yes...we will be doing lots of that in a few years...

December 2 at 2:15pm · Delete

Jessica: yeah what exactly is shoppybag? i got emails from it all day long today? is this your doing burrows?

December 2 at 8:52pm · Delete

24th floor window view

Social boundaries?

Elevator Experiments

After discussing many awkward things that happen in the elevator on a daily basis, Marni and I want to take this to the next level.

Social experiments in the elevator. Any ideas? This is interactive.

Awareness

Since all of our pranks, we have heightened our co-workers awareness of subtle changes.

Today, Marni did not straighten her hair as usual and made it curly, and Emily did straighten her hair instead of keeping it curly.

Cristobal: Wait.... wait... a second.... YOU (points at Emily) brushed your hair and YOU (points at Marni) did not brush your hair.
Emily: Okay, first of all I brush my hair everyday, second of all I just happened to straighten it thank you for noticing.
Marni: Yeah, I never brush my hair, I comb my hair.

George walks in...(with GUESTS)...
George: Whoa Marni you didn't comb your hair! [long pause] It looks good!

Social Experiment #2

9AM

The Swap. 12:45PM

4:30PM. Back to normal!


This is how our day went:
8:50 Diego takes his first smoke break.
9:00 Jorge comes in, we chat about P90.
10:00 Cristobal comes in with his daughter. We play with her and Cristobal sees us plenty.
12:00 We eat lunch with Cristobal, his wife and daughters.
12:30 Cristobal goes to his office. We tell his wife our plan. She says she thinks he'll notice the swap.
12:45 Cristobal takes his family downstairs. We rush to the bathroom to change.
12:48 Back in the office, we anxious wait for someone to come by.
12:54 Diego walks by, sees us both, notices nothing out of the ordinary.
12:55 Cristobal walks in the door. As he walks to his office, we try to act natural. He notices nothing :)
1:10 Cristobal gets some coffee. Neither of us look up to see if he's looking at us.
1:15 Marni reminds Emily through g-chat to "ACT NATURAL"
1:34 Emily over g-chat: Cristobal "kind of looked at us twice"
2:30 We decide to be bold and walk back to Cristobal's office together to ask him something. He notices nothing.
2:40 Cristobal came to our desks, speaks with both of us, notices nothing. :-D
4:00 Emily and Marni get coffee, see Cristobal downstairs, ride elevator up with him, talk for a few minutes. Still zero recognition.
4:20 Marni: Cristobal, would you consider yourself to be an observant person?
Cristobal: Yes.
Marni: Really?
Cristobal: Yes, I always notice things. <> Let me give you an example: I notice changes in hair, makeup, blouses.
--At this point, we're both certain he knows--
Cristobal:...and usually before a woman's husband notices!
Marni: So, is this like at church?
Cristobal: Oh anywhere...church, the receptionist at the legal office...lady who works at the dry cleaner...
4:25 Conversation ends. If he had known, he would have said so...we GOT him!
4:30 We change back into our original outfits.
4:35 Cristobal comes out of Jorge's office. Doesn't even notice!
4:50 The Big Reveal: Jorge's not surprised he didn't notice, Diego doesn't believe us and has to see picture proof, Cristobal says ,"I knew you were up to something with your 'are you observant question,'" and that's it.
5:00 We leave with mixed feelings: A little bummed no one notices us, but also feeling victorious that we got away with it! :)

The classic swap

We can't believe we haven't thought of this before!

Tomorrow.... sometime around lunch, we are going to completely trade outfits. Head to toe. And see if anyone notices.

Stay tuned....

The April Fools Joke

This is how it went down.

March 31st
Emily: TOMORROW is April Fools!!!
Marni: Oh my gosh we have to do something!!!!
Emily: We could put something of Jorge's in jello?
Marni: boring
Emily: OH! I could have crutches!
Marni: Yah.
Emily: um...
Marni: YOU COULD GET ENGAGED!!!!!!!
Emily: I'm not even dating anyone!??!?!?!

We decide to tell Jorge Emily has a date that night.
Jorge: You do?? A blind date??? With who?? He's going to propose.
Us: WHAT?! no , oh my gosh stop.
Jorge: yeah you're right, too crazy.

((Later a master plan is devised and Emily is set to get engaged on March 31st to an old random college friend.))

April 1- The Office
Emily and Marni giggle at their desks. Marni comes bearing gifts of all sorts.
Jorge comes out to see what the commotion is.

Jorge: What are y'all giggling about?
Emily blushing (freaking out): I'm engaged.
Jorge: WHAT?! I CALLED THIS! Remember last night I called this!!! Wait. You are lying, this is April fools.
Marni: look a ring!
((Emily blushing laughing that looks like crying.))
Jorge to Emily: This is amazing, being single is the worst thing in the world, you are so lucky. This is like a fairytale.

Cristobal enters office: Yeah right, are you kidding this is a joke.

Emily receives staged phone calls and she laughs/cries so hard that Cristobal believes story. If you know what a skeptic Cristobal is this is quite an accomplishment to have him believe the joke.

Cristobal to Marni: What kind of flowers should we get her?
((Cristobal meanwhile arranges for a fancy lunch to celebrate.))

Things were really escalating fast. Marni had to stop him before we got free flowers and free lunch.

After revealing April Fools, we received much praise for job well done, except we did have to pay penance. One co-worker said that Emily "cursed herself" by messing with something so sacred. So we wore the Scarlet L for our bad joke. We are all friends again.


 

Social Experiment #1

Social Experiment #1: We wore these outfits two days in a row.... No one noticed.