Did you get pranked on April Fools’ Day? Or are you one to prank others? In my travels across the internet one day, I stumbled on this video with this caption: “Trucker gets pranked with heavy load. Only in Russia.”
I couldn’t find any information on this mystery video (what really happened?), but it got me to thinking….Although I can find the fun in a good, harmless prank, I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would think a joke involving a heavy moving vehicle would be a good idea.
I don’t know what the rules are in Russia, but in the U.S., the federal limit on truck weight is 80,000 pounds. For those of you having a hard time visualizing that weight, imagine 200 motorcycles, 80 telephone poles, or six school buses.
I’ve heard stories of everything from prank phone calls to rubber snakes in truckers’ sun visors, but even those seemingly harmless jokes could be dangerous in a massive vehicle driving at highway speeds.
If you must have a bit of fun, try keeping your jokes limited to the dispatch office or the warehouse loading dock. For instance, I heard of one trucker who liked to bring sweet treats to his favorite dock managers. He would show up with cookies, cinnamon buns, cupcakes – you name it. He claimed it was the key to getting unloaded quickly. On April Fool’s Day, one year, he decided to craft a safe, harmless – heck, even healthy – joke.
He handed a big Dunkin Donuts box to the loading dock manager as he was about to sign his final paperwork. Few things get folks excited like free junk food, and the team in the warehouse couldn’t wait to dig in. The clever driver was headed down the highway long before they opened it up to reveal carrots, celery and broccoli inside!
As for deliberately scaring your spouse with a moving semi-truck for a laugh? Don’t even think about it. This guy really was a fool, pulling a stunt like this on his sleeping wife! I’ll bet he slept in the doghouse that night….
Fuel for Thought,
~Bob
