Since it’s April Fool’s Day it might be a good idea to remember some of the construction pranks I endured, and to a lesser degree played on others, over the years.

I was perhaps the biggest fool several years ago when I showed up at a safety meeting only to discover nobody else was there, or would be there.

Then there was the time I had the first aid kit opened and was ready to apply bandaging to a carpenters hand only to discover the red stuff all over him was ketchup. But revenge was sweet. The following year I announced he was getting an incentive bonus in the pay check for that week. Payday fell on April Fool’s Day.

No one warned me about how ruthless these pranks could get but I found out for myself one year when my boss told me the project schedule I turned in for a large commercial job needed to be redone with completely new resources assigned. I guess he was going to let me stew for awhile but awhile turned into hours. I was an hour into the redo when he finally showed up to say “April Fools!”

I suppose there is a lot of lost productivity on April Fool’s Day. But then, measuring everything in terms of productivity ignores the other aspects of life – like having some fun.

Recent News