Then there was the time...

In honor of this day of foolery, be it for Tom or anyone else, I can't help but remember a few pranks from the past. A few from work were pretty fun, but mild enough to relay here.

When my buddy, Scott, and I were tellers we were alone and closing up the bank one night when we realized the next day was April 1st. It snuck up on us so we weren't prepared, but we could not just let it go. On such short notice all we could think of was to switch out all of the pictures in the frames on everyone's desks. In other words, they kept their frames, but the pictures were changed. We figured it would take longer to notice, thus adding to the level comedy we were undoubtedly going to establish. The president of the bank had a picture of another guy's bird dog in the frame where his wife had been. Other people's grandchildren were now gracing someone else's desk while they were sporting images of fishing trips or college friends. Scott and I looked on the subtle charm of what we had done and saw that it was good.

The next day, was quiet; too quiet. I think at first it was because no one had noticed anything was different. As the day went on, however, Scott and I began to notice that pictures were quietly getting back to their rightful places. We also noticed that we were getting the silent treatment from everyone.

That evening Scott and I were closing again and it was also the night where at least a dozen bank employees would stay and play cards in the drive-thru where Scott and I worked. It was always a lot of fun. We would break open rolls of coins and everyone from the top brass down to lowly tellers like Scott and I would talk and play cards and shoot dice or whatever. Everyone was late showing up and stayed pretty quiet. I noticed that there was commotion near the door and people started to try in vain to supress grins and laughter. Finally everyone was laughing. The president of the bank tried to explain. Everyone had decided the way to get back at Scott and me was for Ray, the president of the bank, to pretend to fire us while everyone was there in the drive-thru. Everyone was there anticipating that very thing but Ray, usually a pretty hard-nosed guy, could not keep a straight face and the whole thing fell apart.

The next year, I decided to get him again. It turned out that I was a junior commercial lender by then and we were taking a large seven-figure loan from a bank in Lubbock. I was going to Lubbock on April 1 to pick up several stock certificates, vehicles titles and other chattel. Before I left I told Ray's secretary that I would call later in the day and say that I had car trouble and while I was getting the car taken car of someone stole my briefcases. She thought it was risky but agreed to go along. Well, the truth of the matter was, as I was heading back to Abilene just outside Post, Texas, the car it front of me flipped several times. Another guy and I jumped out and pulled the girl from the car and got it turned off. We called the Highway Patrol and an anbulance but we ended up being stuck there for over an hour. I called the bank to let them know, but they would not believe me. I never got the chance to pull the prank I intended to, but nobody believed the truth anyway.

Those were a couple of memorable April Fool's events for me. Happy April Fool's Day to you.