One such occasion was on the golf course - in what many organizations call a team building experience. It's more like an opportunity to get out of the office and play. Now I wasn't the one that had the perfect prop - but I was willing to use it. In all there were close to twenty people from our group on the course that day. Word got out what was going to happen and most of them wanted to see it go down. On many golf courses a number of holes come pretty close to each other and the boss was about to tee off in one of those locations. The majority of us pulled our carts off a short distance away and walked to the tee box - kind of like let's talk and let the boss show us what he's got.
I'm usually one of the vocal ones, I approached the ball making some kind of comment that I needed to know what kind of ball he was using in case I got hit later in the round. Insinuating that he couldn't hit straight and we were in danger. But the true reason for my approach was to change his ball. Now the new ball looked real and unless you looked closely it was hard to tell - we just hoped he didn't check it out. After the switch others joined in, encouraging him to show us his stuff and let it rip. Now this guy was as competitive as the rest of us and he was going to make the greatest shot of the day, perhaps his life. Stepping up to the ball, he went through the shacks, twists, turns and practice swings. Then with all he had - swung for the fences. The next part was classic, hitting the ball it exploded into a cloud of dust, powder - I really don't know what it was made of. There was a definite expression of confusion in his eyes and body as he wondered what had just taken place - of course as the cloud cleared he was met with laughter from the rest of us. After a second or so he understood what had taken place and joined in - the perfect presentation.
Another event that would make this list took place on the plains of Wyoming. This was with a church group and I couldn't have been fired - but it was done to someone that had plenty of opportunities to get me back. My victim was one of our fearless leaders, a member of the Stake Presidency. We were on a pioneer trek with about two hundred teenagers. In order to keep track of the kids and make it fun we split them up into families of eight to ten with two adults that acted as their parents for a couple of days. These parent was what our position was - they called us Ma's and Pa's. In our group was my victims own kid, thus the reason he wanted to spend time in our group. As we were preparing to make the five mile hike back to the camp ground - President Larsen the Second Councilor in the Stake Presidency came up to me and asked if it was OK to walk back with our group. Of course that would be great! He had to go to the restroom and would be ready to head out when he was done.
This gave me just enough time to set the stage and prepare the troops. I pulled everyone together and told them about our visitor. I instructed them that while on the trail when I said who's turn is it - they should respond "I've done it - I've done it." Then I turned to his son and said "you need to make sure you do it as well." He chuckled and agreed to participate, now I had accomplices. It takes a while to walk five miles, so I just had to wait for the perfect opportunity. When I thought it was there I said OK who's turn is it? None of the kids knew what was going to follow their assigned lines - so each of them gladly joined in, if for no other reason than to see what would follow. "I've done it, I've done it, each person joined in the baiting of the hook! President Larsen wanted to know what they were talking about and what they had done. To understand this event I need to point out that for years each of these kids had been part of the primary organization and one of the things they do is sing songs about faith, worship and their heritage. One song tells the story that as pioneer children walking across the plains they passed the time by singing songs as they walked.
I turned to President Larsen and said "Oh you know the song - primary children sang as they walked and walked - we are each taking turns singing a solo. It must be your turn!" He asked what he should sing - "anything you want." He thought for a moment and started into his song - it was a great performance. After he was done we all clapped, then I turned to the kids and said - "now something else you need to know is that when you sin - you need to repent. President Larsen none of us sang a song." We all had a great laugh then he turned to his son and said "you didn't sing either." Depending on the way you look at it that wasn't the end of the story. A year or so later President Larsen called me as the new Stake Young Men's President, that was in charge of planning the next trek - a huge job. When the Stake Presidency was released he was called as the new Stake President and I was called as his counselor. He hasn't made me sing in public yet - but I've had a lot of other assignments. Just be careful who you pull a trick on or get to close too - they may keep you busy for years.
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