# How to confuse my co-workers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 22, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415 "2003-12-22T05:58:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415/21 "2003-12-23T00:04:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apollyon \* > \*\*I can’t help it… nitpick on a nitpick… since the “small mobile manual device that controls movement of the cursor and selection of functions on a computer display” (as Merriam Webster puts it) is named after the small rodents of the genus _Mus_, why would it not take the same plural? (as indeed M-W indicates). \*\* Answer to rhetorical question: to remove a very small amount of possible confusion between the two different words. However, yes, afaik both plurals have been used but ‘mice’ is winning by a long way nowadays. > [@](#): > > As a guy who works graveyards, I am extremely bored late at night, especially at this time of year. I second the “Take a book” suggestion. BTW, regarding autocorrect, be careful. I remember hearing a (possibly apocryphal) story about a bank that sent out thousands of letters addressed “Dear Rich Bastard” due to an ill-thought out test-mailmerge and a blinking proofreader - such a prank could cause a similar snafu. Pranks: does anyone have a mac? They seem to accept two mice. If you can hide the lead from the second, and fiddle it occasionally…? ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415/22 "2003-12-23T07:09:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apollyon \* > \*\*I can’t help it… nitpick on a nitpick… since the “small mobile manual device that controls movement of the cursor and selection of functions on a computer display” (as Merriam Webster puts it) is named after the small rodents of the genus _Mus_, why would it not take the same plural? (as indeed M-W indicates). \*\* I’m just repeating what my Networking Essentials instructor told the class in the Spring of '99. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415/23 "2003-12-23T15:27:55Z")
[Dear Rich Bastard](http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/bastard.asp) ---
**Author:** ![yellowcakesolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cdc98d/32.png) [@yellowcakesolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowcakesolid)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415/24 "2003-12-23T21:44:33Z")
This is all bad karma; so you must use your own discretion. I’m avoiding anything that might log a time/date stamp. 1. Put a bottle of whiskey or a dirty magazine in a bottom, unused desk drawer. If a worker opens the drawer in front of someone else, he has some explaining to do. 2. Take a small, personal item from one person’s office (someone important) and hide it on someone else’s bookshelf where they won’t notice it right away. 3. If an employee leaves his screen up with the logon box displayed, change one letter of the user name. The employee will enter his password over and over again thinking it’s the password that is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lurksfromwork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@lurksfromwork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurksfromwork)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415/25 "2003-12-23T22:26:40Z")
Nothing wrong with having a bit of fun with the workmates, unfortunately, at the moment the computer provides a a small amount of enjoyment due to their technical retardation. I am pretty sure that i have seen one workmate prodding the computer monitor with a broom handle, telling the little man inside to do what he says. I like .exe programs that once opened take a few hundred mouse clicks to close, the whole time challenging the persons libido, sexual orientation or the fetish they have for masturbating at work, and that have bright coloured flashing screens. Windows warning boxes are also good for this…if you can be bothered writing for two hours for a five minute joke. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415/26 "2003-12-23T23:33:48Z")
Or just get them to go to websites made by people who already spent those two hours. Like [www.MostAnnoyingWebPage.com](http://www.MostAnnoyingWebPage.com) for example. Also, If the computers are near enough to each other, switch the monitor and/or mouse cables. The mouse movements of one person show up on the monitor of the other. I’ve never done this myself, but I heard about it somewhere and always wanted to try it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-confuse-my-co-workers/220415.md?page=1)