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Author Topic: Practical Jokes Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-21-2005 11:05 PM                     On top of that, it would be a great "newbie joke" laying in wait for every new hire that walked into the booth! Make it a point never to mention what that big tank is for, over there at the end of the hallway. Let the sucker come to you! But when he does, don't spring the trap just yet. Just casually say something like, "Oh, that's the Technicolor tank. Every few weeks a truck comes to refill it." Even still... resist the temptation to strike. Be a bit vague. The longer you can stretch this out, the more "normal" it will seem when you finally DO pull the joke on him! All the tanks I have seen have some kind of guage on them. Sometimes it's a kind of a sightglass. Other times it's a pressure guage of some sort. In almost all cases it's marked with a red zone or a "1/4...1/2...3/4...FULL" mark of some kind. The next time the "Technicolor tank" starts to run low, pretend to notice it and bring your fish over to the tank and say, "Oh, SHIT! The truck didn't come on time to refill the tank! It's FRIDAY NIGHT! Hurry! Quick! Run out and get some TECHNICOLOR before the tank runs out!" I'm pissed at myself for not thinking of this one myself!  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 01-22-2005 01:04 PM                    Where I used to work (non theater related) I started off placing pennies on people's desks at random. People would say, "Where the hell are all the f*in pennies coming from??" Then they started magically showing up everywhere. My favorite place to leave them is in the change compartment of vending machines. Eventually others joined in, and a "penny pile" developed that "moved" from one prankster to the next, and before long, we had a small cup full of pennies that when it showed up in our stuff somewhere, the goal was to add a few pennies and hide it somewhere else. Then the goal became booby trapping something with the cup of pennies. One of my favorite booby traps was when I took the cup and set it inside a overhead cabinet at someone's desk, and rigged the door with a rubber band that would pull on the cup when it was opened. Sure enough, eventually they opened the door and... CRASH!!! Then everyone on the floor would get a huge laugh as they heard the big crash of coins because they knew what had happened. Then the mess was cleaned up, and the cup was redeployed to a new location, and so it continued. This went on for months.  |  IP: Logged Brandon Willis Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Richmond, VA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-22-2005 10:16 PM                     How about this one: Training a new concessionist on New Year's Eve. In the middle of the last rush of the night, with a line stretching almost to the front of the box office, the guy I had her paired with tells her that she has to refill the water fountain, immediately. Needless to say I was not amused.  |  IP: Logged Gracia L. Babbidge Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 709 From: Bowdoin, Maine Registered: Aug 2000 posted 01-24-2005 09:20 AM                        One theater I was at (once upon a time) had two kid-sized 'dummies' that got used for Halloween displays. (As in the holiday, not the movie!) You know, just some jersey shirts & pants, with gloves & socks stitched on, filled with stuffing, wearing spooky masks. At other times of the year, they were stashed in the upstairs "random storage room". The door to said room was rarely locked, and frequently left open. The DM's office at that time was in the building, next to that storage room. The doors were probably 5-6 feet away from each other, with the office further from the booth than the storage, thus noboby besides the projectionists really ever noticed or walked past the storage room. Naturally, the dummies got positioned so they looked like they were doing all sorts of naughty things. This was an on-going gag for a while, they'd get shifted a few times a month or so. Then one night I took it in a different direction... I rigged half-ass nooses out of old trailers, and strung 'em up. This dismayed the opening projectionist much more than I had anticipated. (How on earth was I to know that he had known someone that hung themself?!?) I got reprimanded by someone who, while they found it amusing, thought I could make better use of time while I was at work.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-26-2005 11:58 PM                     quote: Training a new concessionist on New Year's Eve. ...the guy I had her paired with tells her that she has to refill the water fountain, immediately. Needless to say I was not amused. I just thought of the PERFECT solution to that problem! Take the wise-ass asside. IN FRONT OF the new trainee, order *HIM* to go refill the water fountain immediately! Say to him, "No! I need [Susie] up here right now. You do it!... Oh!... And be sure to use plenty of ice!" This puts your joker in the position of: A) Having to admit to the whole world that he's taking advantage of the newbie. ... OR ... B) Having to suffer the humiliation of performing a menial task IN FRONT OF the very person HE was trying to humiliate! Turn-about is fair play, doncha' know!  |  IP: Logged Cory Isemann Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: White Plains, MD, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 01-27-2005 11:02 AM                        We do little things sometimes when we leave at night to see what the janitor will do.  |  IP: Logged Brandon Willis Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Richmond, VA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-31-2005 08:02 PM                     Cory- "Eeet was beeezy tonight, yes?"  |  IP: Logged Rich Granata Film Handler Posts: 61 From: Bethlehem PA USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 02-02-2005 03:07 PM                     ... [ 02-14-2005, 06:42 PM: Message edited by: Rich Granata ]  |  IP: Logged Brandon Willis Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Richmond, VA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 02-13-2005 11:46 AM                     Aren't those Regal tickets? What theatre do you work at?  |  IP: Logged Edwin Schwing Expert Film Handler Posts: 116 From: Las Vegas NV Registered: May 2002 posted 02-14-2005 01:30 AM                     they look pretty Regally to me... E  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 02-21-2005 11:13 PM                     I am not currently working at a theatre, but I did play a practical joke on a foreign grad student the other day that some F-T members would really appreciate! Anyhow, at Arizona State University-East, where I am currently a student, the Mortuary Science College is right across the street from the College of Engineering (where I am at). So, anyhow, this foreign student asks what mortuary means. It took a little explanation/translation on my behalf before that grad student finally understood it. So this student asks if they have a retort there to perform cremations. Naturally, I said yes. Then I led this grad student into our welding lab and pointed at the refractory brick at each welding station which is used for Oxy-Acetylene welding and said to this poor soul, "Where do you think we get our welding brick from?!" Well, that grad student turned really pale, and was just about to loose it (chunks that is)! He figured out it was a practical joke when I could not help bustin up with laughter after watching his response! AINT I A STINKER!  |  IP: Logged Floyd Justin Newton Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 559 From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 02-26-2005 06:36 PM                     Yes Will, you are! ( )  |  IP: Logged Kyle Murphy Film Handler Posts: 3 From: South Bend, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2005 posted 02-27-2005 05:44 AM                     Around the theatre I work at we'd do a couple things in concession to keep ourselves from go mad or dying from boredom. My favorite thing (which i invented, least in our theatre) was the mystery charges. You have a customer ( I usually go for teens ) say they want cherry coke, not regular, so I go ahead and tell them it costs 50 cents extra to get the cherry coke over the regular. They usually look at me all stunned and asked if I am kidding. (This is the hardest part) Keeping a straight face I say no, it costs 50 cents extra for them to add the cherry flavoring. And 90% of the time they will go digging through their pockets. At this point I will giggle like a girl and tell them I am sorry and just a very sad/bored emplyee getting a cheap laugh. They laugh, I laugh, the day goes on. Oh, also try selling extra straws and lids, a quarter a piece. The looks on people's faces are priceless.  |  IP: Logged Rich Granata Film Handler Posts: 61 From: Bethlehem PA USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 02-27-2005 08:45 AM                     That reminds me of stupid stuff I used to say to customers for dumb laughs. "Do you have Mountain Dew?" "We Mountain DONT"  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-27-2005 03:47 PM                        Kyle, While you may think you're being funny and passing time, you may wind up getting yourself in hot water with a csutomer who doesn't share you 'sense of humor' or a manager who doesn't think playing with the customers, especially when it comes to money, humorous. I'm speaking from my own standpoint, of course. You want to find something to do to help pass the time between shows? Get down there and clean out from under the coke towers. Pull the warmers out and clean the sides and back of the unit. Pull all candy out of the cases and clean the cases out. Clean the inside of the candy case glass. Wipe out the insides and the outer edges of the menu boards. Remove the lids from your lid dispensers and clean them (the dispenser, not the lids) Before you know it, you've got patrons for the next set coming in and you no longer have to 'find' stuff to do do fight boredom. Oh, nevermind, most employees doen't care to think this far into their job.  |  IP: Logged

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