Someone Planted an Annoyatron in My Office and I Just Found It. What Next?

[Ryujin]

I'm a pretty good sleuth. I found out who is responsible (a friend of mine), and I found out who their accomplices were (literally everyone else in the office). So I admitted I found the device, everyone had a good laugh at my expense, and I returned the device.

But this isn't over. Oh, it's so very far from over.

I find the best revenge is to let them expect that a response could come at any time.

Then it doesn't.

Saves having to come up with some amazing scheme, while simultaneously making them lose sleep.

 

[Parmandur]

This whole saga is hilarious.

 

[MarkB]

At least you knew what an Annoyatron was, and how to recognise it - most people wouldn't have had a clue what they were up against, myself included prior to this thread. I wonder how much money these things have cost various companies in electrician call-outs.

 

[Parmandur]

At least you knew what an Annoyatron was, and how to recognise it - most people wouldn't have had a clue what they were up against, myself included prior to this thread. I wonder how much money these things have cost various companies in electrician call-outs.

Methinks that @CleverNickName coworkers knew that he would puzzle it out...

 

[Ryujin]

At least you knew what an Annoyatron was, and how to recognise it - most people wouldn't have had a clue what they were up against, myself included prior to this thread. I wonder how much money these things have cost various companies in electrician call-outs.

US$10-US$20.

Oh, cost the COMPANY. A lot.

 

[nevin]

A bit of backstory.

I'm working remotely on a construction site in Northern California at the moment. The engineering company I work for has set up a temporary field office in an old bank next to the construction site, and my workstation is about 30 feet from the bank safe. Because the office was once a bank, there are tons of wires, cables, cameras, motion detectors, buttons, and alarms everywhere--all of which were supposed to have been disabled. And because this is an engineering field office, we brought in tons of portable, battery-powered monitoring equipment, sensors, measuring devices, and stuff to help us track and control a wide range of data--everything from river flow rates and rainfall, to volatile organic compounds and water turbidity. Without turning my head, I can count 33 electronic devices in my cubicle alone.

I arrived on site about a month ago, to cover for one of my colleagues who will be traveling for a few months on another assignment. And ever since I got here, there has been this annoying little cricket-like chirp, similar to the sound some devices make when they have a low battery. One of the many, many devices in my office that constantly have low batteries. I've checked the batteries on every single device in the building, plus every old abandoned piece of equipment that was left behind by the bank. Nothing would stop the noise.

So, being an engineer, I used Science: I set a timer to measure the time between chirps--low battery warnings, etc., are usually on a fixed interval you see. This mysterious chirping noise was on a random interval, though: 183 seconds, 2329 seconds, 1104 seconds. And only one device has a random alert interval: the Annoyatron, from ThinkGeek. Now that I knew what I was looking for, the rest was easy: just estimate the direction from where the sound was coming from, then ask myself: "where would I hide such a device?" And there I found it, behind the EXIT sign over the door.

Now I have the device. It's in my warm, vengeful hands. What shall I do with it?

They have cricket version

 

[CleverNickName]

Methinks that @CleverNickName coworkers knew that he would puzzle it out...

I wonder if they were taking bets on how many days : hours : minutes it would take me to find the device? Because I probably exceeded all expectations...

Honestly, it's kind of flattering in a way. I'm the field engineer and construction manager down here. I have to work closely with different agencies and contractors and staff in order to keep the project running smoothly and within compliance. Sometimes I have to make design changes on the fly, sometimes I have to stop construction to do further testing, sometimes I have to yell at people. We're working 6 days a week, 14 hours a day...it's a tough job. And it feels really good to know that my team feels comfortable enough around me to tease me and horse around and include me in these little gags. It tells me their level of trust and their morale are both in the green. It tells me that they actually give a rip.

I'm treating everyone to donuts tomorrow morning for breakfast. And that's when I'll mention the Annoyatron, and tell them ominously, "now it's my turn."

 

[Parmandur]

I wonder if they were taking bets on how many days : hours : minutes it would take me to find the device? Because I probably exceeded all expectations...

Honestly, it's kind of flattering in a way. I'm the field engineer and construction manager down here. I have to work closely with different agencies and contractors and staff in order to keep the project running smoothly and within compliance. Sometimes I have to make design changes on the fly, sometimes I have to stop construction to do further testing, sometimes I have to yell at people. We're working 6 days a week, 14 hours a day...it's a tough job. And it feels really good to know that my team feels comfortable enough around me to tease me and horse around and include me in these little gags. It tells me their level of trust and their morale are both in the green. It tells me that they actually give a rip.

I'm treating everyone to donuts tomorrow morning for breakfast. And that's when I'll mention the Annoyatron, and tell them ominously, "now it's my turn."

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm treating everyone to donuts tomorrow morning for breakfast. And that's when I'll mention the Annoyatron, and tell them ominously, "now it's my turn."

Look, I would advise against letting them know until you have already set your plan in motion.

But if you absolutely have to, at least make it good. After they eat the donuts, tell them about the Annoyatron, and then say ... "Did you really think that was Bavarian cream jelly in those donuts?"

Wait a beat, and then say, "It was jelly. But now it's my turn."

 

[CleverNickName]

Look, I would advise against letting them know until you have already set your plan in motion.

But if you absolutely have to, at least make it good. After they eat the donuts, tell them about the Annoyatron, and then say ... "Did you really think that was Bavarian cream jelly in those donuts?"

Wait a beat, and then say, "It was jelly. But now it's my turn."

"Anyway, I'm glad that I didn't embarrass myself too badly with your Annoyatron prank. And I'm glad that everyone had a good laugh. But I'm still your boss, so unfortunately I have to remind everyone that breaktime is over and it's time to get to work. We can't spend all morning planting electronic devices in offices, or farting on donuts....we've got a pipe to install."