Edmonton AM listeners share their best April Fools' stories
Three out of ten Canadian consider themselves a fan of April Fools' Day — and nearly three quarters of Albertans say they've been fooled by friends, family and co-workers, according to a poll by Insights West.
With those numbers in mind, we asked Edmonton AM listeners to tell us the best pranks they've ever pulled off — or were victim to.
Have a story you want to share? Email it to us, tweet us @EdmAMCBC or enter it into the comments below.
A snack served up in a diaper
From David Dickinson: I was the director of a charity downtown that helped families with food and other types of assistance. One April I filled a brand new diaper with chocolate pudding. Then I went around and showed it to the staff.
"Look what someone left in the waiting room!" I would say. "It even smells ... hmmmm it smells like chocolate." Then I would take a lick of the pudding. What GREAT reactions!!! You should try it.
A toilet paper inventory
From Dave T: One year at work I used letterhead to make a memo indicating plumbers had to be called in last night because of a bathroom flood and that they recommended we limit the use of toilet paper. On the memo I put a chart where each toilet user was to sign their name and date and log the number of toilet paper sheets they used. A few actually fell for it. Needless to say I.P. Freely was on the list.
Water on the line
From Dawn McCoy: When I was growing up in Lloydminster, Alberta, we only had one radio station it was called CKSA, I believe. The announcer was Ernie Ford and he was quite a character. One April Fools' Day, there was a bad snowstorm and he told listeners the snow was causing the phone lines to be weighted down. He said the telephone company was asking everybody to put their telephone receivers in a pail to catch the excess water. The phone lines in Lloydminster were tied up for hours! It was hilarious except my mother put our phone in a pail!
A prank with no fowl?
From Shelley Mackay: As a kid, I lived on a small acreage in Sherwood Park. One April 1st, my siblings and I decided to tell my dad all the animals had gotten out (again) and were on Wye Road. He leaped out of bed and went charging up the LONG driveway ... but when he realized we had tricked him, he reversed course and headed back toward us and he didn't look happy at all. Don't remember what happened then — no doubt my older siblings got the blame.
A life-saving prank
From Jennifer Winter: Once upon a time, my husband was chronically late for work. So the night before April Fools day I set all the clocks in the house ahead one hour. I even managed to get his watch set! I thought he would be very surprised to get to work ahead of everyone else.
The next morning didn't actually go as planned, though. We also farm and had cows calving at the time, and he went to check on them before he left for work. He found a cow that had just given birth to twins — in a snowbank of all places! He managed to get one calf in the barn, and then came to the house to call work and tell them he would be late. He looked at the clock which told him he was already 15 min late — 8:15 am. There was no answer at work since it was really only 7:15. He went back out to the corrals to finish taking care of the other calf and the cow.
It started taking so long that I eventually gave up on my prank and turned all the clocks back to the proper time. He finally finished with the cow and calf and came back to call into work again. At the same moment that they answered the phone he glanced at the clock, which once again said 8:15 am. In his confusion he blurted out something that was really funny at the time, (I cant remember anymore, I just remember his confused look and me laughing) so in a way, but my prank did actually work. He managed to get to work at his "regular" time of half an hour late, and as a bonus, he saved the two calves that would have normally frozen to death if he had been leaving at the proper time.
For sale: Arizona
From Lloyd Lovatt: I think the coolest April Fools' joke that I have fallen for happened in 1988. We lived in Colorado Springs, where I was working in NORAD Headquarters as one of the 100 or so Canadian Forces personnel there. We had been away from Canada for about two and a half years.
I was driving home from work, listening to the NPR radio station (KRCC). The news came on. One of the first news stories was that Canada had purchased Arizona. Well, that caught my attention. In fairly ordinary language and tones a reporter described the background — some things about Canadian mining and wintering interests. Just an ordinary story. Well, it got me thinking. The Mulroney Government was promising new submarines and other new defence spending — I was wearing my new, blue uniform after a few decades of green. If things were that good, then why not buy Arizona? And, who knows? Could Prime Minister Mulroney's good friend President Reagan be selling a state at bargain prices to pay for his defence spending?
Well, the best I can say is that the story did not distract me while driving. My analytical skills were where they were supposed to be, which was on the freeway. NPR did not broadcast an "April Fools!!" gotcha and I fell for the story hook, line, and sinker. By the time I arrived home, though, I was beginning to think, "Hmmmm. Something's a little strange about this," and it took me the length of the driveway to remember the date, and put it together.
