In the old days (and I mean REALLY old days), a good prank was to call people and ask them if their refrigerator was running. When they said yes, you then tell them they better go catch it! (If they ask, 'what is a refrigerator?', you probably wanted to hang up right then)
In light of all of today's reality shows (like Punkd), the pranks played on people have escalated 100 fold. Now news is spreading of pranks being played on hotel guests from Florida to Arkansas. A caller will call a hotel room and identify themselves as a manager or hotel worker and ask them to do outrageous things. Break mirrors and windows, throw mattresses out the window, pull the fire alarms. One guest was so panicked she told her deputy husband to do some of these and he readily complied!
This rash of pranks apparently is a byproduct from PrankNET.com, where a bunch of morons sit around and think of nothing better to do with their lack of life skills than dream up how to damage property and alarm people with threats about 'gas leaks' and fires in a nearby room. They apparently post videos on YouTube also and like those in the underground world of stolen credit cards and identities, get 'boosts' from fellow pranksters for every outrageous stunt they pull.
My point is that some day you might be punked like this and end up being billed for damages instead of being given a free pass as a victim. In the article I read out of Florida, the couple was NOT charged with anything nor billed for the damages they did but one has to wonder why common sense didn't arise and inform the guest that in an emergency, you GET OUT of a room, not start throwing chairs out the window. If you really smelled smoke, opening ANY windows only fuels a fire, allows a smoldering fire access to oxygen and tends to EXPLODE a fire (ever see BackDraft?) and if there truly were a gas leak, OPENING the window calmly would serve as well as smashing it with a toilet lid. I am not trying to blame the victims but I wonder if they would blindly follow these instructions if it was their HOUSE and not a hotel room.
Just like letting in anyone off the street into your house who claims to be an employee of the gas or water company and is not wearing a work uniform or shirt nor having proper ID is not a good idea, perhaps hanging up and calling the desk first before chucking a mattress out the window would be a good idea. Otherwise, some day you may be on the business end of a $10,000 invoice for damages to a hotel room.
