# The next person who pisses me off is getting one of these **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864 "2007-11-17T21:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/1 "2007-11-17T21:36:49Z")
Oh, they’ll be sorry [when I Annoy-a-tron](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/) their asses. Damn, I wish my most stupid coworker were still here, just so I could use one of these. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/2 "2007-11-17T21:46:18Z")
That’s sweet! I know someone that’s getting one. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/3 "2007-11-17T23:16:43Z")
A tech and I built one of those at a place I used to work and hid it in the bosses office. Only thing is - we didn’t put any timer on it - just a simple on-off switch remotely controlled by radio. Drove the poor guy out of his mind. Oh yes, we called it _ **The Punisher** _! ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/4 "2007-11-18T00:42:18Z")
As someone who’s gotten out of bed at 3:30 a.m. to remove a dying battery in a smoke detector on another floor of the house, oh my yes I can see how this could come in quite handy. ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/5 "2007-11-18T00:58:05Z")
I need two. What’s a [BOFH](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/)? ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/6 "2007-11-18T01:07:03Z")
[QUOTE=MadPansy64] I need two. What’s a [BOFH](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/)? [/QUOTE] The [Bastard Operator From Hell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOFH). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/7 "2007-11-18T01:37:36Z")
That is _eeeeevil_. It could be funny or appropriate in the right circumstances, though. Did you note the “letter from a satisfied customer” in the OP’s link? Nowhere did the letter say that the colleague was deserving of this punishment. I can see how this thing could be misused. Excuse me. I have to go. Something in my apartment is beeping. It’s been beeping for months. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/8 "2007-11-18T04:11:29Z")
Back in 1987, a friend of mine had one made for him. He hid it in our Spanish teacher’s classroom. It was set to beep once every 3 minutes. It started out with her hearing it and saying, “Did you hear that?” and we would answer, “Hear what?”. By the end of class she was pulling out her hair trying to find it. We finally broke down and pulled it out of hiding. She immediately confiscated it. We pleaded with her, “Please. You have to give it back. We want to pull this on our English teacher at 7th period.” She gave it back and said to us, “Don’t you DARE tell her I gave this back to you!” ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/9 "2007-11-18T04:22:12Z")
I’m thinking a good spot would be inside a desktop computer case. Even if located, it would be difficult for a non-techie to realize it doesn’t belong in there. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/10 "2007-11-18T04:27:07Z")
Things like this make me wish I worked in an office 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/11 "2007-11-18T04:32:18Z")
Damn you **jsgoddess** I just spent a couple of hours buying a bunch of stuff there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/12 "2007-11-18T15:37:30Z")
[QUOTE=Rico] The [Bastard Operator From Hell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOFH). [/QUOTE] Oh,\* him\*. \ I worked with him once. Luckily, he liked me, but everyone else was terrified of him. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/13 "2007-11-18T19:57:20Z")
Oh god. There might be one of these in my linear algebra class. There is an irregular beeping noise in that classroom, it’s been weeks now, and it irritates the hell out of me! A classmate first pointed it out, and since then, it’s nearly all I hear! People either notice it, or they don’t… I’ve noticed the prof hasn’t reacted to it at all, even when the beep is clear during a pause in his lecturing. He’s a young guy - maybe 30, tops - and it seems like the kind of thing he’d pull to see which student snaps first. He’s never pulled a prank on us, but that might be all the more fun for him for some reason. At least 3 of us have mentioned the beeping in our course evaluations! ---
**Author:** ![AuntPam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/14 "2007-11-18T21:42:16Z")
The alternate beep tone is at 12 Khz. Sorry to tell you this, kids, but many of us old folks can’t hear anything much above 10KHz. Dang–and I used to be able to hear the flyback frequency on TV sets… SO if you’re intent on driving an Old Fart insane, use the 2 Khz tone. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/15 "2007-11-18T22:08:10Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Oh, they’ll be sorry [when I Annoy-a-tron](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8c52/) their asses. Damn, I wish my most stupid coworker were still here, just so I could use one of these. [/QUOTE] They definately have my [stamp of approval](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9113704&postcount=13). He really loved the one where I had cut out a hidey hole in a post-it pad and stashed it in his desk. He had dumped the contents of the drawer onto his desk and was literally looking at it when it beeped at him. Worth their weight in gold! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/16 "2007-11-18T22:19:08Z")
[QUOTE=Mach Tuck] I’m thinking a good spot would be inside a desktop computer case. Even if located, it would be difficult for a non-techie to realize it doesn’t belong in there. [/QUOTE] This is what I was thinking. And if you were wanting to put the effort in, you could confuzzle even a techie. Dismantle a floppy drive, put one in there. (Who will ever notice a non-working floppy drive?!) Open up the power supply and put one in there. Yes, disclaimer, blah blah. And so on. Even if they’re trying to track down the exact source of the beeps, they’ll come from different places each time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/17 "2007-11-18T22:23:26Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] It could be funny or appropriate in the right circumstances, though. Did you note the “letter from a satisfied customer” in the OP’s link? Nowhere did the letter say that the colleague was deserving of this punishment. I can see how this thing could be misused. [/QUOTE] That’s what I thought. The letter even goes out of its way to point out that he was once “mild-mannered.” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/18 "2007-11-18T23:06:09Z")
Great, now I have to do a search of my room to see if one of my wingmen planted such a thing somewhere. I’ve been periodically hearing a _beep_ every once in a while for the last week or two. At this point, I think it’s either my smoke detector begging for a new battery, or my laptop begging not to be left on all the time for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/19 "2007-11-18T23:31:36Z")
This thing sounds like it would be a hilarious idea, right up to the point where the bomb squad finally determines that the “mysterious electronic detonator” is harmless. Then it becomes a question of how long it will take for the federal antiterrorist investigators to track your purchase. Remember, the common wisdom these days is that no one would simply plant an electronic device with no identifiable purpose unless they are actively plotting to cause a massive panic. I suspect that the concept behind this gadget severely underestimates people’s capacity to overreact. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864/20 "2007-11-18T23:48:19Z")
Yeah, I’m with **Terrifel** , sounds like a good way to get a SWAT team dispatched when they find it. Which is unfortunate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-person-who-pisses-me-off-is-getting-one-of-these/426864.md?page=2)