April Fool's Day

April Fool’s day is a day for practical jokes. Practical jokes don’t have to happen on April Fools’ Day, but when they do, they have a greater effect and “aha” moment. Not recommended for serious business situations, with spouses when having important relationship discussions, and children under the age of 16.

Here’s a list of practical jokes that I have heard of (and some I have lived through over the years):

1.)    Members of a graduating class of a high school brought pigs to a homecoming event and parked them outside. The pigs wore matching letter sweaters and were supposed to go through the school and then be brought outside to the crowd assembly. However, when presented to the outside crowd, there were 3 pigs with the letters “P,” “I,” and “S,” with the “G” missing. Mass hysteria ensued in the ensuing scramble throughout the pig to find the last pig, which was of course the joke……….there was no 4^th pig.

2.)    Members of a law firm knew the new associate was waiting for his bar results, so right before the results were about to come in they pretended to be the state bar and called the new associate indicating that “there had been something wrong with his test score” and that he might have to retake the exam. As someone who’s gone through the finding-out process, that is a very stressful time, and that joke was probably very very effective, although somewhat malicious given the magnitude.

3.)    My fantasy baseball leaguemates knew that I could not access fantasy baseball sites at my work last April 1^st and thus collaborated to “punk” me and email me at the same time that my best player at the time (Ryan Braun) had been suspended for the year, thus effectively ending my status as a contender that season.

Practical jokes are usually a sign that a group of people have bonded to the point of being able to do these things without fear of social ostracism, that they know each other well enough that doing so wouldn’t offend the other’s sensibilities or cause a ruckus of some kind.

“Busting balls,” “ribbing,” “banter,” “taking shots at each other,” whatever one wants to call it,  teasing one another is a close family member of the practical joke and is a staple of my conversation with most of the people I’m close with. Especially with guys, it seems like a rite of passage to be able to put up with lots of jokes and insults that otherwise would be mean-spirited but when said by someone who you’re comfortable with, is a sign that……..you’re comfortable with them, even if they say derogatory statements. It’s at least half of the conversations with friends, and I usually do it to try to get a quick laugh. Sometimes this kind of ribbing backfires if I try it with new people who I don’t know as well, and it sometimes backfires on people I know very well but who I know would be offended by this type of humor.

The above are highly recommended in a fantasy baseball league where all managers know each other and really in my opinion is what a fantasy baseball league is all about: Friendly competition laced with jocularity and inside jokes where the joke could be on others but when it’s on you, you know it’s just friendly banter. 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan