“Bring Me Blinker Fluid”: 25 Pranks Industry Professionals Play On New Hires
The onboarding process for new employees can be challenging, with only 52% reporting satisfaction, and 32% finding it confusing. Experienced employees sometimes contribute to this by pointing out the newcomer’s need for more knowledge.
On a lighter note, a recent Reddit post asked users to share their industry’s equivalent of “bring me blinker fluid,” resulting in 6.2K humorous comments about the challenges of fitting into a new professional environment.
#1 In Germany a spirit level is called Wasserwaage (water scale). So the kids are sent out to get the Ausgleichgewichte (balancing weights) for the Wasserwaage.
Image source: Fitz911, Paul Wicks
But I’m glad that my company doesn’t allow that s**t. You got a little kid in front of you. That kid is 16/17/18. They are nervous as f**k. No need to take them down even more just because it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of being smarter. If that’s what you are aiming for… Seems like a sad life.
Be a mentor, don’t be an a*****e.
#2 Me setting up gas/air lines in the prenatal chemistry lab: *Hey new kid, go get me a roll of fallopian tubing*.
Image source: ThadisJones, Polina Tankilevitch
#3 I work on an airfield. We have the new guys stand outside holding a piece of printer paper above their heads at night so the air traffic controllers can “calibrate the light gun”. It’s literally just a fancy flash light. We had one guy stand out there for almost 20 minutes before he realized we were messing with him.
Image source: Spinach_Puffs, Max Chen
#4 Aluminum magnets, left handed screwdriver for the left handed thread.
Image source: Tmavy, Steve Johnson
#5 Glass hammer… when I got my first apprentice job in manufacturing the person I was shadowing sent me to the managers office to ask for one, he was in the middle of a meeting so I knocked on, he waved me in and I asked for it in front of about 7 fully experienced upper management people… they all looked at me for a second and then burst out laughing ?.
Image source: AlwaysTheKop
#6 I’m a nurse and used to work in hospitals. We had little biohazard bags that we would use to send tubes of blood and other assorted bodily fluids to the lab for tests. I had a fellow nurse who would blow a bag full of air and label it “fart sample”, then give it to an unsuspecting unit secretary. One poor secretary failed to find any fart test orders in the computer and asked us how to enter it in ?.
Image source: reverse-will, Delaware National Guard
#7 Rock climbing guide. I constantly get people asking how I get the ropes up. My coworkers and I all have different answers varying from “there’s a ladder/elevator in the back of the rock” to “we retrained old mail carrier pigeons” or “grappling hook.” I’ve had a shocking amount of people who will walk around to look for a ladder then glare at me later once they realized the joke on them.
Image source: fool_of_a_Took420, Steve Wilson
#8 Send the apprentice to get the wire stretcher. Have the apprentice hold a bucket under a cut cable to catch the extra amps that leak out.
Image source: MontCoDubV, Ksenia Chernaya
#9 Surgeon here. We peel tissue off bones and cartilage with various named types of “elevators” to elevate tissue. So we’d ask new scrub tech’s to pass an Otis elevator. (That’s the company that makes regular elevators in buildings).
Image source: pro_nosepicker, Anna Shvets
#10 I like to write on a piece of paper “help I’m stuck in the copy machine” and scan-to email from a central unit to a coworkers’s inbox. Alternatively, I just write it on a piece of copy paper and put it back in the hopper so it shows up on someone’s print job.
Image source: igotfiveonit, cottonbro studio
#11 When I was in the Marine Corps, I was in the air wing as a repair squadron as a tin bender. My Sargent told me to go to the supply building and get 100ft of flight line. I already knew about this since my buddy worked in supply. So I said “sir, yes sir” and just spent two hours hanging out with Buddy. When I get back I pretend to be confused and he has a good laugh. Win, win all around.
Image source: renatijd, Chris Hunkeler
#12 I used to work in a diesel engine manufacturing plant. We would send new people to the parts cage to get spark plugs.
Image source: chogram, jaimekop
#13 Fun fact… I know a guy who started a company selling “blinker fluid” just to make a buck off people who still think this is funny.
He gets angry email messages from senior mechanics all the time, who made the mistake of telling the new guy to get blinker fluid, only for the new guy to realise they didn’t have any, and to ask purchasing to order a palletload.
Apparently, this extremely specific scenario happens enough for him to drive a current year car.
Image source: Dirty-Soul
#14 Two cans of steam. My buddy confused the heck out of a trainee in the kitchen by, during a rush, frantically telling him to go and get two cans of steam from the back.
Image source: Kind_Of_A_Dick, Rene Asmussen
#15 In the IT department, asking someone to fetch a “wireless Ethernet cable” is a popular joke. It’s funny because Ethernet cables, by definition, cannot be wireless. It’s a great way to gauge someone’s understanding of networking basics.
Image source: DropPsychological882, Ann H
#16 “WD-40 isn’t gonna be quite strong enough. run to the supply room and get a can of WD-41”.
Image source: gooningdrywaller, ajay_suresh
#17 I worked at Best Buy in college and we would have tell the new guy that when they clocked out they needed to hit #19 on the desk phone and say they were leaving for the day, what they accomplished, and their favorite part of the day.
Image source: BD-TxState, MART PRODUCTION
We told them it was an automated time and labor tool that automatically clocked them out . Really it called the stores intercom system and blared it over the loud speakers for everyone in the store. Pretty embarrassing and gave all the rest of us a good chuckle. The best part it was delayed so they typically made it all the way across the store until it started to play back.
#18 When I worked at Pizza Hut in the 90s we would send the new driver to another Pizza Hut to get our cheese grater. We would call ahead and that store would send them to KFC, KFC would send them to Burger King. I don’t recall it going farther than that.
Image source: Alchemister5, RDNE Stock project
#19 Asking to check the to see if the new guy’s hammer has a whee. Then tossing it as far as possible. .
Image source: Canadairy, Life Of Pix
#20 We sent out an apprentice for some left-handed frying pans and a bacon stretcher. The other pubs in the area played into it and sent him on a wild goose chase. Guy still got paid for his time though so it was just a fun prank.
Image source: Kotkaniemo, cottonbro studio
#21 In anesthesia, sometimes we ask the patient, “let me know when you’re asleep.”.
Image source: BJ_Orange, cottonbro studio
#22 Working at a McDonalds in the mid to late 1990s we’d sent the new employees out into the lobby to water the numerous plants in the entire seating area – they were all fake plants.
Image source: SupplyChainNext, ROCKETMANN TEAM
#23 This isn’t going to all fit, go get the shelf stretcher.
Image source: crburton1s, cottonbro studio
#24 ‘Quick, go get the left handed chopping board’ or ‘Quick, I need the left handed knife’ Or my favourite….’Why don’t you go chop up some flour’.
Image source: LairdIronJaw, Magnus Östberg
#25 Jump up and down on top of an Army tank to check the shocks. Also walk around it and hit it with a mallet to check for soft spots.
Image source: Parking_War_4100, Gabriel Lenca
Got wisdom to pour?
I guess I’ve just got a different sense of humor. I don’t like messing with people that way or getting messed with in that way. It just feels mean. Erodes trust, too, or cries wolf. Everything relies in context but usually jokes like this punish people for being earnest and cooperative. I’d rather play jokes on people if they’re selfish or cruel; something that hurts others. Eh. Maybe someday I’ll get this more. Not now, it just seems slightly mean – slightly funny. Depends on delivery+intention.
I guess I’ve just got a different sense of humor. I don’t like messing with people that way or getting messed with in that way. It just feels mean. Erodes trust, too, or cries wolf. Everything relies in context but usually jokes like this punish people for being earnest and cooperative. I’d rather play jokes on people if they’re selfish or cruel; something that hurts others. Eh. Maybe someday I’ll get this more. Not now, it just seems slightly mean – slightly funny. Depends on delivery+intention
1970…DCT (Diversified Career Technology) in high school, worked at a sawmill in the afternoon. A new guy was sent out for a glass bender. He took the company truck (it had the company credit card on the key ring). He came back 4 hours later with a used $1,700 glass bender. There is such a thing! It’s used to make adjustments to auto windshields. Nobody was laughing after that.
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Pipe stretcher and a can of air. Someone else always had the pipe stretcher!