Tales from the Lab #5: An April Fools’ Joke
Note: The names of those involved have been changed for privacy. Also, I do not take credit for this prank, but was only present to witness the plotting and hear about the results. I still maintain it was one of the more entertaining (and harmless) pranks I’ve seen pulled in a laboratory environment. For those of you who have watched my recent interview with Boomers on Books, this is the post I mentioned that would be “coming soon”.
One of the largest microbiology laboratories that I worked in had ten separate work stations spread across space. These were interspersed with various incubators, refrigerators, and several shared microscope benches. Each work station was equipped with a computer, several drawers full of necessary testing supplies, and most importantly, a multi-channel timer.
The timers we used had three channels, meaning that each timer could have three separate timers counting down at any given time. We used the timers most often for staining slides and certain biochemical tests. Because of this, the timers were most often set with 1-minute, 30-second, or 4-hour timers, but the timers were capable of being set for up to a 24-hour timer.
On the evening of March 31, I was working a later shift along with three others. We were scheduled to work until 8 pm, but most of the others in the lab were gone before 6 pm. On some evenings, there was not much to do beyond cleaning equipment (cleaning is a never-ending cycle in a microbiology lab). On that particular evening, it was slow, and since it was the end of the month, most of the cleaning tasks had been completed. We found ourselves talking near the center of the lab while waiting for the end of our shift.
The topic of April Fools’ pranks came up, and Tim became very animated with the retelling of several he had pulled off while in college. Phil, who was typically quiet and reserved, was listening with interest. Cora appeared skeptical about some of Tim’s claims, while I spent much of the conversation just listening.
I’m usually not one for orchestrating pranks—at least not successfully. Historically, the target of most of my pranks has been my brother, who was most likely expecting something by the time I came up with it. I have been told by a number of people that I am terrible at keeping a straight face, and I’ve been advised never to attempt playing poker. That being said, I leave the pranks to others, because I cannot keep the guilt from my face.
At a natural break in the conversation, Phil tilted his head to one side and said, “What if we pranked the morning shift? Tomorrow is April first.”
Tim laughed. “Do you have something in mind?”
Phil outlined his plan briefly, and Tim was immediately on board to help. Each timer in the lab would be set to go off twenty to thirty seconds apart from each other, between 7:30 and 8am the next morning. Though Cora did not help set the timers, it was her suggestion to have the first timer go off on the opposite side of the lab from the second, which would cause the handful of early personnel to cross the length of the lab to turn off the next timer. Using the timer on Tim’s wristwatch, the two started setting timers to go off as planned the next morning.
The next day, Cora and Phil were both scheduled for days off, but Tim and I were once again working the evening shift. When we reported in at 11am, the morning supervisor made a point of coming by to speak with both of us. She was not upset by the prank and thought it mildly funny, though she did tell us that “misappropriating lab equipment” was against company policy. (No one got written up for the prank; thankfully the management at the company was reasonable and understood the occasional joke, as long as it did not affect testing or upset anyone.)
We were informed by others later in the day that it took almost ten minutes before all of the timers had been found and stopped or reset. Everyone thought it was an amusing prank, and fit for April first.
Work in a lab can sometimes be stressful, and there is always a push for accuracy, attention to detail, and ways to minimize errors. Having a good group of coworkers, especially those you can laugh with, helps to make going into work a little easier, and a bit more enjoyable. Having coworkers who also make work fun can be invaluable. It’s far too easy to become overly serious in a lab environment; it’s important to take some time for laughter.
Thanks for reading the latest installment of Tales from the Lab! Next week’s post will be going back to something writing-related.