I’m not really into “pranking” anymore because when I was a freshman, most people in my building didn’t appreciate the harmless pranks that did, and most of them never found out it was me.
Shaking people’s door handles, ding dong ditch, running in the hallway, and sliding things under people’s doors: papers, pencils/pens, etc. I also left things outside of people’s doors like food or stuff that I didn’t want anymore. Some people called me “Santa” because of the gifts that I left them.
Overall, I understand that some people may view these pranks as “distracting”, but I’ve learned from my mistakes because I didn’t want to be labeled as the “prankster.”
Your posts last fall made it sound like the people on your floor were aware that it was you doing those things and they didn’t seem too thrilled with you. It didn’t sound like your behavior was “harmless” to your reputation, so I’m glad you’ve thought better of it.
I actually witnessed a pretty cruel prank from my freshman year, but I wasn’t the “prankster”:
So, we were all hanging out in my friend’s dorm room playing video games. After a while, most of them left, except for me and one of the roommates. Then, we suddenly heard a loud pop, which slightly startled the both of us. So, I left the room to find out where they went. It turns out that one of my friends left a stink bomb in the room and hid it well enough out of plain sight. It obviously stunk up the whole room and they had to open their windows to air it out. They couldn’t even leave their door open because then the smell would’ve spread into the hallway.
Even then, I would never go that far in the first place.
In April you were lamenting that you and your friends are having difficulty getting admitted to house parties. Has it ever occurred to you to consider if there’s a connection between your behavior and the challenges you’ve been facing?
People don’t have a sense of humor anymore. My dorm floor was called the 4th floor maniacs. We pranked everybody in the whole dorm. Head RA included. I could spend hours telling stories but it was nothing harmful and nobody ever got hurt.
@austinmshauri I only had one problem the entire semester with this one and only house party: it was for Greek Life only. Everyone who wasn’t a part of it tried to get in as well because most of the parties going on that night shut down early. However, there were Non-Greeks inside the house as well:
So, favoritism and popularity happened again…
I even tried to tell them that I was possibly pledging for the next semester, but they didn’t even care. Makes me wonder what would’ve happened if I tried to sneak in, but I never went through with it because I thought it was a dumb idea all around.
Overall, it just frustrates that favoritism and popularity rules over everything. Popularity is childish, while favoritism is unprofessional, but the real world isn’t fair, so…
What you may think is cool and funny may not be for most people. And @Tigers1981, it’s true that today’s humor is lost. People are so serious about everything, which is understandable, but IMO, I think most people would be better off if they just lightened up a little and didn’t care about a little door handle shake or appropriate door presents…
It’s also interesting to see grown adults pranking on Youtube… So, acting a little immature is suddenly viewed as a negative thing? Laughing and enjoying the positives of life is a great way to feel happy about yourself… unless if it’s a harmful prank, then it’s not so funny anymore…
Nope—never been either prankster nor victim. Too many ways these “harmless” pranks can go wrong. I like just being genuine and nice—seems to work well for me and others I would like to get to know.
I usually don’t like “pranks” as there often is at least some meanness in it and that is not the way I’d like to be thought of.
Way back in the early 00s, my older sister’s floor (all female) was constantly pranking the floor above (all male). Most had been friends in high school funnily enough, so the pranks were all agreed upon and within the comfort/range of the people participating. My sister’s roommate met her now-husband that way.
I’d like to call this the exception…not the rule. I would never advise anyone to bank on meeting their future spouse through a one sided prank.
Once switched two rooms so that everything from one was in the other. The students walked into their own rooms and thought they were in someone else’s. After they figured it out (and were amused) we offered to switch everything back but instead they decided on an easier route-they just handed each other their keys! They were friends so they put a note on their doors for anyone looking for them.
I don’t advise pulling pranks on anyone who isn’t already a friend.
There is a huge difference between pranking your friends who have “opted in” and within understood parameters and messing with acquaintances or strangers. Some of the pranks my roommates and close friends played on each other are still fondly recalled when we get together. Were they juvenile – probably, but we all laughed about them at the time, and you need some of that levity in college. I agree though that once you go beyond your opt in group, it can easily fall into the world of meanness/bullying. Good rule of thumb, if you have to keep it a secret that you were the prankster, you probably crossed the line.
A guy freshman year had bought a bottle of whiskey and asked his roommate to keep it on his side of the room during parents’ weekend because his parents didn’t think he drank alcohol. When the guy left to meet his folks for dinner, the roommate went around to all the other rooms on the floor getting guys to bring all their bottles into the room. There were around 100 bottles when he came back with his parents.
One guy came back from Christmas break complaining how much weight he gained. We took the wood out of his box spring and replace it with thin slats so it would break when he got into bed. Of course we helped him rebuild it later.
We saved old newspapers for much of the year and filled a friend’s dorm room floor-to-ceiling with crumpled newspaper.
First snowfall, we built a snow man in the RA’s room. Tile floors, so not really damaging.
We carried a drunk guy on his mattress and left him on center ice in the hockey arena. This one, I do not know how he got his mattress back. I assume he enlisted a couple of friends.
Young bored engineers, 1980s. Pranks were constant.