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Harmless Pranks During a Downsizing? 140

Posted by Cliff from the lame-duck-admins-and-stress-relief dept.
Jailbrekr asks: "I am the I/T manager for a large horticultural firm, and will soon be a victim of aggressive downsizing. The downsizing is so aggressive that my position, the only I/T related position, will be eliminated. Being the lone gun has meant that I have held a significant amount of power within this organization, and until now, have refrained from abusing it. Seeing as I will soon be out of work, I have begun my (tongue in cheek) 'reign of terror'. To start, this week is 'Gummi Bear Week', where everyones wallpapers now have a (worksafe) gummi bear theme.What I need are suggestions. What can I possibly do that is work safe, humorous, and not something which will get me fired prematurely? During the dot bust, when downsizing was all the rage, what did the tech geeks do to abuse their power, and keep the workforce entertained during those especially stressful periods?"
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Harmless Pranks During a Downsizing? More

Harmless Pranks During a Downsizing?

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  • DrunkenMouse or ChristmasLights (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SirPrize ( 590850 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:16PM (#9304340)
    Windows DrunkenMouse.exe and ChristmasLights.exe were always quite amusing to run on remote computers. :-)
    • Dear Slashdot :
      "I am the funeral director for a large funeral home and every weekend an entire extended family (generally minus one) comes in and over the course of a three hour ceremony just sits around looking sad, crying, and generally killing the mood around here. I am interested in ways to brighten the mood around here, it's almost like somebody fscking died or something. Anyways, last week I began my (tongue in cheek) 'Reign of Terror'. To start, this week is 'Gummi Bear Week', where I walk around

  • here's an idea (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:17PM (#9304348)
    accidentally redirect the top secret executive salaries e-mails/spreadsheets/etc to the public mailing list. This is especially a good idea just before a downsizing. Make it look like a simple computer error. Being the head of IT, that should be fairly simple.

    • Well, do it right... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Duplicate them someplace where they are saved for a few weeks and then sent all together to the users or public. Otherwise, they'll be on to you with the very first one.
    • This actually happened where I worked 24 years ago. However, probably not by the way of prank.
      At the time, I worked in Intel Israel (74) in Haifa, which was the first design center of Intel Corp. outside of USA.
      One day I and my buddy tried to display a file in our computer terminal (this was before the IBM PC era). What was displayed instead was information about the salaries of the 40+ employees which Intel Israel had at the time.

  • Here... (Score:5, Funny)

    by hookedup ( 630460 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:18PM (#9304369)
    Read up young grasshopper. [theregister.co.uk]

  • Games... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jorkapp ( 684095 ) <jorkapp@nOSpAm.hotmail.com> on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:24PM (#9304431)
    During the dot bust, when downsizing was all the rage, what did the tech geeks do to abuse their power, and keep the workforce entertained during those especially stressful periods?

    Install games on everyones computer, and put shortcuts on the desktop. Before you know it "KILLING SPREE" will be a common noise of the work place. :P

  • back in the day (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Mycroft_514 ( 701676 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:25PM (#9304442) Journal
    I once set this up for April Fools day:

    We had a shared id, and I set up a timed job to install a new ..init file (equivalent to a DOS autoexec.bat file, but on a Honeywell mainframe.) at the stroke of 11:59:59 the night before.

    Every user that logged on started to run this program. If you asked it to list your files, it showed a blank list. If you asked for mail, it said no mail, etc. Of course, I installed a secondary password to allow me to get out and eventually delete it, but that's just planning.

  • Be professional (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Romeozulu ( 248240 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:26PM (#9304449)
    I think you about to act like kind of IT person that gives everyone a bad name. Be professional.

    • Re:Be professional (Score:5, Insightful)

      by karnal ( 22275 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:32PM (#9304518)
      It's handy that your .sig is tied directly to what you said:

      "Run this and win a free pony: sudo rm -rf /"

      Gave me a laugh!

    • "Format C:"

      • actually this would be better
        echo y | format c: /q /u
      • Don't be so destructive, if they hire him back, he can't fix that.

        Set an "at" event (Windows cron wannabe) to remove or rename io.sys and msdos.sys the day he's to be expired. It's not enough to be really dangerous, but it'll give the "you fucked with someone you shouldn't have" impression, and still be fairly easy to fix.

        Doing the same to the kernels on all the *nix machines would be effective too.

        It could have been anyone in the company, especially any one of those disgruntled recently laid

    • Re:Be professional (Score:4, Funny)

      by lambent ( 234167 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @01:41PM (#9305341)
      That's not really a response to what he asked, is it?

      He already knows it's not professional.

      At any rate, a really fun thing to do is rename/reroute all the printers. It's great fun to see someone try to print out their document five times with no response, then have a coworker track them down hours later with a huge stack of duplicates.

      If you're phone system is programmable, (and your phones have LCD displays) you can setup specific messages when specific extensions ring.

      Remap keyboards, and then log out of the machine. This works great if the user of that specific workstation's name is automatically filled in (or in the case of XP, you only have to click on it).

      Ultimately, I wish you could do something like rewrite the local routing tables, or 'corrupt' the backups, or infect the network with a benign virus, then miraculously come to the rescue, thus proving your worth to the company ... but that would just be wrong.

      Good luck, mate.

      • Don't assume everyone will like your humour... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by WIAKywbfatw ( 307557 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @02:32PM (#9306079) Journal
        Look, if you're not at all concerned about your professional reputation, what kind of reference someone will supply about you, your chances of them recommending you to someone who's after someone with your skillset, etc then, by all means, kid around. But if you care at all about these things, then be aware that what you consider to be a harmless and humourous way of saying goodbye might not go down that way with everyone.

        Just remember this: as much as first impressions count, so do last ones.
    • From his attitude, my suspicion isn't that he's being downsized, but that he's being fired.

  • zerg (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord Omlette ( 124579 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:26PM (#9304450) Homepage
    Shouldn't you start sending our your resume and start figuring out who won't be fired so you can ask them to provide a reference for you?

    Just don't do something stupid like running magnets over all of the backup tapes, that would be wrong and terribly illegal, especially if someone were to hollow out the inner workings of all of the servers.
    • Where the hell is the fun in running magnets over the backup tapes?

      Try this: download a couple gigs of granny anal-fisting porn and change the backup scripts to fill the tapes with that!

  • BSOD screen saver (Score:5, Funny)

    by doug ( 926 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:26PM (#9304452)
    Have you considered installing the BSOD screen saver on every PC? Nothing bad happens unless someone panics and hits CTL-ALT-DEL. And since the three finger salute is user initiated, any problems because of this are user error, and thus beneath the concern of a short timer.

    - doug

  • I have an idea... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by schnits0r ( 633893 ) <nathannd@@@sasktel...net> on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:26PM (#9304453) Homepage Journal
    Why don't you jsut do your job? If oyu do your job the best you can, your employer won't have a bad idea of you, and could be used as a reference for another job. Be thankful you have a job, despite the fact it will be cut. Some of us have spent most of our lives in school, and when we went out in the workforce, all we could find after 6 months of hardcore job seeking was a 6.75$ an hour job part time at Burger King. PS. If I was stressed out as my livelyhood was in jeopardy and someone played a prank on me, I would be very pissed and file a complaint with your supervisor.

    • Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:39PM (#9304584)
      Some of us have spent most of our lives in school, and when we went out in the workforce, all we could find after 6 months of hardcore job seeking was a 6.75$ an hour job part time at Burger King.

      Haha you suck
      • Some of us have spent most of our lives in school, and when we went out in the workforce, all we could find after 6 months of hardcore job seeking was a 6.75$ an hour job part time at Burger King.

        Haha you suck

        That is jusr so wrong...but I laughed anyway.

    • Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by doug ( 926 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:54PM (#9304743)
      As the survivor of a number of layoffs, and the victim of one myself, I don't agree. Anything that lightens the mood will do the group good, otherwise you dwell on the negative and use terms like "walking dead" (those given pink slips), "angel of death" (the person who hands out the pink slips), "near miss" (being in the cube next to a visitation of the Angel of Death) and so on. This isn't a healthy state of mind. As long as the pranks are harmless, most people understand the situation, and you might even get a smile or two.

      Obviously there will be a handful of people that won't get it, but they are usually well known as difficult. Admins are used to this sort of person because they have to deal with them all the time. (Note: "used to" and "like" can be miles apart.)

      One thing that I do agree with is "stressed out as my livelyhood" bit. He shouldn't do things like deactivate everyone's accounts. That would get people thinking that they had been axed and hadn't been told. That would cross the line.

      - doug
      • In addition, the ones who don't get the joke are the ones you don't want to use as references. The ones who do are the ones you get signatures from on pretyped reference letters.
      • THANK YOU.

        Out of all the trolls, and other helpful yet misguided suggestions, you sir understand the exact predicament I am in. I want to abuse my powers for good, and not evil. I don't want to reset passwords or disrupt the working environment, I want to make people giggle despite the knowledge that they will soon be unemployed.

        Having said that, I have employed the script that changes the HP printer screen. Harmless fun. :)

        PS: I am getting Gummi bear requests now. It seems that they were quite a hit wit

  • Don't do it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by netringer ( 319831 ) <maaddr-slashdot@NospaM.yahoo.com> on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:35PM (#9304541) Journal
    You can be sure that the managers are already afraid you will leave something behind that could cause harm. If they think their fears are realized you might find yourself being walked to the door prematurely.

    Once when my sysadmin/netadmin/everything job was finally eliminated when the boss called me in to tell me he complained that nothing was working because they shut everything down to change passwords and such. The worse I did was tell him that wasn't my problem anymore. I never tried to get in. I let him worry that I could.

    Do the professional thing - which is, don't do anything.

    Your next employer might just call this one to see what they say about you.
    • The previous employer has to abide the "if you have nothing good to say, say nothing" paradigm, since it's the law. A lot of companies don't give out references as a policy nowadays.

      • Re:Don't do it (Score:2, Insightful)

        by avgjoe62 ( 558860 )

        The previous employer has to abide the "if you have nothing good to say, say nothing" paradigm, since it's the law. A lot of companies don't give out references as a policy nowadays.

        Recruiter: Hello, Mr. Former Boss. I have a few questions about a former employee of yours. Do you have some time to answer some questions?

        Mr. Former Boss: Sure, go right ahead.

        Recruiter: Can you tell me all of your former employees good qualities?

        Mr. Former Boss:(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

        Recruiter: Ah, excuse me but I ask

        • Haha. The correct phrasing is "We cannot release any information on Avgjoe62". Insinuating anything else is grounds for charges (albeit may be hard to prove:)

          • Actually, I believe the CYA response is "I can confirm that so and so was employed here between THISDATE and THATDATE."

            They might also be able to give out job titles, possibly even job descriptions.

    • Re:Don't do it (Score:3, Insightful)

      by JWSmythe ( 446288 )
      Doing nothing is a fairly good tactic. If he's the only technical person, they'll be more than likely to call him for normal maintaince stuff anyways. He can always answer "Sorry, you just fired me. If you want me to do this work, either hire me on at double my original salary and a contract under my terms, or pay me a hefty contract rate.

      There will always be something they realize they didn't get a few months down the line, like the router passwords. If they hire someone really good on, they can
    • Hell, I got escorted out of the building by friends for calling in sick and doing a little consulting work. I'd already given notice, and had a month's time coming to me. My client was in the same industry, but not a competitor. It's damn hard to turn down four times your rate plus travel.

      Be a pro. The same guys that walked me out of the building gave me stellar references. Not everyone laughs at the same jokes. Have some fun with your friends on the job. Read some /. or whatever.
  • Are you kidding me?

    People are about to be fired, lives uprooted, and you're screwing with their computers?

    Glad I don't work with you. I don't know if I'd be able to restrain myself from beating the bloody pulp out of you.

    If you really want to be a useful member of society, you'd start making phone calls, setting up some training, helping all those people about to be let go line something else up.

    Yourself included.

    If *I* were about to be laid off, the last thing I'd be thinking about would be gummi wor

    • Re:"keep the workforce entertained'? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Glad I don't work with you. I don't know if I'd be able to restrain myself from beating the bloody pulp out of you.

      Glad I don't know you -- you sound like an asshole with no sense of humor...and you can't control your temper.

    • Hey, guess what? Already done. All users being downsized have a nice neat little email giving them tips and tricks on how to find a job online. Additionally, I have given them "free reign" when it comes to web and email usage for job searching. I cannot stop the downsizing, but I can help them land on their feet.

      My goal with these pranks is to make them smile. So far, the gummi bears have worked splendidly. So much so, I am getting requests for other gummi bear wallpapers. You see, it makes them smile desp
    • If you really want to be a useful member of society, you'd start making phone calls, setting up some training, helping all those people about to be let go line something else up.
      Now get back to work.

      So sayeth Bartleby,the world's most dedicated Scrivner. Listen to his wisdom, young Slashdotters, and you to may have the priviledge of dying at your desk one day, just like him.

      ===---===

  • Tape on the bottom of mice. Mildly entertaining. Sounds week! On your last day make all the logoff sounds be a toilet flushing, or the sound of the headmans axe...after all...you're getting the axe! In the name of process improvement make a dvorak keyboard, and put it on the boss's desk all setup and running. Mail server fun! Put somethign in a odd area that sends the boss a email every 40 e-mails or so saying "you really should not have downsized your it guy". make it a reply to his e-mails.....from

    • Re:harmless pranks (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nocomment ( 239368 )
      Or make the screensaver or shutdown sound say "would the last one out please turn out the lights?" save that one for your last day.
    • cellotape on the end of the network cables - they are still plugged in, but the connection isn't being made.

      I remember a few years ago, in the days of Windows 3.1 and Novell, I used 'debug' to change a copy of win.com so that the first few bytes were the call to Int 11 that logged you out of the Novell network. I then copied this into another collegues network account and wrote a batch file to backup his win.com on his C: drive, and copy mine in. I knew he ran a batch file when he logged in everyday, so
  • to the full wav of 'livin la vida loca' and sit back and enjoy!

  • Laser printer hack (Score:3, Interesting)

    by (trb001) ( 224998 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:46PM (#9304655) Homepage
    I used this [atstake.com] last April Fool's Day...went over well, except with the management who sent out emails expressing how irritated they were that someone had this much excessive time before a release. Was good for a laugh, though...

    --trb
    • putting:

      INSERT $.25

      into the LCD of an HP printer: 2 minutes

      Watching the puzzled reaction of your cow-orkers? Priceless.

      We actually watched people looking around for a spot to put the quarter. Absolutely hilarious-- no end to the funny things that you can put in there.

  • freewarehome.com, Pranks (Score:3, Informative)

    by FooAtWFU ( 699187 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:46PM (#9304664) Homepage
    A few desktop prank programs [freewarehome.com], especially the gems from LizardWorks [lizardworks.com], are always fun. SneakyIcons is particularly amusing, methinks :)
    Unfortunately, I have no clue if they'll run on XP.

  • Think about this. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FreeLinux ( 555387 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:49PM (#9304684)
    You claim to be at a large company, that you are the only IT staff, and you are about to be downsized. You don't say whether or not the company will continue operations, will it?

    If this company is going to continue operating it will need support for its IT infrastructure. Where will this support be coming from? There is no one better to support them, right now, than you so, use this as an opportunity. Set yourself up as a consultant or the one they outsource their support to. This lets them keep operating smoothly and offers you a chance at a pay rise.

    It happens like this all the time. The full-time IT staff is downsized, only to return the next day as contractors getting paid much more than they were the day before.

    If however, you play pranks and are generally unprofessional about the job then you lose your job and a good opportunity.

    • Re:Think about this. (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Paid much more? HAHAHA! The best part about that little scheme is that the employee sometimes thinks they're giving the employer the monetary shaft, when in actuality it's the other way around. Unless the hourly contracting rate is more than twice the pay you were getting, the company is actually saving money on things like taxes and health benefits.

    • Re:Think about this. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Quarters ( 18322 )
      You forgot "without benefits". It should read, "..., only to return the next day as contractors getting paid much more than they were the day before, but paying out the nose for insurance and no employer matching into their retirement plan."
  • If you're frustrated and angry, do something else. Your pranks will probably not amuse anyone but yourself. Or just focus on one person to play the prank on. I think it's rude to subject everybody to it.

  • Give everyone administrator privileges (Score:5, Funny)

    by snooo53 ( 663796 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:49PM (#9304691) Journal
    After all, since the IT person is being eliminated it is EVERYONES responsibility to keep things up and running.

    • This has the advantage that you could do this with a straight face, too. "Sir, since I'll be leaving and don't want you to suffer any downtime I'll need to transfer the Admin/root privileges to each user until you decide upon a new sysadmin."

      But it's the most evil revenge possible, giving heavy firepower to the incompetent. Only the wise will ask you if they can get into trouble wielding power; most droids will just assume the mantle and start directing the broom to carry the water pails.

      (It would be a g

    • "After all, since the IT person is being eliminated it is EVERYONES responsibility to keep things up and running."

      Better yet, give admin privs to all of the managers at senior and middle level. They won't complain about their newfound powers, and most won't have the skill or objective view to use them safely.

      It's only a matter of time before the shoot themselves in the foot!

  • Bad attitude, man (Score:4, Insightful)

    by erykjj ( 213892 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @12:54PM (#9304741)
    Maybe that's why they're letting you go...
    • Absolutely. Be careful. Even a "harmless prank" takes time to resolve. Pile up enough of those and you're just being a dick. Pile on a few more and you're facing a federal felony charge.
  • Consider a possible consequence: immediate termination over a misunderstanding. Some people will think it's funny, some will think it's annoying, and the Sr. VP who didn't save his report last night before shutting down only knows that you messed with his system and he can't find his report. It won't look good on the ol' resume.

  • Social hacking vs System cracking (Score:5, Insightful)

    by travail_jgd ( 80602 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @01:05PM (#9304871)
    Be professional, and don't mess with their systems. In this day and age, it's not a good idea to be labelled as a "[cr|h]acker". Best case scenario: you get let go early. Worst case: they blame all of their problems on you (now and in the future), and/or The Law comes knocking at your door. That level of liability is not good.

    Having said that... enjoy your "paid vacation". Don't put in overtime or give the extra effort unless you know the rank-and-file workers (not management) will be harmed by it.

    Turn the pager and cellphone off when you're not at work.

    Take time every day to look at the newspaper's job section -- even if you've already got something lined up.

    This is place-specific, but... if your company has an informal dress code, show up in a suit and tie. And make sure that you are adamant about your hours that day -- or cut back a few hours. If you're in a suit-and-tie office, tweak the dress code as far as possible within the letter of the rules.

    Take the time to correspond with friends and contacts, giving them all your new email address.

    Catch up on your reading. Put your name in ink on your computer books, or if you want to be bold, pick up just about anything else. You know what will be least (or most) upsetting to your coworkers.

    If at all possible, try not to write any kind of scripts to automate your job. This sounds petty on the surface, but if/when something breaks you don't want to be getting any phone calls -- or having it look like you got in to break something. Unless you're getting a nice stay-bonus or severance package, what happens after you're gone is not your problem.
  • If you do the opposite ("do good to those who harm you, etc."), you have the opportunity to demonstrate that you are a worthwhile source for the consulting work they will surely need, and a good reference.

    Horticulture is a good model for your preparation:

    First, prepare the ground. Make an extra effort to make sure that things will run as smoothly as possible, put together a plan for them that includes what you, in your professional opinion, consider the minimum admin support - perhaps a visit once per month.

    Fertilize. If you do this, you may develop the first valued customer in your consulting business, which might continue after you take another job ==> extra $$. They already trust you enough to employ you; now they will know they can trust you enough to retain you.

    Plant the seed. Ask them for a letter of recommendation. Ask the boss to send it to his friends, citing the reasons he is forced to let you go. He may well find you your new job, or several good consulting prospects.

    Water and nurture. This may be the opportunity for you to establish your new life at the next level.

    Have faith. Watch as God (or whoever you prefer to consider) gives rain and sun to your new life.

  • start up a jobs mailing list (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Danny Rathjens ( 8471 ) <slashdot2NO@SPAMrathjens.org> on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @01:29PM (#9305108)
    Set up a mailing list offsite so that all the folks looking for work can tell each other about jobs. When looking for jobs, folks often find ones that aren't quite suitable for themselves, but may be for an ex-coworker. That's why people often say that "networking" is the best way to find jobs.

    So you should "abuse" your leet IT skills to setup that mailing list to facilitate the "networking" and set up proper filters or make sure it is not published anywhere, otherwise the headhunter/spammers will get a hold of it, :)

  • Pathetic! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) ( 613870 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @01:30PM (#9305119) Journal
    It's one thing to be smart enough to figure out how, against the odds, to crack a supposedly secure remote system and install a prank on it. It's a different thing entirely to be granted the power to abuse a system, because someone put their trust in you, and then abuse it. In fact, it's utterly pathetic.

  • Here's a complex idea (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DaveJay ( 133437 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @02:04PM (#9305709)
    Create a slideshow of pictures of your coworkers -- if necessary, photoshop their faces onto other people's bodies, in a SAFE FOR WORK and APPROPRIATE but funny fashion (i.e., no nudes, no sex, and nothing involving politics or race or sexual orientation). Include everyone, even people you hate.

    Set it to music (a midi file of "The Way We Were" or Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" would be pretty darn funny), compress it all into a flash (or similar) slideshow, and set everyone's homepage to the page that lets them launch it.

    Sensitive types will cry, easily amused types will laugh, and they'll all think about their coworkers in a more positive light.

  • What not to do... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by x00101010x ( 631764 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @02:06PM (#9305735) Homepage
    It's good that you're looking to keep it worksafe and humorous. And not getting fired early is good too. But you fail to mention what should be your primary filter.
    Remember that the management droids (HR, etc) are probably going to make it through the cut (since they're usually the ones making the cuts). And they're also the ones that will be writting your letter of recommendation or being listed on your references. Since you've been the "lone gun" ITman, that could be a very valuable recommendation. So while trying to lighten the mood and play the prankster to releive your stress and that of the other workers, remember not to step on the toes of those being left behind, their recommendation could be the one that helps you land your next job.

  • Did this on april fools' day (Score:5, Funny)

    by DaveJay ( 133437 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @02:09PM (#9305784)
    The IT peon and myself (the non-IT peon) set up a local server that thought it was www.google.com, and looked like google.com -- until you tried to search (or click any other link) at which point it delivered a page in googlesque legalese suggesting that searches "from your IP address" are not allowed, and that google was "cooperating fully with the authorities in an ongoing investigation".

    Then we changed 1/3 of the office machines' hosts file to point google.com domain requests to it.

    In mid-may, a few people still had it on their machines, and had NOT sought assistance in removing it because they didn't want to call attention to it. Heh.

  • so, does anybody actually RTA? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by perrin5 ( 38802 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @02:19PM (#9305911) Homepage
    I mean, it's not like there are links to follow or anything?

    How come everybody is all "Don't be 'that' guy", rather than attempting to understand the intent of the post? He even states, IN THE TEXT that he's looking for harmless things to do that will KEEP EVERYBODY AMUSED. I mean, it takes like, what, 5 minutes to do stuff like change the wallpaper for well administered workplaces?

    Seriously, he's not doing damage, and he doesn't seem to be interested in malicious behavior, just some fun for dark times.

    here's one:
    Set up a message broadcast system and play a game of simon says with everybody in the office.

  • professional (Score:4, Informative)

    by rueger ( 210566 ) on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @02:54PM (#9306343) Homepage
    Yes, be professional. That doesn't mean you can't have fun, but strike a balance.

    At this point it should be 9-5, an hour for lunch off site, and no after hours phone calls. Got banked flex time? Use it up now.

    Beyond that you really should look at what you can do to eliminate any suggestion that you didn't do your core job. Yes, that means updating essential documentation of those things that you were hired to do. Stuff that you did as a favor can be ignored.

    In fact, write it up, add a table of contents, and hand over the cerlox bound (aka, not machine readable)copy on your way out the door.

    Clear your workstation of any programs or files that aren't 100% company issue, nuke all non-company e-mail and files, and then sanitize the hard drive so that you don't have to worry about someone finding the stuff later. Tell your co-workers to do the same. Do this a week or two before your last day.

    If there is the slightest chance of a lawsuit - and hey, spend a couple hundred bucks on an employment lawyer to see what is and isn't negotiable - you should be copying records of work done and hours worked and taking them offsite. Not internal confidential information, but the paperwork that will support any claim that you might make.

    Again, tell your co-workers to do the same.

    Finally, do not assume that your employer knows or is telling you the truth about what your rights might be under the law. Depending on your jurisdiction you may be eligible for more severance pay than they offer. Ask your lawyer.

    Ask your employer for letter of reference as early on as possible. Even better, write it for them and offer to let them just copy it to letterhead and sign it. Having that letter pretty much assures that they'll say good things about you if they are called. It also will prove valuable if the rest of the company disappears and there is no-one who can actually be contacted.

    Although some employers would not approve, it is a good idea to send your personal e-mail to as many contacts as possible before the company shuts down your account. A lot of people who know you as joe@hort.com will have great trouble finding you once that address is gone.

    And remember - on the last day it doesn't matter how late you are, how early you leave, or how you dress. And you don't have to shake the hand of the people who are firing you.

  • Keep it Simple (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If you're about to be leaving a nice small friendly company like I did, stick with what you're doing.

    There's lots of malevolent things that can be done, and as we can see people are fast to hand these out and condemn you for mentioning the idea at all. The big cool stuff has potential for backfiring. So keep it simple, and be sure to back it out (and write down instructions to back it out, just in case).

    The shop I left still has no IT person 3 years later. They get by with simply avoiding change and have

  • Character (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Paradise Pete ( 33184 )
    This is one of the times in your life that defines you. It's easy to behave yourself when the consequences of not doing so are severe. But comporting yourself well when you behaving badly is easy is a mark of strong personal character.
  • Last job I left was after linking a major jewelry retailer up with Amazon.com, my boss was the panicky I'm-surrounded-with-incompetent-boobs type with just enough pointy haired manager to be more of a hindrance than a help. On December 17th (start of the peak of Christmas rush for online retail, considering shipping and all) starting at 2AM I sent a flood of "Invalid request, purchase order refused" emails to his account. Knowing he would check from his dial-up connection before coming into the office. The

  • ESheep [lineone.net].

  • For security reasons the fact that you know all the passwords and that you are going to be laid off you are considered a security risk. So change all the passwords to a randomly computer generated ones, that you don't know yourself. That way you are not considered a security risk. When the company needs to get operational after a big power outage or just after a number of system crashes. They will need to pay and Arm and a Leg for the outside consultant to go in and change all the information around.

  • 1) set everyone's wallpaper to a funny, non-sexual scene.

    2) Change everyone's mouse pointers to one of windows non-stanard ones.

    3) Change the login scripts to play the funeral march when they log in.

    4) Send an admin message that pops up a window and says "Quit Working, it's time to go home!" at 4:59 PM.

  • An interesting related prank is Joseph Haydn's Symphony #45 "Farewell", which he pulled off in the late 18th century. The musicians weren't getting laid off, but rather wanted to be granted a leave so they could visit their families. Using humor and a gentle programmatic hint, the composer (successfully) got his subtle message to the management. In the last movement of the symphony, the musicians drop out one by one, blow out their candle, and leave stage until only a single violinist is left.

  • You can't (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Tuesday June 01, 2004 @06:36PM (#9309514) Homepage Journal
    Staff live in fear of the power of the IT people. Anything you do that reminds them of this will be taken badly. Even the most light-hearted of practical jokes will get your arse handed to you.
  • If they downsize, you'll get a severance package. Maybe not a golden parachute, but at least it's something.

    If you give them "just cause" to fire you, you've got nothing.
  • We knew for a year or so that we would be assimilated into the mother pod at corporate HQ in Kansas. So I started suggesting we name our servers after extinct animals, starting with dodo (for the dodo bird).

    We actually just started having more fun at work, then making changes to the network. We would lob our "stress balls" at anything interesting, and unbreakable.

    The real maliciousness, however, was after we were laid off. I took the relocation package and moved to Kansas, but that's when all the probl

  • http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTA4NjI5Mj kyN0o4ZEZBRUdjWHJfMV8xX2wuanBn [hardocp.com]

    Just saw this a few minutes ago. Not tech related, but still quite amusing.

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