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At a previous employer I worked at, this was pretty common. If you left your computer unlocked for any amount of time, you were pretty much guaranteed to be scr
by oillio 9y ago
At a previous employer I worked at, this was pretty common.
If you left your computer unlocked for any amount of time, you were pretty much guaranteed to be screwed with.
Because it was so common, it wasn't a big deal. If you got an odd email from a co-worker, you assumed they must have forgotten to lock their computer.
It was a security related company, and the general excuse was that the practice was intended as negative reinforcement to push everyone to have better security practices.
I don't know if it was a good or bad culture to have. I can tell you that, to this day, I never leave my computer unlocked.
- justinclift 9y agoI've seen that kind of things at certain previous employers too. I can understand the security perspective, but strongly don't agree with the direction it then leads people → "your workmates can't be trusted". That's rarely a productive thing to add to any high performance culture mix. :(
- Aeolun 9y agoAt the company I worked it was limited to changing the background to something dubious/stupid/interesting.
- falsedan 9y agoWe have a special themed mailing list which it is customary to send a humourous message and appropriately-themed animal picture to.
- Beltiras 9y agoIt's bad culture. For productive environments you need coworkers to trust each other. Frequent office pranks do not foster that.
- mseebach 9y agoPranks are a sign of trust. The trust bit is that you only use it for pranks and not any of the myriad other things you can actually do with a logged in computer. But the pranks should be a reminder they might just as well not have been a prank, and that you should bloody well lock your computer already.
- Beltiras 9y agoCan't find it at the moment but I remember Adam Savage once saying that him and Jamie Hyneman never play practical jokes on each other. It would end up with one of them duct-taping the windows on the other one's house to fill it with water. Don't prank your sysadmin. It won't end well for you.
- spuz 9y agoFor context, the two Mythbusters presenters have famously different personalities and are not exactly friends. This reinforces the idea that pranks are generally done between people who feel they can trust one another.
- Beltiras 9y agoThere was trust between them. Trust does not require compatible personalities. Both of them have spoken at length about their working relationship. Part of that trust was knowing the other one would never condone or sign off on pranking. Adam was pranked once with a cattleprod and it resulted in firing the producer that was responsible (and Jamie was not in on it). Pranks are cheap laughs, slapstick humor. It does not belong in a work environment.
- therealdrag0 9y agoI've done this, but I would only do it to people I already consider friends. If it ends up being over-stepping, you apologize and move on. It shouldn't be a big deal.