I participated in one as a child. An older sister was babysitting me and her friend was there. They called a stranger and put me on the phone. I was instructed to tell the person that my parents weren’t home and that I was lonely. Fortunately, nothing ever came of it, like the police showing up or our parents being questioned for child abuse. The memories still haunt me though.
Since then, the thought of being involved in a prank, no matter who the receiver is, doesn’t sit well with me.
Several years ago, I was facilitating a class. A message was delivered that an emergency call came in and that I needed to call the number back immediately. It turned out to be the phone number of a company that sold something that pertained to the message. Ha, ha. I got ‘punked’. The person on the other line explained that sigh she went through this every April Fool’s day all day long.
When explaining this to the co-worker in a private conversation, it felt like she didn’t understand that her actions might generate repercussions. Hopefully, she just needed time to think about it.