People have been playing pranks and practical jokes for centuries. Ring and run (a.k.a. ding dong ditch in some parts of the country). Whoopee cushions. Calling random people and asking if their refrigerator’s running.
These pranks tend to be most favored by tweens and teens. This makes sense because they’ve typically haven’t thought through the consequences of their actions as much as how funny they think they’re being.
From Integrative Psych:
Determining the harmlessness of a prank is not always straightforward. While some pranks may be received with laughter and shrugged off as good-natured humor, others may have unintended effects that cause distress or discomfort. Understanding the boundaries of what constitutes harmless fun is crucial in navigating the world of pranks.
From The Conversation:
Perhaps the most important factor to consider is the development of a young person’s brain. The evidence is clear that a person’s brain does not fully mature until they are well into their 20s.
The prefrontal cortex of the brain is the last part to develop fully. The function of the prefrontal cortex is higher-order tasks such as decision-making and emotional regulation. Importantly, this is the part of the brain that considers information that is not immediately obvious.
“Not immediately obvious.” “Understanding boundaries.” Very much teenager behavior.
So when you’ve reached adulthood and are still playing pranks? It’s not a good look. It’s generally perceived as juvenile and, frankly, inappropriate. People should know better by the time they’re adults. And sometimes, well, they shouldn’t be surprised if they get payback.
A story of petty revenge
I recently found a story on Reddit that was a couple of years old, but it’s the perfect example of an adult pulling pranks in a hotel, and, when one of his “victims” had had enough, they gave him a taste of his own medicine that was, at least from a petty revenge POV, *chefskiss*.
The post, which was written by one Stu_Prek, was on Reddit’s “Petty Revenge” subreddit, which is defined as “for all your stories of small victories over those who’ve wrong you.” It was titled: “Steal my Do Not Disturb sign? Enjoy your breakfast!”
Stu_Prek started by saying that when they travel, they almost never accept housekeeping unless they’ll be in the same hotel for over a week; they just keep the Do Not Disturb sign up all the time (they had prefaced this by saying the following event happened in the 2010s, when daily housekeeping typically happened by default. It was also before daily “room checks” – just to make sure everything was OK – were popular).
Anyway, on one particular work trip, they unexpectedly ended up with a couple of days off in the middle of the job—and since they hadn’t been sleeping well, they figured catching up on rest sounded better than wandering around the city.
So imagine Stu_Prek’s confusion when housekeeping knocked on the door on day one of their “work break.” They dragged themselves over just as the housekeeper started to let them in. The author was ready to ask why the staff was ignoring the Do Not Disturb sign —until they realized it wasn’t there anymore.
Weird.
They asked for a replacement, the housekeeper apologized, hung a new one, and left.
Next day? Déjà vu. Same knock. Same entry. Same missing sign.
But then the author got lucky. On the way out to grab lunch, they spotted one of their colleagues casually pulling the DND sign off another coworker’s door. This guy was a self-proclaimed prankster – the kind no one actually likes (remember what I said before about adults who pull pranks?).
Stu-Prek also said they knew this guy was famous for being a crappy hotel guest, who did stuff like leaving hotels without checking out and leaving the keys in the room.
SO…cue petty revenge.
It just so happened the hotel had breakfast door hangers—the kind where you mark your meal choice, write your name and room number, and choose a delivery time. And it also just so happened that getting a coworker’s room number from the front desk during a group booking was laughably easy.
The team was scheduled to leave for the airport the next morning around 4:30 a.m., meaning no one would notice a breakfast order waiting. So the author selected a 7:00 a.m. delivery… and checked everything. Eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit, juice, a giant coffee—the works. Total cost? About $60 with fees and automatic gratuity.
They filled in prank-boy’s name and room number, hung the card, and walked away smiling.
As expected, the colleague didn’t bother checking out. And when his emailed bill appeared days later, he was furious. Rooms were paid by the company. Incidentals? Nope.
That gourmet breakfast went straight onto his credit card.
Perfection.
I really wonder of prankster dude stopped his little tricks like that, but Stu-Prek didn’t really say so.
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