Remote Office Pranks You Must Be Ready to Deal With

Remote working is a challenging task with a lot of distractions. And getting pranked by a colleague is like a catalyst to these head-scratching distractions. These remote office pranks can affect your work efficiency, for we all have different levels of comfort zones.

But, these pranks can be less irritating if you prepare yourself to deal with them. So, without stretching it further, let’s know a few of these office pranks your remote coworkers can play on you.

Remote Office Pranks You Should Know

1- Hoax Slack Profile of a New Colleague

If you are in an HR team, a new joiner’s introduction without any prior knowledge can confuse you. And it’s pretty obvious for you to experience these panics and confusion. Maybe, it’s your mischievous colleague who created a fake Slack profile.

In this situation, you can straightaway ask your coworker not to do it. Did he ignore your concern? Take steps to remove that fake profile all by yourself. The technical team can help you with it.

2- Who-is-behind-you Game

Work-from-home culture without Zoom or Skype meetings is like fish without water. And why not? We all need interactions with our teammates while working on essential projects. Anyways you still have to tie your belt against the pranksters of your office.

They can waste your time by tricking you with the Who-is-behind-you game. The best way to deal with this situation is to ignore this indecorous colleague. Still, if he continues to create mischief, mute him.

3- Irritating Wrong Number Calls

Have you ever received wrong-number calls during your working hours? If yes, then you can surely relate to those exasperating moments. Well, if not, then you can be trapped soon into this prank by your jealous colleague.

To handle such prank calls, you can keep the person on hold. Believe it, his trap for irritating you is going to backfire on him. Besides that, blocking the number can also be a perfect escape.

4- Creating Photoshopped Memes

Of course, your evil-headed colleague can’t swipe the pictures of your photo frame in the office cubicle. Thanks to the globally-embraced remote working culture!

However, he/she can find a way out of it. And it’s posting the photoshopped memes of your pictures on the official Whatsapp group.

First of all, using someone’s pictures without permission is unethical. So, you can make a warning announcement on the office’s Skype group. Tell about the legal actions you can take if the culprit doesn’t delete them.

5- Freaking Notice for Urgent Reporting

“Boss is annoyed right now. He wants all of us to connect with him over a telephonic conference call.” These words can freak you out. Thousands of questions can conquer your mind about the reasons for your reporting manager’s annoyance.

At this moment, I will suggest you take a deep breath in and relax. Call your reporting manager and clarify if the rumor is true or not. Suppose it’s false, then ignoring this fake scuttlebutt is all that you can do.

6- Receiving a Spring-loaded Glitter Bomb Gift

Is your annoying colleague suddenly becoming generous to you and couriered a surprise gift to your house? Then, there’s something fishy you should figure out.

Probably, he sent you a spring-loaded glitter bomb gift. Again, it depends on your coworker’s intentions for sending you this glitter bomb gift. It can either be a genuine gesture or can be plotting to hurt you. All you can do is to be careful while unpacking such surprise gift boxes.

7- Fake Medical Emergency Drama

Another one to the list of remote office pranks, a fake medical emergency drama by an associate can disturb you for the entire day. And that’s how the usual human nature is all about. Undeniably, it’s not fun if your colleague does it.

Instead of panicking out, confirm if he/she is genuinely in trouble or not. Dial the alternative number the person submitted at the time of onboarding. It’s an excellent way to find the seriousness of the issue.

8- Changed Identity Confusion

Imagine you organized a zoom meeting to discuss the strategies of an ongoing project, and someone constantly changes his/her identity. How is the feeling? Indeed, it’s fun for once. However, this prank can get into your nerves if repeated several times.

To get out of this confusion, point out the prankster to stop doing it. In case your colleague ignores your concern, chuck him/her out of the meeting room. This step saves both your time and energy.

9- Flooded Retro-style Documents

No doubt, receiving retro-style documents from a colleague can drive you crazy if you aren’t familiar with them. Undoubtedly, there is no harm in these retro-styled files and emails. Your colleague’s only intention can be to take you to the 90’s time.

Acceptability is the only key to deal with this prank. Additionally, ignoring these retro-themed documents will also confuse the notorious one. Always remember that an apt option to deal with such fun tricks is not to react.

10- Invisibility Trick On The Name Of Urgent Meeting

Suppose you are working on a project whose submission deadline is by the end of the day. All of a sudden, a colleague schedules an urgent video conferencing meeting and then disappears. Isn’t it infuriating? Unarguably, it is.

It’s an invisibility trick your insecure coworker can play on you. To avoid such incidents, drop a request message to the wicked-minded to call you later. If the meeting is genuine, the person will listen to your concern.

11- Missed Letter Messages On Skype

“I wan o ell you about a keyboard error a my end, key nex “S” isn’ working.” If your coworker is complaining about this issue, it isn’t necessarily true. Most likely, the person is pretending. This issue could be another prank game by your vexatious colleague.

Shield yourself from further confusion by calling the prankster. Clarify all the insights on high-priority projects on a phone call. With this step, you can feasibly understand what he/she intends to say.

Wrapping it up,

All in all, remote-office pranks are acceptable unless they don’t harm you and your work productivity. Whether it’s a wrong-number call, who-is-behind-you game, invisibility trick, or whatnot, ignore them only if played within limits. Don’t let them turn into mental harassment.

I hope the discussed points will give you some insights into the possible pranks by your remote colleague.

Would you like to share a few more remote office pranks? Please share them in the comments.

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