Two-in-ten Workers Participate in April Fool's Day at the Office, CareerBuilder.com Survey Finds
Workers Share Funniest Office Gags
CHICAGO, March 29, 2004 - Live fish in the water cooler, a drawer full of Jell-o, a coffee mug hanging from the ceiling - these are just some of the April Fool's Day jokes 23 percent of workers reported they had played or fallen victim to in CareerBuilder.com's latest survey. Seventy-seven percent of workers said they could not recall any April Fool's Day trickery at their place of business. The survey was conducted from February 17, 2004 to February 29, 2004 and included more than 1,500 workers.
Highlights from "THE TRICKED"
- A co-worker crank-called me saying that I was being fined $500 for not showing up to jury duty that day.
- I was told by a coworker that I could leave early, which I did. It turns out it wasn't true.
- My staff left voicemail messages one by one with different excuses on why they wouldn't be able to report to work (car trouble, sick, funeral, etc). Meanwhile, they were all hiding in an office one floor below.
- Someone switched the "M" and "N" keys on my keyboard.
- They super-glued my drawers shut.
- Someone at the office put a fake engagement announcement about me in the local paper.
- Unbeknownst to me, a friend at work hung a sign on the back of my car, which read, "Please wave, I have no friends!"
Highlights from "THE TRICKSTERS"
- We moved someone's entire office contents to the front lobby.
- We placed a fake outline of a dead body on the floor when clients came to visit.
- I swapped the felt tip from a highlighter with the felt tip from a black magic marker.
- We taped down the pins that pop up when you pick up the telephone, so it just kept ringing and ringing when the receptionist tried to answer a call.
- We all turned in our resignations to the boss - we later said we were kidding.
- I hid in a box that had been shipped to us that day and jumped out at my boss when he opened it.
- We did the typical - changed someone's screensaver to something inappropriate, switched the men's and ladies' room signs, put a spider on someone's shoulder, etc.
- We stole a coworker's favorite old, broken down chair from the office and took Polaroid pictures with co-workers sitting in it at different tourist or business locations. We made him go on a hunt for the chair, which led him back to the office where we had balloons and food waiting.
To view the results of other CareerBuilder.com surveys, visit the Industry Trends section of CareerBuilder.com's online Press Room.
Survey Methodology
The CareerBuilder survey, "Life at Work 2004," was conducted from February 17 to February 29, 2004 of more than 1,500 workers. To collect data for the survey, CareerBuilder commissioned SurveySite to use an e-mail methodology whereby individuals who are members of SurveySite Web Panel were randomly selected and approached by e-mail invitation to participate in the online survey. The results of this survey are accurate within +/- 2.53 percentage points (19 times out of 20).
About CareerBuilder.com
CareerBuilder.com is a leading online source for maximizing recruitment dollars and optimizing job searches with superior products, customer service and technology. With a unique combination of national, local and niche audiences, CareerBuilder.com makes it easy for recruiters to reach the most qualified candidates with industry-leading market research data and support. Job seekers can search for the right job from more than 400,000 continuously updated postings, representing more than 25,000 of the top employers in virtually every industry, field and location. Together with Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB), and Knight Ridder, Inc. (NYSE:KRI), CareerBuilder.com includes the Web's top newspaper sites - the most trusted employment sources in recruiting. For more information about CareerBuilder.com products and services, call 888-670-TEAM or visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.
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Jennifer Grasz
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(E) jennifer.grasz@careerbuilder.com
