a prank, a rant

My earlier post on the proper art of pranking was prompted by a prank I was the recipient of this morning.  **If you have not read it, please do so before continuing.**

I woke up this morning to find that nearly everything had been removed from our kitchen (I debated whether to include the word [nearly] in that sentence).  All the contents of the fridge, all the pots and pans, the microwave and mini fridge, everything on the table.  The only things left were our cleaning supplies in the garbage closet, the garbage, and a few empty milk-gallons next to the fridge.  Oh, and the table was still there.

This is a great prank.  At least, it had the potential to be a great prank.

Especially since the pranksters followed Rule 4 (Don't get caught) very well.  I found a message on my phone from Arricka saying that they had discovered our stuff in their apartment this morning.  I haven't ruled out the possibility of her involvement, but either way, that apartment is an excellent location.  If someone is blamed for pranks around here, it's usually Arricka.  She has a reputation I'm not sure she entirely deserves.  So, whether she was framed or framed herself, the drop off location was chosen well, to possibly accomplish two pranks at once.

At least that is how I was thinking until I arrived at her apartment.  However, the drop off was executed very poorly.  It could not have been Arricka.  Rule 1:  Do no harm.

When I went to Arricka's apartment for breakfast this morning I discovered that the contents of our refrigerator had not been refrigerated upon arrival.  Rule 1 is broken.  It is perfectly fine to remove things like eggs and milk and cheese and turkey lunch meat and chicken from a refrigerator, as long as they are returned to a refrigerator in a reasonably quick time.  When I show up at the drop-off expecting to have a nice bowl of my own cereal at around 10:30 and discover chicken and milk sitting in a plastic bag on the carpet, what once seemed like a great prank turned sour.  So it seems that these pranksters have no honor.  They are either novices, or mean.

In either case I'm willing to forgive, despite the tone of my rant.  I'm more disappointed in the simple failure of such an excellent prank than I am bothered by bad chicken.  The fact that other aspects of the drop-off were so successful makes it even worse.  If Michelle can be believed, she was sleeping on the couch in the living room while it happened, and was not disturbed.  That's impressive stealth (even if she is accustomed to sleeping in noisy town in Nicaragua).

Please, if you have any information about the perpetrators this particular incident, do not tell me.  I do not wish my respect for any of my peers or friends to be diminished by something so trivial.