'This is how you pull a good prank': Small-town teenagers enlist neighbors to pull off prank on their dad

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 15, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

"It was time to hatch our Dad-inspired plan," this teenager explained as they outlined the hilarious prank they pulled on him. 

The best pranks are the ones that are harmless and leave the person being pranked feeling good. My personal favorite as of late is this guy who hands men flowers to surprise their dates! A stranger comes up behind the couple sitting together, and surreptitiously places a bouquet in the guy's hand. The surprised fellow then gets to hand the beautiful flowers to his girl, who is also surprised and delighted. Perfect prank, no notes! 

U/craggy_cynic shared the story to r/MaliciousCompliance, but commenters who loved the story noted that it was actually pretty wholesome, not malicious. The prank was so cute and funny that the local newspaper covered the story! What would we ever do without small-town journalism to memorialize the day-to-day life of its residents? Check out the full story, plus the photo of the prank, down below. 

Up next, read about the drivers who got some instant karma while on the road, like one person who admitted that if they had a dollar for every time someone whizzed past them at 90+ miles per hour only to get pulled over ASAP, "I'd have 8 dollars." 

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    Cheezburger Image 10403822080
    via Nora Long on Unsplash
  • 02
    Yeah, Dad. That would be VERY funny! TL:DR at the end Quick background information: I grew up in small-town, rural America. My town had its own well-read, daily newspaper with a staff photographer who was somewhat of a local celebrity. This is important later in the story.
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 03
    As a lifelong Horticulturalist, my father was strongly in favor of live plants in a home's landscaping, and loathed manufactured lawn ornaments of any variety. When I was a teenager, a very popular lawn ornament came into fashion in our area, known as "Lawn Sheep." Basically, it was a piece of plywood, cut in the shape of a sheep, and covered with black, white, or brown faux wool - along with other accessories that made them look like sheep. They had
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 04
    stakes on the feet, so you could put them in the ground to stand upright. There were different sizes, too, so people created little 'sheep families' in their front yards. My Dad HATED the lawn sheep, and often had snide comments when he saw them. My older brother and I were in the car with Mom & Dad one day, and we passed a football practice field (known to all as "the East Field") that is in a small valley, and very viewable from two busy
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 05
    streets. My dad pipes up from the driver's seat, "Wouldn't it be funny if someone gathered up all the lawn sheep in town and put them down in the East Field, like they were grazing?" My brother and I locked eyes in the back seat, and replied, "Yes, Dad. That would be VERY funny!" Cue malicious compliance...
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 06
    Soon thereafter, my parents went out of town for the weekend, leaving my brother and I alone. On a Friday morning, we agreed that it was time to hatch our Dad- inspired plan. I recruited another friend, and we spent the day driving around town, writing down the addresses of houses with lawn sheep in their front yard. We'd record how many sheep, the colors and sizes. We then went home and created address tags for each of the
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 07
    sheep so the homeowners - could get their sheep back after we rustled them. Around 11:00 that night, we began driving to each of the addresses we had written down. My brother drove the van, and my friend and I would run up, the sheep, run back, and throw them in the van. While driving to the next house, we'd affix the address tags with packing tape.
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 08
    We had scoped out well over 100 lawn sheep earlier in the day, but by 1:30 am, we had only gathered 35. We decided that was enough; parked near the end of the field, and ran with as many sheep as we could carry at a time, and planted them in a random group in the middle of the field. We returned home, and looked up the phone number of the newspaper's staff photographer, and called his house at 2:00 am (mind you this was in the pre-cell
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 09
    phone/pre-internet days, even before caller ID was a thing). When he answered the phone, I told him, "Report to the East Field with your camera at daybreak. There's a picture waiting for you!" "What do we have there?" he asked. "Sheep grazing," I replied, and then quickly hung up.
    via u/craggy_cynic
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    8:04 ||| O r
    via u/craggy_cynic
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    TL:DR Dad makes a joke about - stealing lawn ornaments from houses. My brother, a friend and I take it as a challenge, and craft a harmless public prank. We were rewarded with a front page photo in our local newspaper.
    via u/craggy_cynic
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    CoderJoe1 Should've been followed by another photo of the cop sleeping after counting sheep. Was your dad pleased? Did anyone find out it was you? Was there any fallout?
    via u/CoderJoe1
  • 13
    craggy_cynic OP Dad thought it was funny. Mom was at first, but she eventually was able to laugh about it. As mentioned we were teenagers, and had teenage brains. The fundamental flaw in our plan was using Dad's work van - yeah, his business name was emblazoned on the side. Someone saw the van leaving their house and reported it. So, we did get found out. Everyone got their sheep back, though, and nobody
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 14
    wanted to press charges. I had to see the District Judge, who admitted that he found the whole thing hilarious. He made me write an apology letter to each of the addresses. That day I learned how to write a form letter! ☺ Edit: Forgot to mention that I personally took total responsibility when being questioned by authorities. They knew it wasn't a one-man job. But, I was the only one of the three of us who was under 18. I refused to name my brother and friend.
    via u/craggy_cynic
  • 15
    Zoreb1 I think there's a r/wholesomecompliance forum for this, but nice job.
    via u/Zoreb1
  • 16
    Bellamy1715 A perfect prank - one where EVERYONE is laughing at the end!
    via u/Bellamy1715
  • 17
    markgriz You planted 35 sheep in a field, and THAT was the picture the photographer took?
    via u/markgriz
  • 18
    AceAllicorn I love that you did your due diligence in making sure this was only a mild annoyance and no one would actually lose their stuff. This is how you pull a good prank.
    via u/AceAllicorn
  • 19
    Waifer2016 Haha this is mahhhhhhh- velous
    via u/Waifer2016
  • 20
    Tom_Marvolo_To... When I was in college, studying horticulture, a bunch of us hort students went out into the neighborhood where my professor lived, and snatched every lawn jockey, gazing ball, and pink flamingo we could find, and stuck them in his front yard.
    via u/Tom_Marvolo_Tomato
  • 21
    Due to stupidity (and not maliciousness), we forgot to put addresses on them.... Professor was neighbors were I, but since we never mentioned it in class, no repercussions....
    via u/Tom_Marvolo_Tomato

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malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit sheep malicious compliance reddit neighbors child neighborhood prank funny children newspaper
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