Funny shop stories

37 chief · Apr 29, 2021

Time for a little humor. A lot of us either work now in factories, or have worked in them. I spent at least 50 years working for the man. I had a lot of time on the second and third shifts, and was able to do my tractor work during the day. To the humor: Our shop foreman was a rea nice guy. One person just didn't like him. He was on the night shift. One night he went up in the over head opened up the vent tube going to the foreman's office took a dump in the vent pipe. Each day the stink got a little worse. finally it got so bad, the boss had someone check the vent pipes for a dead animal. It wasn't an animal. He knew who did it, but couldn't prove it. Stan

Phil-mar Farms · Apr 29, 2021

I was the outside forklift driver for a big weld shop 2nd shift. In the winter the conditions were so bad I had to chain the steel to the forklift. One winter night during a snow storm one of the welders parked partly in the alley I had to take the steel thru. After spending all night maneuvering around his car I was ticked. I took a piece of cardboard and got a pound of black grease. I covered his windshield with it It was snowing hard and covered the grease completely. When the welder got in his car he turned on the wipers and smeared the whole windshield It took him half an hour to get going

CCer · Apr 30, 2021

We had a kid who helped around the shop, doing odd jobs. He had to replace a wheelbarrow handle. When it was time for Him to go to the hardware store, the rest of the Guys reminded Him that there were LEFT and RIGHT side handles. Be sure to buy the correct one!

super99 · Apr 30, 2021

Years ago, I worked in a feed plant, the only grease they used was white food grade grease. One maintenance guy was well known for greasing steering wheels, hydraulic levers, door handles and knobs. levers, broom handles, etc when no one was around. Everyone knew who did it but could never catch him at it. One night he was especially busy greasing things not supposed to be greased and I had had enough, payback time. He drove a jeep and parked in a dark area. I snuck out and with a stick wiped some 5th wheel grease off of a parked semi trailer and rubbed it underneath his steering wheel. After that , the greasing suddenly stopped, not sure why.

Dieseltech · Apr 30, 2021

I got a co-worker good with white grease, I un-coupled his air blow gun, held the button down while pumping the gun air inlet with white grease, then coupled the gun back on the air hose. I was HOPING he would blow dry the parts he was working on, but instead used the gun to blow some dust off his work slacks, first up one leg then down the other. Sure was a funny sight, and he knew right away who did it...

Geo-TH,In · Apr 30, 2021

A co-worker turned 40. Just so happened I had a sub master key to unlock her office. I always got to work early to make coffee. I Taped large black balloons to the wall. Taped thumb tacks to the door. When she opened her door my plan worked perfectly. Everyone could hear both the balloons and her screaming. She never figured out why wished her a happy birthday with black balloons.
George

Crazy Horse · Apr 30, 2021

Back in the 60's I worked summers in an oilfield warehouse, they always had a job waiting for me when school was over. Two of the shop guys were always into some kind of a project they were working on for themselves. On your own time it was OK but not on company time. They both sneaked company time now and then and one guy never seemed to get caught while the other guy seemed to get caught in the act EVERY TIME. Even five minutes before quitting time, the boss always seemed to show up. We all got a good laugh out of that.

blueridge · Apr 30, 2021

When I worked In the Pressroom I had a 25 year old guy that had a Colostomy Bag, and at that time he had a Valve on him that he let pressure off manually when he felt it build up inside, it was a really bad smell, Foremans office was a block cubicle about 16 ft. square and had a ceiling, guys coaxed him to go ask Foreman question, open valve and leave. He did & we watched as Foreman jumped up To leave office and 2 guys held door so he couldn't get out. They got away with it but Foreman was mad. I smelled it many times he would walk away usually when anyone got close. Worst Thing I every smelled coming out of the Human Body

Bob Collins · Apr 30, 2021

I worked in a car dealership garage for years. On day one of the guys was just finishing up an automatic transmission job. When he took it out for a road test, I slipped an extra torrington Bearing onto his work bench and waited. Apparently he though it was fine until he walked back into the shop and saw the bearing and started swearing. Immediately I told him it was a joke, but he didn't speak to me for a month!

RedMF40 · Apr 30, 2021

Years ago I worked in an automotive repair shop owned by a husband and wife. They loved putting up these meaningless plaques that proclaimed them the "best automotive shop" in the area. Some old guys would come through and look at the restrooms and the waiting room and see it was all clean and tidy. Didn't mean they knew how to work on cars, but they had a clean waiting area. They loved those plaques, would do anything to make sure they had one every year. One morning I came in and there was the Coke machine lying on its back in the waiting room. Huh??

Turns out the husband and another fella from a neighboring business had tried moving the machine to clean behind it. Totally unnecessary but getting that plaque was the motive behind all this. End result is that the machine fell, the owner lost half a finger and the other fella was nearly crippled for life. He finally recovered.

I'm pretty sure they got the plaque that year.

Gerrit

dcarp · Apr 30, 2021

We had a temporary supervisor who was particularly rude. He would buy a can of coke and take his time drinking it. Between sips he would set it on his desk and walk off. I worked not far from the desk, so one morning after he walked off, I took my pocket knife and put a small puncture 1inch down the side of the can. When he came back and took a drink he got a stream of coke down the front of his shirt. Sure was hard to keep from laughing until he went to the restroom to clean up. He was quite angry but next day he was gone.

Steve@Advance · Apr 30, 2021

I've endured some of the prankster events in the shop, too many to list!

One of the worst played on me was taping a smoked oyster to the phone receiver.

Sounds pretty harmless, but the smell got into the holes in he mouthpiece, forever making the phone smell like rotten oyster!

I knew who did it, so I promptly switched receiver with him. That just started it going around to everyone else's phone!

There was no doub when you were the lucky recipient!

And there were other pranks... Best never let anyone know your birthday!!!

One common trick was the hidden sign on the back of your car. Somehow they would attach it so it was out of sight until you drove away, then fall down.

Some truly sick minds went into the composition of those signs. One got stopped by the police because the sign covered the license plate. Supposedly the officer greeted him as Mr. Head, if you get my drift!

ADB-Ia · Apr 30, 2021

My brother was a mechanic for a construction crew. One day a salesman stopped and asked who the boss was. Brother pointed him out but told the salesman that the boss was deaf in his left ear and couldn't hear very well with his right, so you need to stay on his right side and speak right up. He then watched as the guy danced around trying to stay on the boss's right and yelling. The boss couldn't figured it out until he saw everybody laughing.

sms · Apr 30, 2021

I forget the reason but...One of our local characters live trapped a possum and released it in another guy's truck cab ( no one locked trucks back then). Guy about had an accident when the possum came out from under the seat and tried chewing on his leg. Possum was subdued. Victim figured out who did it. A few days later the original antagonist was driving home and smelled something, stopped and opened hood (no locking hoods then either) found possum wired to exhaust manifold.

Rich'sToys · Apr 30, 2021

Years ago when I worked on a carpenter crew there was one guy who loved pulling pranks. You never took your jacket or shirt off and walked away, because when you came back it would be nailed to the floor (or roof)! I think he even nailed a pair or rubbers to the floor once. Needless to say, it ruined those.

Super H Mike · Apr 30, 2021

Lots of that sort of stuff goes on in auto repair shops. On a rookies first engine rebuild we clamped off the fuel tank hose with a vise grip so it ran great for a couple minutes then quit. Naturally the guys planted ideas of the possible ways he screwed up in his ear. After a trans or rear end job, tape wheel weights to the driveshaft so there is a horrible vibration on the test drive. A new guy always got the worst of it. One was to take the neg battery cable off then go sit in the car and hold down the horn, turn on the lights and flashers, etc, when new guy goes by say Hey put that negative cable on for me he would and you can imagine his reaction.

tractorkrum · Apr 30, 2021

I probably told this story in the past, but here goes. I had a boss that would set at my desk and dig through it to see what was in there without asking. You didn't dare have any cookies or candy. One day I was helping a farmer and he had a trapper hired to catch gophers. I took one of the dead gophers and put it in a cookie package and slid it my desk drawer. The other workers told him I had cookies in my desk and he went to check it out. I was not near by, so he opened the desk and proceeded to take the package out of the drawer while talking to others. He then proceeded to open the package flying back on the desk chair (good thing it had wheels) and nearly had a heart attack. That ended him snooping in my desk.

dcarp · Apr 30, 2021

We had probably 150 employees on the work room floor, would be constant loud speaker pages to the phone(pre cellphones). Whenever we got a new supervisor someone would call and say I would like to speak to Mr. Meoff, he is visiting from the district office. First name Jack. Sure enough the new supervisor would page Mr. Jack Meoff to the phone & the whole place would break out with laughter. If it was a female supervisor they would ask for Mike Hunt, same result. If you say the names rapidly I think youll get the jist.

Phil-mar Farms · Apr 30, 2021

When the gas station gave away pedestal coffee cups we
would nail down the base One time we cut off a nail and put
it on top of a Walkman so it looked like it was spiked down.
The Walkmans owner almost had a heart attack

John B. · Apr 30, 2021

I think everyone remembers the old black dial type desk phones. Well some black axle grease on the ear pieces matched the color quite well. This was one of the shop pranks that went around our shop. One day some one put grease on one of the office phones. The head manintenance guy answered the phone. He also had some clout in the company but it was still funny because no one fessed up to it...LOL

Carlmac 369 · Apr 30, 2021

Lot of stupid and not funny stories here. Some of these "funny" pranks would have resulted in heads getting punched in some of the places I've worked.

Nothing wrong with a little fun but there's a line that shouldn't be crossed.

Mike(NEOhio) · Apr 30, 2021

I worked in the die shop at a GM plant in the early 70s. Lots of air grinders going and they used hoses with a twist lock connector at the line end. They were open and the valve had a bleed feature. When a guy took a break someone would pour a cup of oil into the hose which would come out of the grinder for hours. Then always spotting blue on handles. They had a bucket of whitewash for layouts on castings and one guy liked to walk up behind people and paint their heels with it. Two foremen got fed up with him so they tied him to a bench, pants him and painted his nuts with spotting blue. It was water soluble and not hard to remove but both the foremen were busted down.

Goose · Apr 30, 2021

I think the worst one I ever pulled was when I was in the Marine Corps.

I worked in an avionics shop. Our squadron's airplanes had a rear facing radar, and the antenna mounted in the tail had a complicated gearbox with about eight or ten small gears in it.

One of my fellow Marines was overhauling one of the gearboxes one day, and he had all of the gears laid out in order on his bench when he went to get a cup of coffee. Being a smart alec, I added another gear to the line of gears. The guy tore his hair out for a couple of hours before he figured it out.

By then, I wasn't about to admit I was the culprit. He was ready to seriously punch someone out at that point. Thankfully, either no one had seen me do it, or they didn't rat on me.

sms · Apr 30, 2021

I agree. I had a crew about 35 years ago
that pulled a lot of pranks. I had to put
a stop to it as it got out of hand.
Nothing that would hurt anyone but it did
waste time.

Steve@Advance · Apr 30, 2021

One of the automotive tricks, easy on the old Fords with the fender mount starter solenoid.

Twist a bread tie around the fuse of a string of fire crackers, tie the bread tie to the starter post of the solenoid and ground the other end.

Homemade ignitor!

Steve@Advance · Apr 30, 2021

And there was the idiot plant manager...

Got his locked luxury car secretly unlocked, FILLED with Styrofoam shipping peanuts, locked back, no body knew anything!

Wheat47 · Apr 30, 2021

I worked in a Deere dealership, mechanic. One rule was never park in front of the overhead shop doors,
as you never knew when it would be needed. One day just as I was opening the door, the shop foreman
parked in front of it. I hollered at him that I was getting ready to take a tractor out. He said no worry, he'd be right back.
Yeah, right!!!! An hour later he finally moved it, just to the side of the door, so I could get out.
But I thought I gotta do something. Coffee time came. Everyone headed to the break room.
After everyone was gone, I grabbed a floor jack, jacked up the rear axle, put a block of wood under it,
just so the tire cleared the driveway. Then I went merrily on my way.
I came to work the next day, he met everyone with a dirty look and asked who did it. Of course everyone denied it.
When he went to leave that nite, he had the brand new store manager with him. He told us after he
figured out what was wrong, he had to undo the alarm system, open the work door, get the jack out,
remove the block, put the jack away, lock up and reset the alarm system. Of course everyone had a
great laugh at his expense. So, I asked him why he went to all that trouble to remove the block,
as his pickup was a 4x4. He could have engaged the 4-wheel drive and drove off. He said he
was so embarrassed to have that happen with the new manager there, he didn't think of it.
I never did own up to doing that. A few years later, I did tell the manager I did it.
He laughed so hard I thought he was gonna cry. He said the guy deserved it!!!

Credysis · Apr 30, 2021

(quoted from post at 12:41:48 04/30/21) I agree. I had a crew about 35 years ago
that pulled a lot of pranks. I had to put
a stop to it as it got out of hand.
Nothing that would hurt anyone but it did
waste time.

What did you do?

Determined · Apr 30, 2021

Back when I had the shop every now and again one of the mechanics wives would call during the day, sometimes a problem with one of their kids or whatever no big deal as long as the calls were brief.

One mechanic his wife would call for him quite often, I would open the office door and holler to him that there was a call for him.

His typical response was who is it?

Like I said I had no issue with occasional calls but don't expect me to be your secretary.

Finally one day when his wife called asking for him, with the phone receiver sitting on the desk I opened the door to the shop and hollered out Mark phone call for you to which he hollered back who is it?

I hollered back I don't know if it is your wife or your girlfriend and I don't want to make that mistake again.

Coincidence maybe but he never again asked who was calling for him.

John in Mich · Apr 30, 2021

One of the guys in our office kept track of a lot of people's BDs. He would call and wish them a happy day. I had my wife call him on his birthday, not giving her name, and talk provocatively. When he got off the phone he was bewildered and excited. He thought he knew who it was and was about to call that person. I had to intervene and tell him the truth. He was a bit POd but we laughed about it.
We email from time to time and a group of retirees have lunch once a month (used to before nnalert). We may start that again next month even if the Grinch Gretchen says no.

Shawnba67 · Apr 30, 2021

In the Dodge dealer for 18yrs. The cocky kid in bay beside me had mostly rebiult am engine, after test drive he jumped out and ran to the bathroom. I poured a qt of oil out underneath it. I dont know how I kept from laughing the entire half hour he spent trying to find the leak! I always liked the extra bolt prank, one day a mean fella took one bolt, I did not like that prank.
Once the guys hooked the wireless scan tool to a car in the body shop wash bay and remotely blew the horn every time the kid touched it with the scrub brush. Poor kid thought it was posessed!

JDNewbie · Apr 30, 2021

Not at a shop, but at a school I taught at, we had a life size cardboard cutout of some silly guy in a bow tie telling kids to drink their milk or eat their veggies or something. A teacher swiped it and put it in another teachers closet. The closet only had a curtain for a door. The thought was she would go to the closet, open the curtain, and startle and everyone would laugh. Well, the next day with a class full of 1st graders, she saw a silhouette in the closet and could see an eyeball peering out between the curtains! She was quite the professional and very calmly told the students to line up because they were going to go visit another classroom. Then promptly walked the kids to the office and told the principal a man was hiding in the closet! The principal went and checked it out and found the cutout. It went away after that!

Phil-mar Farms · May 1, 2021

We had a forklift driver that wasnt to sharp in the morning We put blocks under the mast and tilted it forward lifting the wheels off the floor. We tried for a few minutes to move it until he saw the rest of us laughing our heads off

Funny shop stories

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