The 1st of April as we all know is April Fool’s Day.

It also happens to be the day our new intern Veen Dee was starting her first day of work at Nuffnang.

We haven’t had an intern in a long long time plus when you have someone new start work on the 1st of April, you just can’t not do anything about it.

So here’s what the plan was.

Just in case some of you guys don’t know, at the Nuffnang office we put in some stuff to try to create a rather fun environment. One of those things happen to be a Wii with a Band Hero set, fully equipped with two guitars, a drum set and a mic. Both the offices in Malaysia and Singapore have Band Hero.

There are no real rules for using it. Anyone can basically play Band Hero any time of the work day that they want. All that matters is that their work at the end of the day is done (and of course we don’t make too much noise that it disturbs the rest of the people in the office).

Here’s the plan. I was out for meetings the whole morning and only heading into the office after lunch. Just when I was nearby the office, the Nuffies Rachel

And Sara

would both get Veen Dee to play Band Hero with them. Then just when they hear me walk through the office door, they would quickly scatter and pretend to go back to work. Leaving Veen Dee then to turn everything off.

So the plan was for me to catch her and then pretend to be angry at her for playing Band Hero during office hours. She was new so she probably didn’t know yet that we were allowed to play Band Hero at any time of the day. I would then tell Robb to have a talk with her about how pissed off I was and that she was to be fired on her first day.

The first part went exactly as planned. I walked in and saw Veen Dee panicking. Left alone to turn off the Wii, she didn’t even know where to keep the drum sticks. When I first saw her she had the drumsticks in her hand.

So then I just said Hi and walked away.

Then I pretended to call Robb over and Robb brought Veen Dee to a corner to tell her how upset I was and that we were almost definitely going to fire her unless she could make us change our mind. I had to leave the scolding to Robb because I found it so hard just to contain my laughter. I was going to give it away.

Then Robb brought Veen Dee into the meeting room where I was to let Veen Dee explain. She apologized and she said she didn’t know. I tried to keep a really stern face and said “You know this doesn’t leave a very good impression of you on your first day right?”

She looked down and said “Yes I know”.

Then I asked “Who else was playing with you? Were you playing alone?”

Veen Dee’s eyes darted back and forth. You could see the debate she was having in her mind in that split second on whether to tell the truth and give up the names of her two new colleagues. After she saw us all staring at her though she finally conceded

I opened the meeting room door and called in Sara and Rachel.

Right that moment I could’ve sworn I saw Veen Dee start hyperventilating. She started breathing really hard “Oh Gosh… Oh Gosh….”.

Rachel and Sara walked in… totally playing their part. Then I asked… “Were you girls playing Band Hero with Veen Dee just now? She said you were”.

Veen Dee gave out a really sheepish face until… I just couldn’t take it. I burst out laughing and said “I just can’t do it guys HAHAHAHAHA”.

Then all the rest of the Nuffies who were around the office pretending to work (when they were all eavesdropping instead) starting bursting out laughing and scolded me for being a poor actor. Karen threw her smiley face pillow at me and they all went “WHAT LAH TIM!!!”.

Some 5 seconds or so after that, Veen Dee was still in a state of shock. She didn’t know what was going on until we all finally said “APRIL FOOL!!!”

Then she burst out laughing and crying at the same time. She was relieved of course. I told her we were all just joking . That you’re allowed to play Band Hero any time and we all gave her a group hug!

So that was a great April Fool’s prank we played on a colleague. Funny thing is right before I got back to the office I was reminding all the Nuffies that “I pity the fool who pranks me”. You know… to make sure nobody tries.

Rachel and Michelle though very brave. They both pranked me for a full 45 minutes but that’s another story I’ll save for another day. April Fool’s Day was an eventful one at the Nuffnang office.