# EMS Pranks



## slb862 (Sep 23, 2010)

I like pranks... never been caught either.  Too quiet to get caught.  heehee

One of the crew members liked to bow hunt, so he went out one morning before work.  Got his buck, and by the time he got the buck out of the woods, he realized that he needed to tie the buck to the top of his truck and go directly to work.  Of course it is cold where I work, it was okay to leave the buck tied to his truck.  Well that was his first mistake, his second was being on my shift.  hee hee
Anyway, he gets his first call of the shift and low and behold, what do us pranksters do...

Yup, you got it right, we went out to his truck and untied the buck, and had the buck sitting IN his truck when he got back from his call.  I and my partner were conveniently on a call.  h34r:  B)


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## spike91 (Sep 23, 2010)

I have a habit of flipping off the master switches in the rigs and flipping the sirens to T3 when someone is about to take the ambulance out for driver training. Gives the trainee and the trainer a nice little jump


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## JPINFV (Sep 23, 2010)

spike91 said:


> I have a habit of flipping off the master switches in the rigs and flipping the sirens to T3 when someone is about to take the ambulance out for driver training. Gives the trainee and the trainer a nice little jump



I thought you did that to train people to lock the ambulance at facilities.


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## TransportJockey (Sep 23, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> I thought you did that to train people to lock the ambulance at facilities.



Or crank the AC all the way up in the winter so after they drop their pt off they get a surprise


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## JJR512 (Sep 23, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> I thought you did that to train people to lock the ambulance at facilities.



I hate that, and think it is stupid and irresponsible.

What kind of people are you likely to find at facilities? Sick people. Fragile people. Frail people. When Big Bob is taking Grandma in to the ER because she doesn't feel well, and they're walking by an ambulance on the way to the ER door, and suddenly that ambulance starts blaring out its siren, Big Bob isn't going to be too happy about the heart attack the shock just induced in Grandma. And the sad part is that the situation isn't really the fault of the person (the ambulance driver) that Big Bob is going to introduce to his Two Big Fists.

There is a time and place for pranks. When innocent people can get caught up in them, that isn't the time or place.


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## medic417 (Sep 23, 2010)

Search function and you will find why some including myself say anyone doing such a thing is very unprofessional.


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## Stephanie. (Sep 23, 2010)

My partner slept in after shift change, and left his facebook up. Needless to say.. I changed his status. Bad enough, it made him want to completely delete his fb account. 

But he then copied a picture of my truck, posted it on Craigslist, (I have a pretty bad@$$ truck) 2002 Chevrolet 1500 HD 6.0 Vortec w/ 3in lift and 33in BFG A/Ts asking $2000 for it. He added my phone number and said call/text between 0200 and 0600 'when I'm getting ready for work.' :glare:

He won that battle, but the war isn't over


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## spike91 (Sep 23, 2010)

JPINFV said:


> I thought you did that to train people to lock the ambulance at facilities.



Why would you scare the :censored::censored::censored::censored: out of the patients, docs and nurses? That's just...retarded. 

We never lock ambulances at a facility unless we're going to be writing a PCR there due to narc usage. Otherwise we turn it off and just come back.


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## MTEMTB (Sep 26, 2010)

Oh Stephanie that is mean. LMAO.


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## MrBrown (Sep 26, 2010)

You know US EMS is already viewed rather poorly by the world .... and this just doesn't help.


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## MTEMTB (Sep 26, 2010)

Life is too short.
Live, laugh and learn. Because you never know when it will end.



Helped today to put a fence around my best friends grave. She died at age 40.
I look every day for a reason to laugh. Because for 1 year I couldn't find any.


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## Spirit (Sep 28, 2010)

spike91 said:


> I have a habit of flipping off the master switches in the rigs and flipping the sirens to T3 when someone is about to take the ambulance out for driver training. Gives the trainee and the trainer a nice little jump



that reminds me of a ride along I was doing while still in training. heh, went out to lunch and after we ordered we got a call, well the engine stole our parking spot while we were gone....At the time I had no idea what these guys were up to having only ever ridden in the back and knowing little of the swtiches in the front I asked what he just did as he and his partner were laughing. I was told be quiet and you'll see. 

Little did i know....funniest thing I had seen on my rides...well that and the guys at a different station putting clothes in bowls of water in the freezer with the name tag out when people left their shirts on the back of chairs. heh heh


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## ZVNEMT (Sep 28, 2010)

slb862 said:


> Yup, you got it right, we went out to his truck and untied the buck, and had the buck sitting IN his truck when he got back from his call.  I and my partner were conveniently on a call.  h34r:  B)



so it didn't occur to you that the buck would continue to drain a little blood inside the truck? it'd be hilarious if his upholstery was ruined. even better if the meat spoiled because the inside of the truck is warmer than the outside... oh... and the possibilities of the deer having fleas and/or ticks. not to mention the whole breaking and entering thing. *You are an idiot.*


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## lightsandsirens5 (Sep 29, 2010)

Never mind.


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## slb862 (Sep 29, 2010)

obviously you have never spent a "WINTER" in northern MN.  Glad you don't work on shift with us.  No sense of humor and the need for name calling.  Nice! h34r:


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## Saytuck99 (Sep 29, 2010)

I have heard stories from medics who have put Nitro paste on ambulance door handles and watched their partners pass out...


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## Emtpbill (Sep 29, 2010)

Saytuck99 said:


> I have heard stories from medics who have put Nitro paste on ambulance door handles and watched their partners pass out...



Or a little lasix in the morning coffee!


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## MRE (Sep 29, 2010)

ZVNEMT said:


> so it didn't occur to you that the buck would continue to drain a little blood inside the truck? it'd be hilarious if his upholstery was ruined. even better if the meat spoiled because the inside of the truck is warmer than the outside... oh... and the possibilities of the deer having fleas and/or ticks. not to mention the whole breaking and entering thing. *You are an idiot.*



I agree, absolutely terrible idea.  I'm surprised you didn't find an arrow in each one of your tires after that.


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## alexguy101 (Sep 29, 2010)

Why is it that just about EVERYTHING in the "Humor" section turns out not being very humorous at all?
Most start out funny, but then all end in stupid arguments about this and that. Someone gust needs to start a "B**** and whine" section so you all can do that there instead of on EVERY thread here.
People are just too critical about one another. Clam down geez.
Also, For the critical criticizers, If your so smart, more "professional" than others, and just about know everything there is to know about EMS, then why would you (as a grown adult) resort to namecalling? (ie, "*You are an idiot.*")


Just my thoughts. Im pretty sure someone will tear my respones to pieces too....


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## Stephanie. (Sep 29, 2010)

I knew some firefighters that, when they had a new rookie at their station, after they fell asleep at night, they would wake them up by snapping the ammonia inhalant and sticking it under their nose. They would wake up jolted and jumping out of bed. :wacko:


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## JJR512 (Sep 29, 2010)

The thing is that humor varies by region and location. Hunting carcass humor might not seem so funny to someone from the city. What passes for humor in the city might not seem so funny to someone from the sticks. What the British find amusing might be completely over the head of America. Etc.


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## Saytuck99 (Sep 29, 2010)

Stephanie. said:


> I knew some firefighters that, when they had a new rookie at their station, after they fell asleep at night, they would wake them up by snapping the ammonia inhalant and sticking it under their nose. They would wake up jolted and jumping out of bed. :wacko:



Now that's funny.....


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## medic417 (Sep 29, 2010)

Emtpbill said:


> Or a little lasix in the morning coffee!



That is a criminal offense.  I hope no one is that stupid or unprofessional to use any medication in their pranks.


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## spike91 (Sep 29, 2010)

Seeing as we're college EMS, while we have a very good call volume...the quality can suck. And we always have new guys eager to dive head first in. Drivers and crew chiefs get motorola 2 way radios (EX500s), so we put them to use. When we're in the station, and someone new passes out for the night, we'll turn our radio to pager mode, press the PTT, and it'll set off the tone for our radio only, and have whomever is asleep BOLT out of bed like a bat out of hell. Cruel but fun nonetheless


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## Captn' Tuddle (Sep 30, 2010)

We have a lot of 'The Office' fans where I work so I put my coworkers name tag in jello once. Later that day my boss came up to me and told me I was his hero.


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## Saytuck99 (Sep 30, 2010)

medic417 said:


> That is a criminal offense.  I hope no one is that stupid or unprofessional to use any medication in their pranks.



Its only a criminal offense if there is a complainant to report it...


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## TransportJockey (Sep 30, 2010)

Saytuck99 said:


> Its only a criminal offense if there is a complainant to report it...



So breaking the law isn't breaking the law if someone isn't around to see it?


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## slb862 (Sep 30, 2010)

Had a casual call EMT that worked for the company, his fulltime job was a Sheriff Deputy, left his car in the parking lot one time.  We got an old rescue annie doll, and dressed it in his uniform, then set it in the back seat of his car, seatbelted in.  (for safety)  Had a good laugh.   


Oh and I made sure that all the blood had drained out, and it didn't have any fleas. (just a little humor there) LMAO


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## TransportJockey (Sep 30, 2010)

slb862 said:


> Had a casual call EMT that worked for the company, his fulltime job was a Sheriff Deputy, left his car in the parking lot one time.  We got an old rescue annie doll, and dressed it in his uniform, then set it in the back seat of his car, seatbelted in.  (for safety)  Had a good laugh.
> 
> 
> Oh and I made sure that all the blood had drained out, and it didn't have any fleas. (just a little humor there) LMAO



That one I would actually like to see


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## Saytuck99 (Sep 30, 2010)

jtpaintball70 said:


> So breaking the law isn't breaking the law if someone isn't around to see it?



No...but if the DA does not have a complaining witness then it cannot be prosecuted. Kinda like if you have sex with someone consensually vs not. Now, that is not to say it is not a violation of protocol and there can and would be administrative penalties including revoking your card...

Point is...if your dealing with good sports no criminal charges would result.


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## aewin90 (Sep 30, 2010)

MrBrown said:


> You know US EMS is already viewed rather poorly by the world .... and this just doesn't help.


I'm sure every EMS provider in the US stays awake at night, tormented by the thought that kiwi's don't respect them.

It's comforting to know that other EMS systems are immune to pranksters.


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## CowboyMedic (Sep 30, 2010)

Tuesday I refilled our soap dispenser up with a bunch of expired packages of lubricating jelly. Needless to say we were also out of papertowels and real soap at the station. 
The later was hindsight that made it extra great when Bubba Gump our EMT Extraordinaire used it and 20 minutes later licked it! :blink:


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## MTEMTB (Sep 30, 2010)

Sounds like a guy I knew.
this guy was a wild card. Drove like mad at any tone and just drove everyone nuts.
Were at the local street dance, not in uniform. we tied a tampon to his belt loop and let him walk around for awhile.

Got him on a fire one night. I hit him with a stream from a 2" hose.
it was always a competition to see who could soak him on a fire first.


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## RALS504 (Oct 3, 2010)

I like to hide in the back of another crew's rig at the hospital & surprise them by blowing my whistle when they try to put thier gurney back after pt turn over. Awesome!


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## JJR512 (Oct 3, 2010)

Here's a prank that I saw once.

One volunteer, who worked at a candy/chocolate shop, brought in a box of chocolate-covered strawberries for everyone to share and enjoy. Another volunteer, who was in physician's assistant school, thought it would be funny to wrap the box up in a cast.

So he left it like that for a couple hours, then started cutting it away. He wound up getting powder and debris all over the chocolate-covered strawberries, and nobody felt like eating them after that. Someone said that stuff was toxic.

The guy that brought that treat in didn't pay for them, but if he had, that would have been a big waste of money. As it was, it was a big waste of time, because he hand-made them all himself.

So like someone else already said, there are certain things that should be exempt from pranks. Don't mess with food, don't interfere with someone's ability to get to their paying job on time (remember that when you're freezing keys into a big bowl of water), etc. And of course, never do something that slows down or interferes with the jobs that we as FFs or EMTs are there to do.


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## johnrsemt (Oct 3, 2010)

Had a FF bring 6 large carmel covered Apples, covered in nuts to the station with a note on them not to eat them.   He put them on the table.
  I noticed as the shift went on that they disappeared 1 by 1.  
  At dinner time the FF mentioned that there were 2 left, and was curious of who besides himself didn't eat 1.   I told him it was me,  due to the fact I was allergic to nuts at that time.
    no one else said too much,  until he stated that they were carmel covered onions.

   Another time a FF brought in a frosted cake,  first person to cut a piece found out it was a moist frost covered balloon.    Chocolate frosting everywhere.

   one of our captains proved a point.   food at firehouse will be eaten by everyone,   he left a $20 on the kitchen table, and it stayed there for 4 shifts,  and was only moved to clean the table.


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## JJR512 (Oct 3, 2010)

johnrsemt said:


> Had a FF bring 6 large carmel covered Apples, covered in nuts to the station with a note on them not to eat them.   He put them on the table.
> I noticed as the shift went on that they disappeared 1 by 1.
> At dinner time the FF mentioned that there were 2 left, and was curious of who besides himself didn't eat 1.   I told him it was me,  due to the fact I was allergic to nuts at that time.
> no one else said too much,  until he stated that they were carmel covered onions.


Wow, that's great, that's gotta be the best one I've heard yet...



> Another time a FF brought in a frosted cake,  first person to cut a piece found out it was a moist frost covered balloon.    Chocolate frosting everywhere.


...I stand corrected, lol.


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## johnrsemt (Oct 3, 2010)

When I was dispatching at night I sent a crew, BLS (both relativelynew); on a run 2 blocks from where they were already at:  told them they were assisting the FD with a Mass Cal:  multiple unresponsives.  told Non emergent per FD request.    
   Gave them the SE corner of a major intersection  (0330 on Sunday morning).    
   when they got there they said there were NO EMS or fire on scene,  and no patients.    took them about 5 min to figure it out.      I sent them to the city cemetary


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## slb862 (Oct 4, 2010)

You know you have to have a sense of humor to being in this or any job.  It helps with the stress.  We should find at least one positive, within the things we do daily.  I love to laugh and enjoy life.  Life is too short.  No regrets.  Not one person complained when any one of us would play an occasional practical joke.  It was more fun to see who and how the favor would be in return.  I love my job and I am good at.  I am responsible, and I know when the time is the right time to play a prank and who I can play one on.  Lighten up people.  Laugh with me and at me.  For those that think pranks are a waste of time...I dare you to Laugh,


No I double dog dare you.  :lol:


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## medic417 (Oct 4, 2010)

slb862 said:


> You know you have to have a sense of humor to being in this or any job.  It helps with the stress.  We should find at least one positive, within the things we do daily.  I love to laugh and enjoy life.  Life is too short.  No regrets.  Not one person complained when any one of us would play an occasional practical joke.  It was more fun to see who and how the favor would be in return.  I love my job and I am good at.  I am responsible, and I know when the time is the right time to play a prank and who I can play one on.  Lighten up people.  Laugh with me and at me.  For those that think pranks are a waste of time...I dare you to Laugh,
> 
> 
> No I double dog dare you.  :lol:



You can blow off steam and laugh and have fun w/o the physical stuff that can cause harm, injury either directly or to the patients because of the response delays.  

People love working with me.  We have a great time and they do not have to be in fear of a stupid prank or worse a criminal act such as some have posted here.  

Also think about how it looks when you show up on scene covered in KY because some idiot decided that would be funny.  It gets all over you then you get there and look even more unprofessional than usual.


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## EMS/LEO505 (Oct 4, 2010)

I remember it was a lab class, and we had one of the shorter students hide in the manikin bag and as soon as the teacher unzipped it she jumped out and scared him haha he got a good laugh outta it too


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## aewin90 (Oct 7, 2010)

slb862 said:


> You know you have to have a sense of humor to being in this or any job.  It helps with the stress.  We should find at least one positive, within the things we do daily.  I love to laugh and enjoy life.  Life is too short.  No regrets.  Not one person complained when any one of us would play an occasional practical joke.  It was more fun to see who and how the favor would be in return.  I love my job and I am good at.  I am responsible, and I know when the time is the right time to play a prank and who I can play one on.  Lighten up people.  Laugh with me and at me.  For those that think pranks are a waste of time...I dare you to Laugh,
> 
> 
> No I double dog dare you.  :lol:



You don't need to explain your actions or defend your character.  Little pranks are awesome ways to have fun, relieve tension, and enjoy the sense of brotherhood.

Obviously lasix in the coffee or nitro on the doorknob is way out of line, absolutely absurd, and not funny in the slightest.  But the chocolate "cake" that was really a frost-covered balloon or sending a new EMT crew to the cemetery a few blocks down is great.

If you don't do pranks because you're too responsible, professional, or <insert alternate ridiculous reason here>, then fine.  But there is nothing wrong with a harmless practical joke here and there.


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## Jackson (Oct 7, 2010)

johnrsemt said:


> When I was dispatching at night I sent a crew, BLS (both relativelynew); on a run 2 blocks from where they were already at:  told them they were assisting the FD with a Mass Cal:  multiple unresponsives.  told Non emergent per FD request.
> Gave them the SE corner of a major intersection  (0330 on Sunday morning).
> when they got there they said there were NO EMS or fire on scene,  and no patients.    took them about 5 min to figure it out.      I sent them to the city cemetary



ROFLMAO! :lol:


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## Martyn (Oct 25, 2010)

Whilst on my EMT course I played this prank several times: it involves a handheld CB radio (tuned to channel 1) and a scanner tuned to the CB radio's channel 1. I put the scanner, volume up and squelch right up, under the dummy on the stretcher. Standing over the otherside of the classroom I waited for one of my classmates to practise strapping the dummy on a LSB. As she started to strap him down the dummy started moaning and groaning, startled her to say the least. Second incident didn't go as well as I expected. We were outside practising vehicle extrication and I put my remote controlled whoopee cushion under the cushion of the stretcher. When the PT was finally out and put on the stretcher, theres me a little distance away pressing the remote in my pocket. Our instructor asked what the noise was and one of my classmates said he thought the stretcher was squeaking, so it kinda didn't work.


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## FrostbiteMedic (Nov 3, 2010)

Have had the wonderful surgilube under the door handles done to me a couple times..
Best prank though was the time we put kool-aid in the supervisor's shower head.....he came out a-cussin......and PURPLE.....


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## slb862 (Nov 14, 2010)

Don't take yourself so seriously...no one else does.

An EMS friend was building a house.  His soon to be roommate and I were working a shift.  My partner wanted to show me the progress on the new house.  Went into the house to find the toilet had been installed, of course the water had not been turned on in the house.  My partner left a present in the commode. 

A Baby Ruth bar.  :lol:


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## lightsandsirens5 (Nov 14, 2010)

MTEMTB said:


> Got him on a fire one night. I hit him with a stream from a 2" hose. it was always a competition to see who could soak him on a fire first.



Not funny.....Not funny at all. Especially on a fire scene. The only time you should ever turn a firestream on someone is if they are on fire. And then you don't blast them with a solid stream from a wide open two inch. (As I gather this poor dude got). I am not saying there is never a time to have water fights with the lines, but definitely not on a fire scene. I don't see how any officer could let this go on. 

I can tell you this, if someone turned a two on me while on an active scene, you better hope I'm not carrying a halligan or an axe.


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## Handsome Robb (Nov 18, 2010)

News channels here have scanners that monitor EMS/Fire/LEO channels so they can respond to the 'newsworthy' incidents.

The guy doesn't do it anymore but I guess a certain employee used to show up at priority 3/4 sick person/transfers at nursing homes and report, 'On Scene, assuming IC' to get the news all riled up and when they'd show up the rig would be long gone haha.

This isn't something I would do but I thought it was funny.


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## JJR512 (Nov 18, 2010)

NVRob said:


> News channels here have scanners that monitor EMS/Fire/LEO channels so they can respond to the 'newsworthy' incidents.
> 
> The guy doesn't do it anymore but I guess a certain employee used to show up at priority 3/4 sick person/transfers at nursing homes and report, 'On Scene, assuming IC' to get the news all riled up and when they'd show up the rig would be long gone haha.
> 
> This isn't something I would do but I thought it was funny.



That is rather amusing. 

When I used to work IFT, we had one or two that would make the same kind of statement over the dispatch radio. Only the dispatcher (for the company that used Nextels) or the dispatcher and the other units (for the company that used a licensed common channel) would hear it, of course, but it was still amusing.


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## anna (Nov 18, 2010)

lido jelly. everywhere.


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## TexasRattler (Nov 19, 2010)

Ok so now we know nevada has NOTHING going on hence why the news covers priority 3/4 sick persons =)) just thought i'd throw that in there....and i agree...there is a time and place for good pranks even at work...but like someone said b4..don't make the prank bad enough where the person can't do his/her job properly...now i did do the nitro on the door handle of my preceptors car when i was doin ride-outs.....but he didn't get it til after shift was over....That was my first among MANY MANY pranks...all in good fun


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