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Revenge might seem like a great idea until you get caught. After all, you can’t prank an annoying boss and expect to keep your job. Can’t pay the bills with satisfaction. So if one wants to get back at someone, it’s best to plan well and always be subtle.
Someone asked “What's the best way to subtly [mess] with someone?” and netizens shared their most hilarious pranks. We also got in touch with the netizen who created the post. So prepare to take some notes as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and if you have been the instigator or victim of a similar scheme, share your stories and experiences in the comments section below.

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#1

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People The copying room Karen who was of course this religious nutcase was territorial and every day she’d claim the copier for 20 minutes. This was in a faculty room setting where everyone is scrambling each morning. I finally had enough. Got there before her, pulled a ream of paper and made 500 copies with “Satan Owns Your Soul” in sharpie. Placed these back in the copier. When she ran her copies everything came out with this on it. She went home and took a few days off. I enjoyed those few days immensely.

SexyArtGuy , Mahrous Houses / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
124points
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#2

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People One of my best friends was working as a section manager in a retail store. He bought a box of like, 400 rubber duckies off Amazon and started leaving a single one on his boss' desk at random times. Never said a word to her about it, and would pick odd times to do it to throw her off the scent - like if he came on an off day to shop, he'd sneak one in. He'd come in 30 mins before his shift started to do it. He'd stay late to do it.

He did this for *at least* six months before he got promoted and got a transfer. On his last day of work he walked into her office with the box of the rest and turned them upside down on her desk.

She hit something like a combo of hysterical laughter and sobbing - "OH MY GOD I THOUGHT I WAS GOING INSANE".

Cardholderdoe , Colourblind Kevin / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
107points
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Sergio Bicerra
Sergio Bicerra
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Rubber ducky, you're the one!... and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6..."

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#3

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People 6 months after we broke up I realized somehow my Spotify is connected to my Ex’s Alexa. So now sometimes at 5am I accidentally on purpose connect to it and play “Top 50 Most Annoying Songs of all time”. I see the song stop and then I press play again, we do a back and forth until he gives up.

That’s what you get when you f**k your flight instructor, Brent.

cdifff , cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
90points
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Bored Panda got in touch with the netizen who created the post and they were kind enough to answer some of our questions. First, we wanted to know why they wanted to ask the internet to share these ideas and how they felt when it went viral.

“This was one of the ones that just popped into my head. I had no expectations as they normally get about 10 responses at most. I think it was so popular as it's a pretty broad question that has loads of different ways to answer. Alongside this, the responses people give allow others to take from ones they haven't heard before, as well as add stories of their own that are similar to the original comment.”
#4

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People One time, my buddy Steve was at my house and the phone rang. The call display showed his number, so I knew it had to be his roommate, probably looking for him. I picked up the receiver and immediately asked, "Hi, is Steve there?" There was a pause, then, "Uh... no, he's out." Just as quick I said, "Cool, I'll try again later. Bye!" and hung up. It was probably a good minute before she called back to call me a bastard.

Cuppojoe , Eren Li / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
77points
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#5

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People It was only a few weeks, but a supervisor on a construction site I worked on was complaining about the birds in front of his office. That night I went to a pet shop and bought a big bag of birdseed. I hid it nearby, and when the coast was clear I would scatter a couple of handfuls. It took a few days, but more & more birds started stopping by to look for food. Had over 30 pigeons out there one morning when he came in. I let him in on what I was doing one day when he’d pretty much given up and was throwing old bread out for the birds.

He later asked me to pick up another bag of seed, as he’d taken over throwing out seed and ran out.

Skelton_Porter , Emily Cao / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
74points
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#6

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Back in the day I used to cold call in a s****y sales job and eventually I got bored.
When I would ask for Mr Smith, and they would say he's not here can I take a message?

I used to leave messages.

"tell him he was right, it's not going to fit"

Or,

"tell him it'll have to be the blue one, the red one isn't available"

Or,

"we can't do 7o clock because the cat isn't well"

If they queried it any further (and they usually didn't) I'd say he will know what it means.

I like to think I've left a legacy of people scratching their heads for days.

NormanskillEire , Austin Distel / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
74points
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Naturally, we wanted to hear if they had any of their own personal favorites. “As for examples of my own, I like the one where whenever someone is on the phone and you just hand a random object to them. They'll take it 95% of the time and after they finish, they'll wonder where the hell they got it from.”
#7

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Switch the m and n keys on their keyboard, some people won't notice for a while, but every now and agaim they will press the wromg key.

asqua , Bryan Natanael / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
72points
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#8

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Work in a diesel mechanic shop. Drop an extra head bolt in your friend’s rebuild pile near the end of the repair. Watch chaos ensue.

juan_llama , John Triwinata / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
71points
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#9

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People My brother in-law upset my younger sister. My older sister decided to teach him a lesson.

For the next several months he began receiving the most random items via The US Postal service with no return address, no letter, no explanation.

What was sent? Sawdust, pocket lint, acorns, twigs, leaves, sand, amongst a dozen other harmless items.

The kicker? My sister did not send all of these items from one location, or even just herself. She got her friends and close colleagues involved, due to the nature of her circle the postmarks originated in locations from across the US.

He received random s**t from something like 28 different states and Canada. Eventually started to freak out and wanted to call the police and the FBI before they finally told him.

My brother in-law learned to compromise on home decor decisions going forward.

Baelenai , Element5 Digital / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
66points
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swade715 avatar
nomnomborkbork
nomnomborkbork
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Brilliant idea! I have someone in mind that would benefit from this barrage of miscellany. Perhaps she'd see the error of her ways.

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“One of my favorites from the thread is definitely the one by u/B-52-M, who said to go inside an elevator and don't turn around - so subtle but it just throws people off completely. Another, more evil one is the one by u/Eludeasaurus, who simply said just to ask someone, 'are you sure?' after they say something.”
#10

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People My friends boyfriend scared her as a prank. She sought revenge by waiting for him to fall asleep, and then watched a bunch of videos he would hate on his Youtube account to f**k with his recommend algorithm.

Ljet , Nik / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
62points
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MaximumKarmaSaint
MaximumKarmaSaint
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not really as evil, recommendations are already screwed. Like the fact that I have been watching video game videos for years and yet I suddenly got a month's worth of videos about Indian Cooking recipes.

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#11

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People I put the dongle of a wireless mouse into the back of my coworker's computer. Whenever I feel like f*****g with him I just open my desk drawer and take over his computer.

Tightfistula , Anete Lusina / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
61points
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#12

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People I put one of those electronic cricket circuits above the false ceiling in my old boss's office. Every so often (2-15 minutes) it would chirp. It drove him mad. He never did find it.

mattthepianoman , Alessandro Oliverio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
60points
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“I love that because it can really mess with and get people to second guess whatever they said. Nothing else for me to add, I was just really surprised it went as viral as it did, considering nothing else I had asked went viral. Don't think I'll be able to replicate this anytime soon!” they shared with Bored Panda.

#13

When I was about 14, and older brother was 17, he was a real violent d******d. He made my life a living hell. He would take deep naps every afternoon. I would go to the kitchen and get the bottle of Wesson veg oil and put a tablespoon or so in the cap. I’d sneak in his room, and with a Qtip I dispensed tiny drops of oil all over exposed skin. He was a very pretty lad so to turn into a pizza pie all over his face, neck, back, arms was enormously distressing. He went on multiple medications. I probably did this for about two years. You want to beat up a girl who is half your size on the reg? He was bigger but I was smarter 🤣.

AwwAnl-4355 Report

Final score:
60points
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#14

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People During my first semester at college, my roommate always had girls over in our single-room dorm, forcing me to sleep in the common area and shower at the gym. As revenge, I started putting a Jolly Rancher candy inside our bathroom showerhead. Every morning, they'd shower together, but when rinsing off in the shower, they'd be left with a thin layer of sugar on their skin and in their hair. The girls stopped coming over because they all felt sticky and gross throughout the day, leading them to attribute that unclean feeling to my roommate. By the beginning of the second semester, he couldn't get a date (which was 99% of the reason he was in college), so he dropped out. I had the dorm room to myself for the rest of the year. The first change I made was removing the remains of the Jolly Rancher from the shower head.

WatchingInSilence , Caleb Wright / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
59points
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#15

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People I delay my voice when I see the same supervisor at work. I mouth "Hey" and then say it without moving my lips after.

He's asked the other lads if they've noticed and they act dumb but when I do it to him I can see he thinks he's going mad.

Hes asked the boss if he's noticed me doing it and he hasn't because I only do it to the idiot supervisor. Drives him nuts and makes my day feel better.

Itchy-Big-Toe , Kinga Howard / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
57points
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Luke Branwen
Luke Branwen
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Have you ever felt so $hitty you started getting lags in real life?

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#16

My colleague went on a stag do with a friend of mine. Topline - absolutely NOTHING happened. My mate said it was very tame and no controversy.

Anyway upon his return he walked past me and I said "I heard what happened at the stag."

He immediately went BRIGHT red and said "WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD."

I simply replied: "don't worry your secret is safe with me" and went on with my day.

He has spent the last week demanding to know what I know whilst going up to colleagues and asking if they'd heard me say anything.

Further context, I'm known as the quiet one in the office which made it much more believable.

TheLegionofDoom2957 Report

Final score:
51points
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Nina
Nina
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If he immediately went bright red, I'd be getting suspicious the friend didn't tell the whole story

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#17

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Buy a box of old keys. Put keyring tags on them with a note that says "If found, call ###-###-###" (with their phone number). Then drop the keys around various public places.

No-Caramel-4417 , George Becker / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
48points
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#18

At work I got into the habit of making a loud clap when I turned off my machine to go to lunch.

One day I did it just because I turned off my machine.

I heard a dudes stomach growl.

Beowulf33232 Report

Final score:
45points
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#19

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Jehovas Witness has an online page in my country where you can ask them for a home visit. Probably every 6 months I ask them for one, but in my friends name and address, as a way of messing with him.

traktorjesper , Jonathan Wells / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
45points
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Kangaroo
Kangaroo
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom and her roommate in college had this happen to them a few times as a prank. Apparently my mom’s roommate got sick of it so just answered the door naked one time. They were never visited again 🤭

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#20

Buy a super small bluetooth speaker and hide it in a false ceiling. Every so often you can play any sound you want. My personal choice was yiddish prayers.

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#21

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Put a single grain of rice on something that belongs to them every day when they are not looking.

In a shoe, a pocket, on top of their bag at work, on their desk. Always rice, always a different place.

TBK_Winbar , MART PRODUCTION / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
43points
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Tempest
Tempest
Community Member
2 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My roommate once accidentally spilled a new bag of rice as she was trying to pour it into a container in our 2nd year at the university. We were finding grains of rice until the day we moved out roughly 4 years later, especially on the last day when we’ve removed all our belongings. It was so annoying! Inside shoes and everywhere! A prank like that would drive me nuts! 😅

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#22

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Go inside an elevator and don’t turn around.

B-52-M , kilo / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
43points
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Captive
Captive
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wanted to do this once, to stand at the corner not saying a word, facing the corner. I'm worried someone will smack me lol

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#23

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Way back in the days before tvs would display every little thing you could change the volume and brightness without it registering on the screen.

My friend and I would take the remote while his little brother was watching the TV and very slowly turn down the brightness. Like 1 click of the button every 30 seconds. Eventually it was nearly black and he could never figure out what was going on. We would claim that we could see the TV fine.

justme46 , Glenn Carstens-Peters / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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Jonas Fisher
Jonas Fisher
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People tend to use the term "Gaslighting" incorrectly. For reference's sake: THIS is gaslighting.

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#24

Picture this, 16 year old boy comes home from an exhausting day being a 16 year old boy, heads to his bedroom, flings himself on his bed and reaches for the tv remote. He presses the button, then presses the button harder- nothing!

The fun starts here because I’d put a small piece of black tape over the infra-red receiver on his TV. So nothing to see on the remote itself, this was essential because I knew he would suspect my involvement immediately. His first thought was that I’d turned one of the batteries around, not bad reasoning I thought. So accusations and denials fly, new batteries are located and inserted but alas the problem persists.

It was such fun listening to his frustration and hearing him having to get out of bed to change channel etc. I left it in place for several months, then after present opening on Christmas Day,I told him I had a little extra present for him in his room. He watched as I removed the little bit of tape. Marvellous!

He’s 29 now, ah such fond memories.

Pitstop-60 Report

Final score:
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#25

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People A little clear tape over the laser mouse sensor.

KnotsCherryFarm , Gül Işık / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
42points
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#26

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Get 3 envelopes, mark them 1,2 and 4. put $20 in each and put them in random places in their house.

toramanlis , Eva Bronzini / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
39points
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#27

In days of yore my boss had a desktop push button landline phone. To mess with his head if he'd been especially annoying we'd change the button covers on his phone. So instead of the buttons going 1, 2, 3 etc horizontally we'd change them to vertically.

He never spotted it, as the 1, 9 and 0 were always in the right place. Drove him nuts and we'd hear him cursing and swearing when he dialled wrong numbers. The following day we'd change the numbers back and so forth. He called out the phone repair chap a few times but we made sure to change it back before he came. He was an a**e and always very volatile and sweary. This gave us great pleasure.

Top tip, don't mess with your troops, they will get revenge.

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Final score:
38points
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#28

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Working from a shared work computer, I frequently changed a coworkers email signature to absolutely random quotes completely unrelated to anything to do at work. He would never notice, and it was a constant topic of conversation about what Kyle had added to his email this week.

sam_huber , Vojtech Okenka / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
35points
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Dirk Daring
Dirk Daring
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2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not to be a wet blanket, but accessing someone else's email account without their permission is illegal. If it's work email, it can be grounds for termination.

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#29

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People Just hand them stuff and be like "hey can you hold this for me?" And they will almost every time, and then just never ask for it back and see how long they keep it for.

BasicallyJustAnIdiot , Mikhail Nilov / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:
31points
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Fellfromthemoon
Fellfromthemoon
Community Member
2 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A friend asks "hey, can you hold it?" with their camera. Then he releases the camera, only holding the strap. Instant heart attack.

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#30

“Drives Him Nuts And Makes My Day Feel Better”: 30 Subtle Ways You Can Mess With People A fine misted spray bottle filled with Mountain Dew sprayed daily on a co-workers workstation or tools will drive them berserk.

proglysergic , cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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28points
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