50 Ways to Confuse, Worry, or Just Plain Scare People in the Computer
Lab
Log on, wait a sec, then get a frightened look on your face and
scream, "Oh my! They've found me!" and bolt.
Laugh uncontrollably for about 3 minutes and then suddenly stop
and look suspiciously at everyone who looks at you.
When your computer is turned off, complain to the monitor on duty
that you can't get the darned thing to work. After he/she's turned
it on, wait 5 minutes, turn it off again, and repeat the process for
a good half hour.
Type frantically, often stopping to look at the person next to you
evilly.
Before anyone else is in the lab, connect each computer to a
different screen than the one it's set up with.
Write a program that plays the "Smurfs" theme song and play it at
the highest volume possible over and over again.
Work normally for awhile. Suddenly look amazingly startled by
something on the screen and crawl underneath the desk.
Ask the person next to you if they know how to tap into top-secret
Pentagon files.
Use Interactive Send to make passes at people you don't know.
Make a small ritual sacrifice to the computer before you turn it
on.
Bring a chainsaw, but don't use it. If anyone asks why you have
it, say "Just in case..." mysteriously.
Type for awhile. Suddenly start cursing for 3 minutes about
everything bad about your life. Then stop and continue typing.
Enter the lab, undress, and start staring at other people as if
they're crazy while typing.
Light candles in a pentagram around your terminal before starting.
Stand on your chair and yell, "Help! There's a mouse." as you point
to the computer's mouse.
Every time you press return and there is processing time
required, pray "Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease," and scream
"YES!" when it finishes.
"DISK FIGHT!"
Turn the brightness on the monitor way down. Pull out a flash light
and shine it on the screen. Act as if it helps you see the text on
the screen.
Put a straw in your mouth and put your hands in your pockets.
Type by hitting the keys with the straw.
If you're sitting in a swivel chair, spin around singing "The
Lion Sleeps Tonight" whenever there is processing time required.
Draw a picture of a (wo)man on a piece of paper and tape
it to your monitor. Try to seduce it. Act like it hates you and
then complain loudly that (wo)men are worthless.
Try to stick a Nintendo cartridge in the 3.5 disk drive. When it
doesn't work, get the supervisor.
When you are on an IBM and when you turn it on, ask loudly where
the smiling Apple face is when you turn on one of those.
Print out the complete works of Shakespeare, then when it's all
done (two days later) say that all you wanted was one line.
Sit and stare at the screen, biting your nails noisily. After
doing this for awhile, spit them out at the feet of the person next
to you.
Stare at the screen, grind your teeth, stop, look at the person
next to you. Repeat procedure, making sure you never provoke the
person enough to let them blow up, as this releases tension, and it
is far more effective to let them linger.
If you have long hair, take a typing break, look for split ends,
cut them, and deposit them on your neighbor's keyboard as you leave.
Put a large, gold-framed portrait of the British royal family on
your desk and loudly proclaim that it inspires you.
Come to the lab wearing several layers of socks. Remove shoes
and place them on top of the monitor. Remove socks layer by layer
and drape them around the monitor. Exclaim sudden haiku about the
aesthetic beauty of cotton on plastic.
Take the keyboard and sit under the computer. Type up your paper
like this. Then go to the lab supervisor and complain about the bad
working conditions.
Laugh hysterically, shout "You will all perish in flames!!!" and
continue working.
Bring some dry ice and make it look like the computer is smoking.
Assign a musical note to every key (ex. the delete key is A
flat). Whenever you hit a key, hum its note loudly. Write an entire
paper this way.
Attempt to eat your computer's mouse.
Borrow someone else's keyboard by reaching over, saying "Excuse
me, mind if I borrow this for a sec?", unplugging the keyboard, and
taking it.
Bring in a bunch of magnets and have fun.
When doing calculations, pull out an abacus and say that
sometimes the old ways are best.
Play Pong for hours on the most powerful computer in the lab.
Make a loud noise of hitting the same key over and over again
until you see that your neighbor is noticing (You can hit the space
bar so your fill isn't affected). Then look at your neighbor's
keyboard. Hit his/her delete key several times, erasing an entire
word. While you do this, ask: "Does your delete key work?" Shake
your head, and resume hitting the space bar on your keyboard. Keep
doing this until, you've deleted about a page of your neighbor's
document. Then, suddenly exclaim: "Well, whaddya know? I've been
hitting the space bar this whole time. No wonder it wasn't deleting!
Ha!" Print out your document and leave.
Remove your disk from the drive and hide it. Go to the lab
monitor and complain that your computer ate your disk. (For special
effects, put some Elmer's glue on or around the disk drive. Claim
that the computer is drooling.)
Stare at the person's next to your's screen, look really puzzled,
burst out laughing and say "You did that?" loudly. Keep laughing,
b your stuff and leave, howling as you go.
Point at the screen. Chant in a made-up language while making
elaborate hand gestures for a minute or two. Press return or the
mouse, then leap back and yell "COVEEEEERRRRR!" Peek up from under
the table, walk back to the computer and say "Oh, good. It worked
this time," and calmly start to type again.
Keep looking at invisible bugs and trying to swat them.
See who's online. Send a total stranger a talk request. Talk to
them like you've known them all your lives. Hang up before they get
a chance to figure out you're a total stranger.
Bring a small tape player with a tape of really absurd sound
effects. Pretend it's the computer and look really lost.
Pull out a pencil. Start writing on the screen. Complain that
the lead doesn't work.
Come into the computer lab wearing several endangered species of
flowers in your hair. Smile incessantly. Type a sentence, then
laugh happily, exclaim "You're such a marvel!!", and kiss the screen.
Repeat this after every sentence. As your ecstasy mounts, also hug
the keyboard. Finally, hug your neighbor, then the computer
assistant, and walk out.
Run into the computer lab, shout "Armageddon is here!!!!!", then
calmly sit down and begin to type.
Quietly walk into the computer lab with a Black and Decker
chainsaw, rev that baby up, and then walk up to the nearest person
and say, "Give me that computer or you'll be feeding my pet crocodile
for the next week."
Bring a sleeping bag and pillow. Login to all the machines in one
row. Lay down and go to sleep.
Author unknown (to me).
Home
Contact