April Fool 2004

Last year, 3 of us decided to pull a fantastic April Fools joke on the managers and some colleagues. We kidnapped some soft toys and other paraphelia and sent threatening photos via email to the owners and asked for ransom.

Here are some of the photos:

This colleague had some Winnie-the-Pooh toys for some project she was working on so we tied them up, ignoring their cries for help and sent this picture to her.


This one didn't even realise her coat was missing from her chair until almost the end of the day.


This was a metal model of a plane on another colleague's desk. He was baffled as to who and how we got hold of it since his office is on a different floor with "tighter" security. My colleague and I had to pretend we were looking for him after work hours, sat at his desk until the other colleagues looked away then we made a grab and dash. No one ever suspected.


This one, she obviously didn't need to use her stationery until past lunch hour.

All in all, everyone collected their "loot" within two days except one. He thought our email was a junk mail and even though we sent it twice to him, he never realised his slippers were missing.

BUT! The best BEST ones were done right after all the managers had left. Unfortunately I had to run off for some appointment so I wasn't part of the fun. However, this had caused a rukus the next morning with the secretaries flaming and calling the security to check the CCTV to see who the culprits were. Apple-polishers quickly took digital shots to "show my boss the mess before we cleaned up".


This manager had left for an overseas trip at that time but one of his staff called him and told him that his computer and workspace was totally trashed and that the head of security was up there, trying to figure out who was the culprit. He freaked out, especially being miles away!

(This also brings to mind when we first moved into this new office and were working on some Lord of the Rings stuff, we put a sign outside his door that said "The Balrog is IN/OUT". He was only upset as to why he was called the Balrog when the rest had "cooler" names.)


This manager comes in work at 9 plus so by the time he was about to reach, the tape had been cleared. Again, another colleague called him and told him the same story as above and he panicked, saying he was already nearby and would immediately look into it.



THIS one... quite a grand one, was done on our Executive Director's door. It was fantastic but I came by when everything was taken down. The secretary was livid and being extremely unpleasant about the whole thing, kicked up a massive fuss which exploded through the entire office floor and summoned the head of security up to take a look at it.

The funny thing was, when the ED came to the office and was told about it, he asked us for a photo of it since he missed seeing it and also asked for the photos of the other 2 managers' desks to send to them as they missed it too! I actually feel a tinge of pity for the secretary because she must have felt so stupid after that.

(We called his office "The Tower of Mordor" when we first shifted in. He left it there until it dropped off years later.)


The General Manager actually saw the taping of the ED's room when he left but didn't realise HIS door would also be taped! His managers took photos of it to show him but he merely laughed and also said he regretted not seeing it before it was taken down. I think he gave a thumbs up to the culprits... :)

(His office was named "Saruman's office" since he was in "conspiracy" with Saruman in the Tower of Mordor).

These were some of the most memorable things that has happened here. Too bad three of these managers have left together with their sense of humour. I can't imagine the existing ones would be able to accept this kind of jokes.

Anyways, what's left of our Lord of the Rings effort now is that we have 3 meeting rooms with the name of Shire, Gondor and Rivendell. Left on it's own devices, they would have christened Room A, B and C.

Humper, the Dog

While I wait, let me tell you of a curious incident of a dog in the night.

When we first shifted in, there was this stray dog roaming the neighbourhood. We tried to be friendly to him but he ended up jumping on KS leg and humping it. He wasn't very happy when we tried to push him away. Anyways, we decided to christen him Humper.

A couple of weeks ago, one of those nights when KS was working late and returned home past midnight, he spotted Humper and made a stop to pat him. After getting out of the car, he squatted near Humper and waved to him to step nearer. Humper slowly neared him without wagging his tail. After a minute of patting him, KS tried to stand up but the dog immediately put both his paws on his lap, with his fangs dangerously close to his face.

KS started to panic. He got up slowly anyway and the dog did what he was known for. Humped his leg. When KS tried to step away, the dog growled. THEN, KS knew he was in deep trouble.

Inching towards the passenger side of his car, he opened the door, intending to jump in and shut the door on the dog. However, the intelligence of Humper cannot be underestimated. He immediately jumped into the car before KS could!

After much persuasion, the dog was tricked into stepping out of the car so KS made a lunge for it. He managed to sit but as he was trying to pull the car door close, the dog again put both his paws on his lap, this time with his mouth on his thigh. A single snap would have warranted us a childless couple forever.

Frantically, KS thought of calling me to save him but decided Humper would attack me too. So, carefully, he pushed Humper's nose until he was able to pull the door shut just as he made a snap.

Safely inside the car, he looked out and saw the dog circling the car as a hungry shark would of a leaking raft. In the end, he clambered over to the driver's seat and drove away.

He swears he will never ever touch Humper again. As for me, two dog bites (one was from his dog, nonetheless) is enough for me. I'll stick to cats, thanks.

Die for Work

I don't understand it! KS will be pulling out his wisdom tooth tomorrow morning and right this very moment, he's dragging his office PC into his car so that while he rests at home, he will be able to do his work!

So here I am, again at past 8pm, waiting for him to pick me. Should have brought my book. At least I have Beethoven's 9th Symphony to accompany me.

Ironically, the book I'm currently reading, The Street Lawyer by John Grisham, talks about how this lawyer's marriage has come to an end as both he and his wife were chasing their career. And he's come to the realisation that one's career/work isn't worth his life. Sigh... it's just a story.

All By Myself...

I have 2 days to be all by myself... without KS and Jan. Faced with being alone, I'm throwing out some tentacles and see if anyone wants to have a bite with me this Thurs and Fri. Otherwise, I'll just go home to a good bowl of Ramen. Hmmm... on second thoughts, I'd like to curl up with my John Grisham book with that bowl Ramen.

I don't understand how people can eat alone, especially when eating out. KS does it all the time. It's strange and it's suffering. I've tried it by taking a book with me and people stared. I'd rather skip my meal, eat a couple of biscuits or cook instant noodles before sitting there all by myself, waiting for my meal and then gobbling it down quickly.

Now I have to go for lunch. Even if my colleague has to rush to get back to work, at least she'll accompany me for that few minutes.

Paranoia

I’ve grown up surrounded with detective books. I can’t remember what the title of those books were but it shows how you, as a detective, are supposed to set “traps” around the house like sprinkle some powder under your window so that if anyone breaks in from there, you’d see their footprints. Or, place a book on the table, remember the page number you left it open at and lay a single strand of hair across it.

It even tells you how to walk around your neighbourhood by showing you a map and asking you to decide which paths you should be taking to avoid all the dangerous places. Or how to be suspicious of your neighbour should there recently have been a bank break in if they start buying expensive things suddenly. Or if you know your neighbour always lived alone and you suddenly see her washing guys clothes and yet never see a man outside the house, be on the alert.

Yes, all this I have committed to memory just from those few books. It was mainly pictorial so it was a good read and an educational one. It was a series and had a bright blue cover…

Anyways, it started a huge interest in detective work, I’ve indulged myself in tv series, movies and books of that genre since then. Along the way, I’ve picked up habits which never occurred to me how paranoid I had become.

I’d never throw away my credit card slips. If I do, I’d tear it up carefully so that my credit card numbers are stripped into 4 or more pieces, then thrown into different wastepaper baskets and ensured I never threw all my rubbish out at the same time. Then I started doing it for my phone bills too. After all, one can get my phone number and my friends contact numbers if they were to find it in one piece!

It was only recently when my bills started piling as I got lazy in tearing them and distributing them in different bins when KS asked me why I did such a thing in the first place. Then it struck me. Who on earth would want to dig up my trash to find out my purchases for the month of April this year? Or to find out whom I had made calls to in the last 2 months from my cell phone?

After that, I have finally been able to throw my bills in one piece. It’s not easy but I must be strong and continue to try.

Bloody Dentist

I am so so angry. Remember I had to operate my wisdom tooth out earlier this year? The reason why I did that was because Dr T, my now ex-dentist, took an xray and said the tooth in front of it had a cavity due to the wisdom tooth impacting it. He rushed me and made me pull out the wisdom tooth which I did with a specialist.

At the specialist, the Dr took a full dental xray and discovered the second molar in front of my wisdom tooth showed an internal cavity which needed immediate attention.

So I went back to Dr T who did my root canal. At my last appointment, Dr T told me to come back so that he can patch up the 1st tooth.

Since his services were exorbitant, I was recommended by my colleague to try another dentist just near my office. So this morning I went to pay him a visit to patch up that tooth.

What I discovered:
1. There is no cavity on that tooth. Meaning, I never needed to rush pulling out my wisdom tooth in the first place.
2. The root canal was done quite badly as he didn't reach right to the bottom of my roots. This new dentist (I don't even know his name) was very frank but he feebly tried to cover up for Dr T by saying it is a difficult case and he probably did his best. I retorted his best would have been to recommend me to a specialist to get it properly done instead of charging me as much as pulling out my wisdom tooth for a botched up job!

So now I am to go to another specialist, an Endodermist or whatever... to redo the root canal. And you know specialists fees are like what... Blast that Dr T!

Verdict

Oh, the verdict of my cake from the whole company was to get rid of the icing. Hahaha... I'm glad for that as I don't particularly enjoy making the icing either.

It's nice that KS's company (in particular, one colleague) has been so supporting of me with this baking thing. One colleague who was on leave demanded that one piece be kept for her today and if she likes it, she may place orders for Raya! *cross fingers*

Oh, and the company will put consider my cakes for their monthly birthday celebrations. What a fantastic bunch of people!

Thursday Breakdowns

Last Thursday, Jan called me up at nearly 6pm and her first words were:

"Jo, I'm in deep shit"

Her car had suddenly overheated but she was at a petrol station so she wasn't blocking anyone. I made my way there and reached her in an hour, after the AAM had temporarily solved her problem long enough for her to drive back home.

Yesterday, I was about to sleep when suddenly, I got a call from KS. HIS car broke down along the very same highway but right after hitting the toll. His car had successfully inched right after the bar came down, which was fortunate otherwise the bar would have caused some damage. Luckily it was late, nearly midnight, and there weren't many cars and no one was stuck behind him. AAM came to his rescue and now he's fixing the problem at our mechanic.

I won't call myself superstitious but come next Thursday, I ain't gonna drive.

They always get the fun...

This invoice was accidentally sent to my ex department. Looks like someone in my company just procured some 1000 pieces of floppy dicks. Wonder what they do with them. Floppy ones? And going for cheap too, no wonder! Only RM0.20 per piece! Hurry hurry! Grab this promotional price for a limited time only!

D-Deed

As from 2:40pm, I am officially resigned from my current workplace. I have been crapping bricks the whole weekend just thinking of how to do it properly.

Doubtful thoughts crept into my mind, "Am I doing the right thing? What if my new workplace doesn't work out?" so I consulted my one and only colleague who knows about my leaving and she sternly pointed her finger towards my boss' room and said one word, "GO!".

My boss of course was shocked but she said she understood. Didn't even ask me why I am leaving but I guess she knows. Didn't even bother about negotiating. She just asked me to wrap things up and not tell anyone yet at this point since it can be demoralising for my team as it is the peak period.

So yeah, 3 months or less down the line, I will be moving on to a new job in town.