BS: School Pranks?

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 08:12 AM

Neamanson - surely it is time now to unburdon yourself of that second tale.....

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Naemanson
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 07:58 AM

Matt, Lesson Number One in practical jokes is that you rarely do it to someone you don't like. The target should be a friend. So if you like your teachers you should go right out and put chewing gum on those doorbells. *BG*

I don't have any stories from school. But I do have one from work. I am guilty of pulling the all time long distance joke of all time (with the exception of any pulled during the space program)

Several years ago we successfully finished a difficult construction project and my boss, a Navy lieutenant, was required to provide a detailed report for the Pacific Division's headquarters. He was forced to leave Maine in February and travel to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to do this.

Now, our office was at the height of our practical joke period. In the morning you had to approach your door with all the caution of a bomb squad. Dot-mines were common. You would open your door and be showered with paper dots. At one point the boss had been kicked out of a camp ground in Rhode Island. When he came in to work after that vacation he found his office had been transformed into a campsite complete with pine boughs, a dome tent, and a fire place with cooking gear.

Anyway, he headed out for Hawaii on a Saturday. Before he left he visited the office and wreaked havoc on my area. The chair was affixed to my desk, one drawer was screwed shut, every book had been liberally sprinkled with dots, epoxy cement had been poured into my pencil container, and there was a dot-mine over my door.

The piece de resistence took place on Thursday. I had a pair of shoes I kept in the office. On Thursday they were nailed to the floor. When I finally got them up there was a note underneath IN THE BOSS' HANDWRITING. I was impressed. It was a long distance joke that I had to repay.

My vengeance is another tale.

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: GUEST,micca at work
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 07:33 AM

The student who filled my lab coat pockets with shaved ice from the ice machine while I was carrying a large and heavy piece of equipmentso I had to walk a long way with my pockets full of melting ice,then made good their escape( so they thought), and trotted down the three flights of stairs to leave the building but didnt know I knew the exact moment to release an egg from the balcony to hit them exactly on top of the head as the crossed the lobby, The egg had been "blown out" and the contents replaced with glycerol, (no stain and mess and washed off easily , but the same feel).I will treasure forever the expression on her face as she looked up at me...

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 04:16 AM

We turned all the desks to face the other way and put the teachers desk at the back so it looked like the whole room was the wrong way round. Mr Flatley (our maths/form teacher at the time) took it all his stride though - carried on as if nothing had happened including chalking on the back wall as if there was a blackboard there!

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Banjer
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 03:49 AM

In Junior High School (nowadays known as middle School)we always complained that the facilities in some of the bathrooms didn't work properly. Nothing seemed to be done and after several weeks of frustration at having only two operating restroom in a two story building which normaly had eight restrooms it was decided that action was necessary. You have no idea what damage four M-80s (each equivalent to 1/4 stick of dynamite) flushed from the upstairs commodes can do. I had no idea....anyhow, it did get the desired results...a repair crew was on scene within the hour and from then on all systems worked well. It took them about a week and a half to replace some of the pipes but well worth the effort!

As for hiding classes...I do seem to recall one incident where an enterprising student went from room to room during lunch one day writing various directions on blackboards. Things such as...meet in room 101 after lunch...meet on the volleyball court...etc. The end result was about ten classes wandering around trying to find their assigned locations...pure bedlam!!! But such fun!

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Extra Stout
Date: 27 Feb 01 - 01:56 AM

My seventh grade teacher had a stuffed pigeon in her classroom, we all spent a good half-hour snickering and choking after recess one day, waiting for her to notice that a dead starling from the schoolyard had joined her pet on its perch. She screamed. I borrowed a garter snake from a terrarium in my sophomore biology class and gently guided it up into my necktie. It was quiet and happy for quite a while. I was angelically minding my own business when my tie rose and waved itself about. My lab partner screamed. Real loud. I had to put the snake back, but Mrs. Meade was laughing too hard to take further measures.

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:33 PM

I'm only going to mention this one because I wasn't involved. A chemistry teacher known as "Wild Bill" Brooks once opened the door to his classroom and found all the students lying on the floor and the smell of gas in the air; one of the Bunsen burners was hissing but not lit. He instantly picked up a chair and threw it through the window with a great crash. At that point all the students stood up. The foolish ones laughed at Mr. Brooks, while the more intelligent ones felt like fools...

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:54 PM

oh! just remembered another one....

Mr Fields was also lunchroom proctor..general maintaining of order. The rule was..NO food to ne taken out of the lunchroom. One day, Mr Fields saw a kid buy an ice-cream bar and slip it into his shirt pocket under a jacket. So, he met the kid just as he left the room and stopped him...

"Oh, John...I was wondering how that new project is coming"

"Oh,,,uh...fine, Mr. Fields..but I gotta go.."

"Well you know, I have some ideas you might want to consider..."

"Um...sure, Mr. Fields...later maybe?"

"But, John...it is due soon, and if we could spend a few mintes now......."(blah, blah, blah...for 10-12 minutes...till he was SURE that ice cream bar was good and soggy)...then he let him go with no mention of the offense!

....we didn't play many pranks on Mr. Fields

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:22 PM

well, here's another one where the teacher won...

I had a shop class from Mr. Fields, in the days when a spat from a paddle was NOT banned in the US..*grin*...and Mr Fields was asst. principal, and official disiplinarian for the boys. He was, however, a man of good cheer and a wicked sense of humor...though his tolerance for nonsense was limited.

When shop class was almost over, the guys would watch the clock, which would click each new minute with a little back-twitch a half-second before clicking to the new position, and everyone would be poised to zoom for the door as the bell rang. So...one day Mr. Fields had had enough, and said..(as he wandered over to the door and looked casually out the little window).."Ok, you guys are in SO much of a hurry to get out of here...lets make it interesting...today, the LAST one out the door gets one spat of the paddle"...and he turned, smiling, as the twirled his favorite wooden paddle on its leather strap......then he stepped to one side and waited...and the clock went.."ker---"..and before it went "---click", 18-20 boys made a mad rush and.....piled up like cattle against the door which Mr Fields had carefully locked with the deadbolt as he looked out the window!

He was bent over laughing, and we took a few seconds to realize that he had gotten us ALL with one trick! Next day, we watched him like a hawk, but he had made his point....

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Rollo
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:50 PM

We didn't have to do many pranks in the physical science labs, because of our teacher... dear ole chap, he was just too kind-hearted to get along with pupils... and he was a real bugger with experiments... I remember the day when he dropped and broke first the fog chamber then the big plug-it-together-electro-motor. recently he had also used up all the little lamps, and we heard his colleague coming from the other lab into the storage, find the remnants of the motor and shout through the closed door: "Mr. H. come here RIGHT NOW!" Later in the day this colleague told us: "I am REALLY pissed... seems to last long today..." Well, I needn't to explain what he did with the great basin. Or what happened with the rubin laser. Unforgotten the day when he wanted to show us a weak alpha ray preparate and the geiger detector didn't make "Click... Click..." but "Scrchhhhhhhhhh...". Mr. H. looked to the sign and was so shocked finding the strong gamma ray preparate he was not able to srew it into it's leaden safety cannister. We were innocent. Really. he did this all alone. But his greatest moment was when he wanted to explain fuses to my brother's class. This genius of a teacher went out to the store and came in a moment later with ALL fuses from the fuse box. Shortly after another colleague came in and asked "Do you know why we have a failure on the whole floor? It's REALLY bad timing, for we just have general degree exams next room, and the experiment broke down in the middle of the progress..." Mr. H. looked at the heap of fuses... "Oh, ah, well... " And in the end he and his colleague stood in the store with flashlights and couldn't find the right places for the right fuses. There was no light, of course. The other teacher only shooked his head and sighed. Poor Mr. H., for he was a teacher that really loved his pupils.

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Micca
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 12:26 PM

Aggie and Sinsull, great care is needed as the timing from Flush to explosion varies but can be as short as 15-30 seconds or less......a more devastating version of this was when someone stole 50 gms of Sodium metal from a lab and panicked when it was announced over the PA ,they tried to flush it down a toilet..... it left a 3 fooot wide 5 foot deep hole where the Toilet HAD been
BTW the "Potassium " Iodide mentioned above is more correctly Nitrogen tri-iodide, stable when wet but VERY shock sensitive when dry...

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Trevor
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:53 AM

We had a history teacher who used to walk around the room talking about whatever the subject was with his eyes closed. It was always a good laugh when we all swapped seats as he was talking - every time he opened his eyes the baddies would be in a different place. He would always take his watch off and put it on his desk, every so often returning to pick it up and squint at it - until, of course, he discovered it had been sellotaped to the desk.

Incidentally, he was also our form master for most of the time I was at school, and we thought he was great.

I also once swopped the sign on the door of the headmaster's study with the one from the library, on the second day of a new year. 'The Boss' was inundated by new boys who had been told, naturally, that they should just walk straight in if they wanted anything from the library.

In't skool grand?

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:26 AM

Uncle Micca - Classic. I love it. Have taken down the recipe and will put it to good use - maybe at the Getaway.

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: MMario
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 11:11 AM

lessee - we put the principal's volkswagon on the roof of his office; painted the graduating class's chairs for graduation with potassium iodide crystals; (or whatever it is you get when you mix iodine and ammonia)

swapped speeches for graduation day - (had to have pre-approved speeches - none of us read the "approved" ones) - played volleyball with paper wads WHILE the substitute teacher was teaching - (not easy!)

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Gervase
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:34 AM

Apart from the chemical warfare against the tea-run cartel, there was the black boot polish on the housemaster's bog seat.
He knew he had a black arse. We knew he had a black arse. He knew that we knew that...etc. And he didn't say a word!

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 10:16 AM

Oh there are many...!

One of my favourites was when we were having a flobbing competition during break out of the first floor classroom window. It was your's truly's turn and I took the customary preparations and long run up before releasing my effort. It unfortunately was a dud and descended straight down landing in the centre of the bald patch on the art master's head as he was passing below. He was very fast indeed turning the corner and running up the stairs but, fortunately, not quite as fast as we were in vacating the classrom!

mcmoo

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: AggieBethie
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 09:26 AM

That's awful Uncle Micca... I love it! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: GUEST,micca at work
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 09:15 AM

for a teacher of "regular habits"
enter the staff toilet and his/her preferred cubicle, drain cistern abd replace water with 4 litres of 20 vols Hydrogen Peroxide, drain u bend in toilet add 2 liters of 0.1M Silver nitrate followed by 2 litres of 2 M Sodium Hydroxide solution . this precipitates finely divided silver oxide..
when Toilet is flushed
4l of peroxide + silver oxide = 80 l of oxygen gas
Contents of toilet returned like Great geyser at Yellowstone usually to ceiling,, and stalagtites formed..
Warning, you Have to Really HATE the teacher...

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:46 AM

I don't know how I discovered I could do it, but my friends used to make me look our Maths teacher in the eye and utter some kind of curse under my breath. It never did him any harm, but ALWAYS gave him an attack of clumsiness, like he'd forget what he was saying or drop his chalk. I don't know if I can still do it, 'cos I've got too much of a conscience now, but whenever you have an attack of clumsiness, look someone in the eye and tell them it's their turn. Now that DOES work!!!

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:41 AM

But I LIKE my teachers!

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:40 AM

Matt! Go out right now and stick a wad of gum on someone's door bell. It will ring forever. Get away quick. you will feel so much better.
Aunt Mary

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:11 AM

I only went to school for 2 years, so no. But back in '98, my Biology II teacher at Community College let me play "The Bright Field" and "Neil Gow's Farewell to Whiskey" on fiddle in front of the class. I'm not sure how much the other students appreciated it...

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 07:44 AM

I love the piglets one!!!

We set a trap for the blind german teacher once (string round the chairs etc) - it was hilarious until she started walking towards it & we suddenly realised what a totally nasty thing it was that we had done.
Luckily we dismantled it in time. It was a very valuable lesson though....... sometimes the thought is funnier than the deed

Kris

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 26 Feb 01 - 06:42 AM

Where do I start

The usual mundane putting chalk inside the black board rubber, hiding the waste paper bin in the roof of the classroom (we had a poystyrene roof tiles), drawing a chalk line behind the dangling cord of the overhead projector screen that hangs down in front of the blackboard. But on a different level....

Mixing concentrated sulphuric and hydrochloric acid in a test tube and placing a length of rubber tubing in it then inserting a lighted spint down the middle which explodes and shoots the rubber tubing onto the ceiling where it sticks!

Making Potassium iodide crystals and sprinkling them on the floor so that loud explosions occur when anyone walks on them.

Taking the fuse out of the overhead projector plug so that the teacher thinks the machine is broken and has to go and find another.

Devising a system with farmers children whereby 4 piglets are taken to school marked with the number 1, 2, 3 and 5 and setting them loose.

Setting up a walkie Talkie under the teachers desk and then giving them instructions as they write on the board.

Is this why I didn't take up teaching as a career!!!

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 11:25 PM

...you shouldn't bake pepper into biscuits in Home Ec class and give them to your math teacher, like 2 girls did when I was in 8th grade.........2 weeks later, after careful preparation, the girl who was the prime pepper baker got sent off to another room to borrow the 'paper strecher',and then to another room, and so on...she must have been routed to 8-10 different rooms by teachers in on the joke before it dawned on her...

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 07:49 PM

Like Sorcha I never did anything bad except the gum thing recounted on another thread. My younger brother was always up to mischief however. He had a teacher with a hearing aid and actually went up to him mouthing a question - no sound. The poor man kept turning up his hearing aid and fiddling with the batteries. He finally gave up and said "Speak louder!" John did and nearly killed him.
Just remembered antoher - I guess I did do one or two things. I attended an all girl high school. Saran wrapping the toilet and then putting the seat down ensured an embarrassing mess whether you sat or not. Vaseline on the seat only worked for sitters.

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:42 PM

I actually mentioned this on another thread before but its worth repeating....or is it..?

When my husband was young (13 or 14) he and a few friend were hanging out in front of the school at lunch, when they noticed a very large rock on the ground before them. They contemplated it for awhile, trying to decide where such a large rock, so out of place, could have come from and decided, after some deliberation, that perhaps it had fallen from the sky. It seemed to be such a dilemma to all concerned, that my husband decided if it had indeed fallen from the sky, they should send it back from whence it came, so that they could get on with more important things.

My husband picked up the rock and heaved it up and back over his head and instead of the thump that they had expected, as it landed on the flat roof of the school, a loud crash of glass was the result, for the rock had plummeted through a skylight. They carefully removed themselves from the vicinity doing their best to look nonchalant.

It was not until thirty years later, when he was working with an old school mate that he found what had truly happened to the rock. The friend recounted how, while he was working on a drafting project at lunch one day, a very large rock had came hurtling through the skylight and had landed on the desk in front of the dreaded Mr. Bagshaw, the bane of their young existence and that the old boy was shook up for weeks afterward. My husband responded, "Yeah? weird how things fall from the sky sometimes."

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: bill\sables
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:42 PM

I remember one very cold winters day (Cold UK standards not USA) when someone threw an icy snowball and it hit the French teacher (who was a pillock anyway) right on the ear. When we were lined up to go back into school he demanded to know who threw the snowball and nobody owned up so he caned the whole school. There was some consolation because his ear was glowing red while he caned us and it only warmed our hands anyway. He was absent for the rest of the week with a muscular problem in his fight arm from the canings. He never tried caning the whole school again.

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: rangeroger
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:32 PM

My High school English class also "hid the class" once.We were all in class but the teacher was late. As it was a ground floor classroom we all went out the windows and hid in the shrubbery.The teacher came into the room,looked around highly perplexed and then left.We all jumped back through the windows and were in our assigned seats when she returned with the principal.

rr

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 06:13 PM

I don't do things like that.............(hhrruummpphh, says all of Mudcat)

Subject: RE: BS: School Pranks?
From: MichaelAnthony
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 05:06 PM

I hid the class once, or rather twice.

The chemistry teacher was usually late, and I wrote on the blackboard "1st period to the library" (sometimes the space program would have something televised, so this was believable). I erased the message before he came in.

It worked. I did it again for 3rd period (my own class) and got identified. The teacher was very upset -- "It was funny the first time."

Subject: School Pranks?
From: bill\sables
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 05:01 PM

I was just reading in another thread abour Trevor hollowing out a piece of chalk and fitting matches into it and when the teacher used it on the blackboard the matches struck. It reminded me of the day when our woodwork teacher, who used to wear rubber overshoes when there was snow on the ground, came into school and left his overshoes in the store cupboard. About half an hour before home time we layered quite a quantity of glue inside and the teacher sliped them on and went home. Next morning we all got caned.
Did anyone else do something they shouldn't to theit teacher?
Bill