the sandwich party, the goat shrine, and other unusual office traditions

by Alison Green on November 27, 2024

I asked last week about unusual office traditions you’ve seen or experienced, and here are 15 of my favorites you shared.

1. The PB&J party

We once had a coworker who was a young, single guy right out of college and living on his own for the first time. He always forgot to buy groceries, so he would bring really random things for lunch every day (one day he brought a jar of spaghetti sauce.) One of my coworkers brought him a loaf of bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly for Christmas so that he could make himself sandwiches.

Thus, the PB&J party was born. That was almost 10 years ago, but now right before Christmas, we all get together, reserve a room and everyone brings something. We have had fancy peanut butters, homemade jams and breads, and various other spreads and different foods-and we all sit around and eat PB&J.

2. The goat shrine

We had a goat shrine. It was just this little alcove with a few pictures of goats and in the center was a little toy goat statue that would scream when you pushed down on it. Whenever someone accomplished something or completed a difficult task they would hit the goat and we would all cheer for them. New hires would hit the goat when they got out of training and got their first real work assignments.

3. The plant cuttings

One of our big departments has a tradition where when an employee retires, they gift her (it’s mostly women) a plant pot with cuttings from all of the office plants in that department.

4. The puffed treat

My team received 2 bags of a highly coveted puffed treat one year. We got through about 1.5 bags before either interest was lost or politeness took over and the last bit was never finished. Nobody could bear to throw it away though so one day one of the team hid it at someone’s desk. This began a multi-year tradition of passing the puffcorn. We competed to have the best, sneakiest, funniest ways to hide it or pass it.

Memorable moments included:
Someone slipping it into a team member’s coat sleeve at a team lunch
Having it mailed to my house during covid
Sneaking into the office when I was supposed to be off to tape it under my co-worker’s desk

It lived for years, survived covid and only died when my team split for other ventures.

5. The 8 Weeks of Doom

At my old job in public education, my office mate invented the concept of the 8 Weeks of Doom. This was defined as the period between New Year’s and Spring Break where it was dark and gray, there were few holidays, and everyone’s seasonal depression hit an all-time high.

To combat the 8 Weeks of Doom, she started a tradition of making me a Doom Calendar, which is an advent calendar but for fighting the Doom. She’d include small fidgets, snacks, stickers, and fun tea, which I’d open whenever the Doom felt very high on a particular day. Eventually this turned into a standing tradition of us making each other Doom Calendars, and the concept spread to our whole department. We would eventually just start our department meetings checking in about how everyone was managing the Doom, and did anyone want to open a Doom Calendar door for a quick pick me up?

Even though we’re not longer office mates, I still exchange a Doom Calendar with this friend every year anyway. It really does help with the Doom!

6. The welcome back

At my internship, on any employee’s first day back from parental leave, they’d be greeted with a full spread of pastries and other treats lovingly prepared by the staff at the on-site cafe for the entire office to share. Anyone who could get away from their desks, even for just a few minutes, would pop by to wish the new parent well.

7. The hiking coupons

When I worked for a national park as a interpreter (tour guide), if we did a particularly good job that day (helped out in a tricky situation, really rocked a program or something), our boss would give us what she called a “Take a Hike” coupon, which was good for one hour of hiking time on work time. (We’d give it back to “redeem” the coupon when we scheduled a time with our boss to go hiking.) We were the perfect audience for that and the boss usually found a reason to give each of us two or three a season.

8. Wacky Fruit Wednesdays

At the start of this year, I realized that I dreaded Wednesdays specifically (I’m in office Monday/Wednesday/Thursday), so I started bringing in fruit I had never tried before from the grocery store to share with my team. This morphed into Wacky Fruit Wednesdays, where my team and people seated near us talk about anything other than work for 30 minutes and try new food.

We’ve tried over 100 fruits at this point, and people have brought in different things like hot sauce and pickles. We pivoted to a paper airplane contest for Ramadan, and it was a blast. This week we tried the miracleberries that convert sour into sweet and ate plain limes. It’s become the highlight of our workweek.

9. The treat log

Back when we had an office, there was a treat table where folks would bring in baked goods to share. We’d write what was brought, since it was often homemade. Folks would usually just tape a sheet on the table with the description scrawled on it. Once, someone left the sheet behind so the next time treats came, the previous line on the paper was scratched out, and a new description got added to the same sheet.

When we ran out of space on that page, a second sheet was taped to the bottom of the first one. Eventually, the taped sheets hit the floor.

The next time treats showed up, someone had folded up the three pages of treat descriptions, written ‘treats.tar.gz’ on it, and taped to the table next to a new sheet. We faithfully kept rotating treats.log from then on!

10. The unicorns

My previous company took computer security very seriously and it was a big deal to lock your computer when you were away from it. If you didn’t, you would send out an email to your team that says “I love unicorns!” and everyone would know your shame. If it was happening to you repeatedly your manager might talk with you about it because you’re making a habit of leaving your computer unlocked.

Then I switched to a security team and things got much sillier. Because we take security so seriously, if you get unicorned twice within a short time your email would say that you’re bringing baked goods next week. Then we switched to our team ALWAYS owing a snack to the team if you get unicorned. We had a unicorn goblet that lived on your desk until you brought in carbs for the team.

We had to make rules about what counts — if you were still in the area of your desk (open plan), between your desk and the door, it didn’t count unless somebody could go to the area next door, get the unicorn mask, put it on, sit at your desk and send an email without you noticing. This was to prove you wouldn’t notice a stranger coming in and using your computer. This exercise was done successfully a couple times!

I was notorious for “badge unicorning” — you’re not allowed to leave your badge sitting around either, and your badge could be used to scan documents and email them ‘from’ you. So I had a unicorn picture I would scan and send to the team if you left your badge at your desk.

11. The fancy garlic

We have some sort of relationship (I’m fuzzy on the details) with some sort of co-op or charity that grows and sells garlic. There used to be an annual sale for the staff, but I guess our leadership team decided it was better to just buy it in bulk, so periodically we each get hand-delivered fancy bags of garlic by management.

12. The rubber ducks

When I was an EA, I used to discretely put one of two little rubber ducks on top of my monitor to indicate the CEO’s mood that day.

I had a low-wall cube in the middle of the open area surrounded by exec offices. The librarian duck (reading a book) meant, “Shhh … maybe not today” and the jazzercize duck (wearing an 80s track jacket) meant, “We’re up and running and getting things done! Feel free to approach.” The other members of the C-suite loved it.

13. The breakfast burritos

For years, I worked in a very strange office with a lot of very strange traditions, but one of the oddest was the inexplicable fervor over Breakfast Burrito Day.

So my office was located in the basement of the building, and the lobby area had this little shoppette. Essentially a gas station convenience store without the accompanying gas station. Every Thursday, the owner of the shoppette used to bring in homemade breakfast burritos to sell. The EXCITEMENT over these breakfast burritos cannot be overstated. People went crazy for these breakfast burritos. Chatter about their arrival would begin days in advance. By Wednesday afternoon, many harried work discussions would invariably lead to someone reassuring whomever they were talking to that “at least tomorrow is Breakfast Burrito Day!” Come Thursday morning, the desire for burritos would reach a fever pitch. People would send envoys up to the shoppette in 15-minute intervals to scope out whether the burritos had arrived yet. Once word was received that the burritos were there, people would gather around the front desk and quite literally swarm upstairs to procure burritos. One time, a group of roughly 20 people started a breakfast burrito conga line that cha-cha’d its way all the way up to the shoppette. After buying the burritos, people would return to the basement like Olympians returning with gold medals.

I partook in Breakfast Burrito Day once with one of my friends. The conga line was what sold us; we just had to try these seemingly life-changing burritos! And reader, I need to make it clear to you how absolutely terrible these breakfast burritos were. They were really, really bad! They were soggy and slimy and bland! We both actually threw most of our burritos away. Not worth any of the hype, let alone a dedicated conga line!

And YET. Breakfast Burrito Day was and remained a weekly beacon of light for many of the basement dwellers (much to my bewilderment).

14. The pranks

In Engineering they started playing pranks on people who were out for any length of time — when one of the managers took a few weeks off to refinish his basement, they built him a basement in his office (basically a loft) but the fire marshal made them take it down. They set up a beauty salon for another manager when he was out for surgery. When the director of QA was overseas getting a new acquisition integrated in, they built him a deck outside his office which had an internal window looking out at the rest of the QA department. There was a mural on the wall, and plants, and a water feature.

15. The emotional support chickens

We have emotional support rubber chickens! If one calls out for help, another responds.

This started with one in each department that mysteriously showed up one morning. My office is locked for compliance when I’m not in it, so my chicken was tucked into my inbox, but most people found their chicken tucked onto their desk amongst their belongings like it settled in on its own.

One long-time beloved coworker ended up moving out of state (but he continued to work very part time for about a month after the move, so he remained in Slack) and one time, he posted a video of someone using rubber chickens to recreate Total Eclipse of the Heart. This prompted someone to send a clip of their chicken honking. Someone took a photo of their chicken in front of their screen with the clip visible in Slack in the background. And then someone else took a photo of their chicken with that chicken in the background. This progressed with dozens of chicken photos.

By the end of that week, every single person with a desk had a chicken.

We do monthly employee appreciation catered lunches and during one, someone brought in a huge, elaborate bird cage with multiple levels and put two rubber chickens in it.

When we’re having A Day, we will honk our chicken and any chicken that can hear will honk back (emotional support chickens, remember?) and sometimes this leads to a chorus of chickens just shrieking their frustration.

Recently, I saw a tiny rubber chicken keychain that squeaks when you squeeze it, so needless to say, myself and my partner (who is endlessly amused by the office chickens) now have tiny chickens that we honk at each other.

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{ 122 comments }

{ 122 comments… read them below or add one }

  1. Project Manager*

    I also have an emotional support rubber chicken, he has a vest! My sister got it for me after I lost my dog who I frequently called chicken as a term of endearment. The chicken doesn’t replace my dog, but I smile and think of her when I look at it on my desk :)

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    1. Resident Catholicville, U.S.A.*

      I was gifted one by a former coworker who I meet up with on a regular basis to have dinner with. We were out with two other former coworkers at a restaurant and, bless their souls, the entire restaurant got to hear me cackle insanely and the goat scream on a regular basis during our dinners.

      It came to work with me and lives on my desk. We have one client who comes in and, without fail, every morning, makes the goat scream. It’s delightful, especially since I regularly forget the goat is here.

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    3. Ace Of Dragons*

      We had one at the vet I used to work at, that we would use after a particularly difficult phone call or appointment. I found one at TJ Maxx, which I gifted to a coworker when she left. I also found one at Target, which my teen daughter uses when she’s really frustrated with school. I’ve seen them off and on at Barnes and Noble, and I just found it on Amazon on sale for around $9.

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    5. Lab Snep*

      I worked at a staples, and when someone was having a bad shift they would lean into the entire wire box display of Easy buttons, much to the chagrin of our manager.

      You could hear “THAT WAS EASY” from across the store.

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  3. Jennifer Strange*

    The goat one reminds me somewhat of my prior organization (a non-profit theatre)! We had a gong that would get rung to celebrate an accomplishment, like when we made goal in ticket sales or got a huge grant we had been hoping for. I got to ring it once when I happened to be the person to answer the phone about a very large (and very unexpected) estate bequest.

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  5. Meow*

    I worked at a place with a tradition like the unicorn one, except there wasn’t any one canned phrase, people would make up whatever. But it wasn’t ever anything heinous, as far as I was aware, just promises to buy lunch or something dumb and juvenile sounding that very obviously wasn’t a real email that person would send out.

    But one day someone did it to a guy on the team who didn’t exactly have a sense of humor. They wrote “I like stinky feet” and sent it to our group’s distribution list. When the guy came back and saw, he angrily marched over to the IT security guy and started physically threatening him.

    The kicker was… the IT security guy not only didn’t do it, he wasn’t even on our group’s distribution list and had no idea what happened. From his perspective, some angry guy from another team just showed up at his desk, threatening him for “making a mockery out of me” and whatnot.

    Someone did eventually own up to it after Angry Guy left. No one could really blame him for keeping silent after seeing what happened though.

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    1. learnedthehardway*

      There’s a considerable amount of chutzpah about getting angry with the IT security guy when you’ve done something that is against IT Security policies.

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  6. Insert Clever Name Here*

    I love all of these but special shout out to:

    #7 for finding a way to reward employees with something they appreciate when you definitely don’t have a budget to reward employees

    #8 for pivoting to a non-food activity during Ramadan

    Please accept this gold star from an internet stranger!

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    1. Pastor Petty Labelle*

      I loved #8 for the inclusiveness. Oh yeah, no eating sun up to sun down – great let’s throw paper airplanes instead. So everyone still got the break and no one we left out.

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    2. Lab Snep*

      Re #8, I make a halal version of my grandmother’s tourtiere* recipe (Canadian meat pie, usually made with pork. I use halal chicken and halal Poe crust).

      All of the Muslim co-workers I worked with one Christmas were so grateful to be included.

      Sorry, gramma, but I prefer the halal chicken version.

      *it is an extremely poor people version with no potatoes, and moisture and flavour is added to the meat by boiling the meat and onion and spices in water until the water is gone.

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      1. Dek*

        Basically, yeah. I feel like being able to grab a free 1 hr break outside when I’m feeling antsy would do loads for morale.

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      1. londonedit*

        I’m guessing something like UK Wotsits, which I think are like the American Cheetos? Though Wotsits aren’t particularly coveted and are widely available – there are these French peanut puff things that are like Wotsits but peanut flavour instead of cheese, and I’ve definitely met people who are low-key obsessed with those and always bring a few bags back with them whenever they go to France on holiday, so I’m imagining something like that.

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    4. Strive to Excel*

      I’d guess something seasonal or out of stock. Not sure if this is true for anyone else but I’ll sometimes get days where I desperately a very specific snack, go and get it, and then be satisfied after 3 bites. Usually it’s french fries.

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  8. Elsewise*

    The chicken one is giving me such delightful “Gondor calls for aid!” vibes. “And Rohan will quackser.”

    *(I am aware that chickens don’t quack, it’s the day before the holiday weekend, just let me have this.)

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    2. Hey Now*

      That’s exactly what I was coming here to say! Glad I’m not the only one.

      I like that some of these started as kindnesses: the PB&J, especially, and the pivot to paper airplanes for Ramadan.

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  9. Moo*

    Loving these! Especially the emotional support chickens and the PB&J party.

    I used to work in an office where two of the managers would prank each other with a skeleton when one was out for any extended period of time. Going on vacation? You’d come back to the skeleton at your desk wearing a lei and a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses. Having surgery? The skeleton would have bandages or some other medical issue. We always got a kick out of what they did with it.

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    1. FricketyFrack*

      We have an office skeleton named Albert Spinestein that lives in our reception area year round. He also has a Hawaiian shirt (which belonged to my grandfather) and seasonal accessories. He started as a Halloween decoration a couple of years ago, but we all got attached and kids are surprisingly into it, so we kept him.

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  11. Pastor Petty Labelle*

    I just love these — except the burrito one. They are about making people feel part of the team, appreciated, etc. Without all the usual issues associated with team building.

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    1. Slow Gin Lizz*

      Heck, yeah, me too!!!! That one is my FAVORITE and now I’m busy thinking up things to put in one that I want to make for a friend who hates winter even more than I do.

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  13. Retail Dragon*

    This entire thread brought me great joy! I think my favorite is the Advent Calendar of Doom and I might try to do something similar for my best friend – we both struggle with seasonal depression during that same time of the year and I could really see her enjoying it. Thanks to everyone for all these great stories!

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    1. Slow Gin Lizz*

      Haha, I just posted that I want to make one for me and my friend too! Trying to think of what to put in it, though…I was thinking beer, but she doesn’t drink much, or candy, but she tries to avoid sugar, so….well, I have over a month, I hope I come up with something!

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    2. Ellis Bell*

      Working in a school myself, I actually want very specific instructions on this and how it was used on a school environment. What is the structure made of, what is it stocked with, where was it sited, how do you ensure everyone gets a turn? So many questions….

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  15. Jay (no, the other one)*

    The pranks are a much more sophisticated version of what I found one day when I returned from a week off. I shared an office with two of my colleagues who were also good friends. One of them either found or purchased a label-maker. EVERY SINGLE THING on my desk and shelves was labeled. Ten pens had tiny labels that said JAY’S PEN. The computer monitor, the keyboard, the phone, the mouse, the cord for the mouse (this was a long time ago), my stethoscope, my white coat hanging on the back of my desk chair, and each item in the pocket of the white coat. It was hilarious.

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  17. Dust Bunny*

    We spend the last week before winter closing–we’re closed between Christmas and New Years–doing an intensive inventory and clean-up of my department’s secondary space. Last year we measured all the furniture with either big, unwieldy full-sized measuring tapes or my pathetic little novelty measuring tape. I ordered small but functional tapes and got custom stickers that said “[department event] 2023” on them to give to all my coworkers. So . . . gift, but not a burdensome gift. We actually do use them.

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  18. stelms_elms*

    Regarding #12, the EA to the President at my organization would put a red, yellow or green folder indicating his mood in the slotted file holder on her desk that faced out to everyone who would approach the President’s office. It helped get a lot of things done on the green days. To be fair, it was also pretty easy to tell when it was a red day. I don’t know if he ever knew about it, but it’s entirely possible he told her which color to display on a given day.

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    1. Jay (no, the other one)*

      My husband had a colleague whose last name was Wolf. He had a stuffed wolf on his desk with a tail that could be repositioned. Tail up = STAY AWAY.

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    2. Strive to Excel*

      Our boss plays music in his office when he’s in. You can usually tell what his mood is based on what’s playing. On days with there’s metal or christian rock bands playing it is not a good day to have an intensive meeting.

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      1. Kricket523*

        Thank you for making the joke understandable – I haven’t programmed anything since I learned Basic in high school (early 90’s)!

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      2. Alanna of Trebond*

        This helps me, actually! Not a Linux user. I got the gist, but I appreciate you putting it into Windows terms. Thank you!

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  20. Timothy*

    From ‘9. The treat log’:

    > The next time treats showed up, someone had folded up the three pages of treat descriptions, written ‘treats.tar.gz’ on it, and taped to the table next to a new sheet.

    As a lifetime nerd and Linux user for 20+ years, I definitely LOL’d at this. Thanks so much! :D

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  22. the Viking Diva*

    Because someone else wants to see this too… the chicken video is easily googled – try
    chicken duet Total Eclipse of the Heart

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  23. Valancy Stirling*

    “They were really, really bad!
    They were soggy and slimy and bland!”

    OP, I don’t know if the rhyme was intentional, but it made me cackle.

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  24. Yes And*

    I have questions.

    #10. How does this work? Is it that the person who left their computer open would be compelled to send this message? Or is it that someone else would send this message from their unattended/unlocked computer?

    #12. Did the CEO know about this? I can’t imagine the rest of the C-Suite being in on it without the CEO knowing, but I also can’t image a CEO who is both (a) moody enough to make this a useful indicator, and (b) okay with it being done.

    #13. I wonder if the burritos had once been good, and the maker slowly degraded their quality as they realized they could sell out without as much labor/expense, and nobody noticed the change over time?

    #14. Those are some elaborate pranks. Was there a budget for this?

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    1. Strive to Excel*

      #10 – this is a reasonably common thing in places with serious IT security. The person who finds the unlocked computer sends the message. It shows that an unauthorized person (ie, anyone who the computer was not issued to) had a chance to access a secure device that they shouldn’t have had.

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    2. Ess Ess*

      For #10, the person finding the unlocked computer would send out the message using the mail program on the computer so it would appear to be coming from the person who left it open.

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    3. ThisIsNotADuplicateComment*

      For #12 the library duck might not mean they were mad, it could mean “I have to get this important thing done so don’t interrupt me unless the building is on fire.”

      Or maybe they did know about it, but only get moody when people interrupt time-sensitive work with questions that could wait a few days.

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      1. Alisaurus*

        As an EA, I can almost guarantee the former is correct. One exec I supported in a previous job would have loved the ducks, and I’m now bummed I never did this with him! He would tell me when he had an important project and absolutely could not be disturbed other than for critical emergencies (like, fire or family emergency) only, could be potentially interrupted by a member of the management team if I deemed it important enough, could be interrupted by management for any reason, could be interrupted by anyone but preferred not to if I could help it, etc. And then there were “open door” days where anybody could stop by for any reason, even just to chat.

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    4. Nina*

      #10 – if you work with confidential information or in a secure site, locking your computer when you step away is a common policy to have. If someone left their computer unlocked, anyone who noticed it unlocked could use it to send the unicorn email.

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  25. Jam Today*

    I LOVE the burrito story, its absolutely made for cinema. I want John Patrick Shanley to write a little screenplay and shoehorn it into a special edition of “Joe Versus the Volcano”. Just a bizarre little vignette that has nothing to do with anything, there in the middle of the story, then its gone.

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    1. DannyG*

      I had the reverse experience: 40+ years ago as a resident at huge university hospital a student nurse of Vietnamese origin (she and her mother were boat people) would bring in a cooler of spring rolls her mother made on the days she worked. Pagers would go off announcing the arrival of the rolls and what unit she was working. She would sell out every day and put herself through school with the proceeds. Best spring rolls I have ever had.

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      1. Jam Today*

        Now I want spring rolls.

        This kind of reminds me of the Indian grocery store around the way from me, they frequently have aluminum trays on the checkout counter with samosas, or vada pav, or dabeli, or dhokla, violating every health code imaginable but they’re delicious and haven’t killed me yet after many years of eating them, so…

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  26. Slow Gin Lizz*

    Given all the comments about people wanting a Doom Calendar, I feel like this could be a marketable product. Who wants to start a Doom Calendar company with me?

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    3. Liz the Snackbrarian*

      Oh my god, I especially love this given what 2025 will bring politically. Should we sneak a few IUDs in there?

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    1. roisin54*

      Same. The most interesting thing about mine is the chocolate bucket, which is an old popcorn tin that we keep the communal chocolate/candy in.

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    2. UnCivilServant*

      I don’t mind boring.

      However amusing from the outside, I’d be very much put out by being asked to participate in some of these traditions.

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      1. nnn*

        OK and? I never know why people make comments like this. If you didn’t want to participate, you wouldn’t. In most offices you wouldn’t be forced. But it’s even possible that everyone in these offices enjoys them and that’s why they’re doing it. Why not be OK with people enjoying different things?

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        1. UnCivilServant*

          Pssively sitting around listening to the squeak of rubber chickens while trying to think is a tad disruptive. As is the pressure to participate whether conscious or unconscious by the in group.

          I find it even stranger that you ask “Why not be OK with people enjoying different things?” when I never once said it wasn’t okay for these other offices to enjoy them, just that I was glad to not have to deal with that social awkwardness.

          I didn’t wish my quiet cube on you.

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          2. Ellis Bell*

            I think you’ve definitely got to be aware that there is no one-size-fits-all group activity. The ones described in the post seemed to be genuinely popular with their audience and suggests that people had good social calibration; I could be wrong, but I felt they were actively picking up on the signs of whether the traditions were sincerely enjoyable. You definitely do have to keep your eyes peeled in case anyone is wincing on the corner, especially where noise is concerned.

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  28. Slow Gin Lizz*

    Also, as a hiker myself, I do love the hiking coupons idea. I wish I worked at a national park so I could get that. (I couldn’t do it though, because I don’t much like having to repeat myself over and over again; I’m far too impatient to be a park ranger.)

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  30. Burrito Madness*

    The health teacher at my high school sold breakfast burritos every morning. They weren’t great, but they were better than anything you could get in or around the school, so people did go crazy for them.

    This practice ended my senior year when the health teacher was arrested for selling stolen TVs, but it was a glorious run until then.

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  32. Some Dude*

    #10: At our organization, people would do the same thing, sending silly emails from your PC if you didn’t lock it. Then someone pointed out that the act of accessing someone else’s PC and sending the email was in itself a second security incident. The emails stopped.

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    1. Lisa*

      If it’s done with the permission of IS though, like in the letter, it wouldn’t be. Just like how snooping on someone’s email would normally be a security incident, but IS can do it for good reason.

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  33. Hillia*

    A million years ago I worked at a web hosting company in the tech support area, a large open room. It was staffed entirely with young people and there was a definite Wild West atomosphere.
    We also had a policy about ‘locking your box’ if you left your desk, since we might have critical system configuration files, customer financial info, etc open. If someone caught you leaving your computer open, they would set your internet to the vilest, most disgusting p*rn site they could find (lists of ‘appropriate’ sites were circulated). You could tell who had been caught by the howl of mixed disgust and outrage when they returned to their desk.

    Other fun pranks: the doctor in an open office who complained about every environmental change. Novelty motion activated Santa, even if it was allowed to sing only once a day? Leftover pizza for lunch? You name it, he griped. So one morning several of us came in very early and wrapped his entire desk in plastic. Every item was wrapped in Saran wrap. Loose papers were placed in a large clear plastic bag. Pencils, framed photos, calendar, you name it. Finally we made a frame out of chart easels and enclosed the entire space with more plastic wrap, and labeled the whole thing ‘Doc in a Bubble’. His boss thought it was hysterical; the doc himself was not impressed but we had an overall good relationship, so he laughed it off. An hour’s work, and it took about 5 minutes to undo everything so he could sit down.

    Another coworker who complained about getting older had his Windows desktop set to the Hotdog Stand color scheme (a hellish neon yellow and orange setup) and told him that HR had dictated a high contrast setup for all employees over 40 to eliminate eyestrain. The same reason went when we set his default font size to 32. He fell for it both times.

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  34. Plant Sharing*

    I would love a gift of plant cuttings. I used to work at a smallish (12 story) office building and the building porter had a couple of spider plants. My company had many spider plants that were from his plant. Before I left I made sure to propagate my own and have two of my own now.

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  35. It wasn't me*

    #10: Many years ago I was a summer law associate (intern) at a very well respected top law firm (V20, top in city). Much as law firms are known for being conservative, this was known among law firms as having a formal and conservative environment. As summers though, they wined and dined us quite lavishly, with social activities and open bars 2-3 nights a week and very fancy firm paid lunches whenever associates took you out – usually you’d get in on at least one a week, with associates from your college, your law school, people you worked with, people who just wanted to go. Some people though blurred the line between fun on the sanctioned social events, and what was considered appropriate fun in the office. Near the end of the summer we all received an email from another summer associate which essentially trashed the firm and trash talked about what it was doing to the environment. It may have gone out to the entire 800? at the time lawyer firm plus support staff, but if not it certainly went out to the 100+ class. Within 20 minutes I had received emails from other law students across the country asking me about it.

    Although the class was large, I knew her and immediately knew there was no way she had written it. Apparently she had been in a meeting with another attorney at the time (possibly head of the department? Someone important). She later said she got strange looks as she was walking back to her office, to the point that she started speed walking furiously trying to get to her computer to figure out what was going on. Someone asked her if she was ok in a very concerned and serious tone.

    The two other summer associates who had sent it from her computer either confessed or were found out. There was much speculation as to whether or not their offers would be pulled. I can’t find it now, but I think it made it into AboveTheLaw blog a then nascent legal blog, so the chatter went national. The offers weren’t pulled, but it was understood they were on very very thin ice. (I always suspected that if they had been mediocre summer associates it could have gone differently.)

    I was quite happy I had the engrained habit of locking my computer every time I left my desk from my early working days with sensitive information.

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  36. Ex-Prof*

    Love these! And I love the intricacy of some of them.

    Not sure if I’ve told this before, but as a teenager I worked at a veterinary hospital where one of the veterinarians had once saved the life of the dog of the CEO of a big dairy products corporation.

    The CEO had given orders to one of his employees that the vet hospital’s freezer was thereafter always to be stocked with ice cream sandwiches.

    So in there among the Various Things That Need To Be Frozen At A Veterinary Hospital, there they were, boxes and boxes of ’em. It was all-you-can-eat ice cream sandwiches all the time.

    Reply ↓
    1. UnCivilServant*

      my first thought is from a logistical and cross-contamination perspective, having a dedicated freezer for this icy largess might be a good idea.

      Given that “things a veterinary hospital that must be frozen” can be a … wide variety of items, getting them intermingled with ice cream might cause problems in one direction or the other.

      Though I can also see not having the space for another freezer.

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      1. Another Kristin*

        Presumably the ice cream sandwiches were delivered individually packaged and contained in boxes. I can’t image how they could possibly be contaminated, provided the other contents of the freezer, however unsavoury, were also in some manner packaged.

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  37. Chelle*

    #10: We do something similar at my company (the tradition on my team for a while was offering to buy donuts), but I am also in a role that involves traveling to customer sites — so leaving your unlocked laptop unattended while at a customer’s office is *extra* bad. And also, the travel builds camaraderie. This combined on one project to my favorite prank of editing the autocorrect settings of someone who left their laptop unlocked — usually things that would be obvious like making my own name autocorrect to “Chelle, the best coworker in the entire world”, and never anything really inappropriate. At least once, someone didn’t notice until after they sent out meeting notes, which was hilarious.

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  38. Anonymous Goat Hitter*

    “Hit the goat” sounds like a euphemism for… I don’t know exactly what, but something that shouldn’t be happening in the workplace.

    Reply ↓
  41. Filosofickle*

    Aw, I missed this call for submissions. One of the nicer traditions I’ve seen is a library system that had a “red tape award”, recognition passed around peer-to-peer when someone creatively circumvented bureaucracy.

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  43. Nah*

    Having just discovered the joys of specialty garlic (roasted with fresh rosemary and sea salt, or deceptively easy confit butter (I thought it was like, some super difficult cooking technique until like a month ago)), 11 is my new dream.

    Inclusive Wacky Food Days is absolutely fantastic! For years I’ve always been wanting to do a big party where everyone brings one exotic fruit from the grocery store and gets to try them all, maybe that’ll be what I suggest for the next family potluck (I’ll still supply the typical hotdogs and chips).

    Reply ↓

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