gt35built

We got this new kid, not a bike enthusiast and are having trouble thinking of any good tricks to pull.

already greased the back of all his hanging tools. Any other good ones anyone knows of?

mrrabbit 

1. Give him a rubber valve stem grommet and ask him where in the the heck does it go...
2. Give him a Schwinn S5, S6, S7 and a standard modern day tire and ask him to install the tire.

3. Give him two right hand pedals instead of a right and left pair...

4. Give him and unlaced hoop...tell him to "feel" the CNC for a couple rotations. 15 minutes later, watch him remind himself as to why his daddy told him to wear gloves when handling fiberglass insulation.

5. Give him 15 guage spokes with 14g nipples...
6. Hand him a half-link chain and ask, "Which direction does it go?"

7. Give him an overtensioned wheel - have him install a tire and tube and inflate. When he spins the wheel and it does the s-wave wobble, yell: "Aw man...whaddya do!!! Now we have to rebuild that wheel!!!"

=8-)

HellionOverlord

Chem lights are the chemical lights that you break the glass inside the plastic and shake up. They are used to help be seen at night. They don't use batteries.

goatalope

Tell every customer its his birthday.

gt35built

Good reply's. Alot of them are wayyy over his head since all he does is build the new bikes and never does repairs.

Im gonna fill up the tubes on his department store bike with water and see how that turns out.

cny-bikeman

Gee, what a wonderful welcome to the world of bike repair. I'm sorry but multiple pranks are not a good business practice, and I would not do any but the most minor for a new employee. How about doing something that gets HIM laughing instead of the rest of you?

Mr IGH

We did this to a fellow employee that was a PITA. He thought it was due to condesation in the air compressor, didn't believe we did it.

Do you get weggies as a kid

mike_s

I'm guessing most of the people around here are 12 years old.

gt35built

Your guess is completely wrong.

Also these pranks are just for fun. he probably would laugh at most of the things we did. Harmless pranks...

bad business practice lmao

az2008

That's what I was thinking. Definitely not the kind of bike shop I would want my bike serviced at (with a demoralized newbie a casualty to build up the egos of the experts).

Mr IGH

Oh, the humanity!

JohnDThompson 

Have him find you the Whitworth adjustable wrench for that old Raleigh you're working on.

mike_s

I was referring to mental age, not physical, so I was correct.

LarDasse74

If he ever has to answer the phone, have someone ask ridiculous questions... my favourite one was:

Caller: "Do you sell gruppos?"
Employee: "Ummm... yes we do."
Caller: "Do you have any Lee-Chi gruppos?"
Employee: "**********?"

Dan Burkhart 

Levity in the form of harmless pranks can really help keep morale high. In my shop, I had 2 mechanics working for me, one full time, and one part time high school student. The part timer took the brunt of most of the jokes, but only because he was a really good sport, and took it all in good fun.
One day, we took his bike that he rode to work, removed the non drive crank, and re mounted it facing the same way as the drive side.
the bike was parked in the lineup in the service department where he walked right by it all day, but he took no notice,
He didn't catch on till quitting time, and he was out the door and on the bike before he noticed.
I still don't know how we managed to keep straight faces all day.

mobike_moexcite

Haha these are awesome, I am glad none of these happened to me though. I can't think of any good ones now but this thread may help me out.

nivekdodge

when a box comes in big enough for someone to fit in....Put somebody in it and ask him to put whatrever was in it away.

bradtx

Generally these pranks are a right of passage and a form of acceptance...give him a misaligned frame to build.

Brad

PS He gets to name the prank on the next newbie.

Torchy McFlux

We used to have a crate full of used crankarms, and if anyone came in to work with a hangover someone would sneak up and dump the whole thing loudly on the concrete floor behind them.
I'm not big on hazing. Some personalities don't react well to it at all, and it can end up causing a boss a lot of grief.

AEO

let him install V-brakes on a U-brake frame, but also give him a 29'er wheel.

mrrabbit 

I have another...

1. Wait for employee #1 to enter the shop restrooom.
2. Just before employee #2 arrives, turn off the shop lights.
3. As employee #2 walks in, hand him the restroom key and a head lamp.

"Hey, before you get started, while I'm checking the panel, can you grab the hand cleaner from the restroom."

=8-)

AEO

give him some campagnolo compact rings to install on a normal compact crank or vice versa.

Batavus

Have him go to the hardware store because you're out of hammer sparks

snafu21

Tell him to sell everything at the same price Amazon does.

cny-bikeman

Thank you for the example - helps me show my point. I was a service manager, and we had no shortage of laughs in our shop. What you did was not intended to make the person look or feel stupid, as many of the suggestions do, and was done to someone you knew could take a joke. It also did not waste a lot of shop time as some other suggestions would do.

Finally I would question the good-natured intent of someone who would say "... a lot of them are wayyy over his head since all he does is build the new bikes and never does repairs." I consider that a very patronizing statement. We've all been learners at some point, some of us even had "department store bikes." Nothing I saw indicates a desire to welcome him to the team or make him more at ease with the "pranks."