Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 09:58:48 -0400 From: Kafka Dreams To: void Subject: team-building exercise I left work last night at 10:20pm after helping set up a prank. Then I got up at 6am this morning in order be at work in time to watch my boss' reaction when he arrived at his office (sometime around 8am, but I got here earlier just in case) to see well-over 800 (yes, that's OVER EIGHT HUNDRED) balloons staring back at him through the glass door (and glass side panel and glass top panel). The sign on the door said "WELCOME BACK PAUL - WE MISSED YOU" and below it was a pushpin taped to a little piece of paper labeled "emergency exit." My co-worker organized it in retaliation for previous pranks the bossman has played against him. It took at least 6, maybe 7 hours. We used 2 tanks of helium, a compressor, a hand-pump and half a dozen volunteer lungs (including mine). A dozen of the balloons contained tropical-themed confetti (the bossman had been on vacation for 1.5 weeks). The first thing he did (after laughing and appreciating for a few minutes) was open the door really hard (popping about a dozen balloons). Once inside, we shoved most of the balloons that had drifted out back in & pulled the door shut, leaving him in balloons up to his shoulders. He snaked his arm out to snag the pushpin and then spent a good solid 5 minutes popping balloons. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! When he came back out, we ambushed him with 12-shooter rubber-band guns that I'd bought months ago in anticipation. And I installed a Desktop Repeater - 12 Magnum on the corner of my desk... just in case. The floor is now covered (heaped high!) with balloon corpses and tiny glittering palm trees and party hats. Even two hours later, every so often, a muffled POP! comes from his office. The cleaning people are gonna kill us. Kelly J. Sometimes, when life gives you lemons, you can load them into a lemon-shooting gun and go to town!