Not really a joke, more of a story that the Bald in Boise thread reminded me of.
@RetiredUSNChief might get a kick out of this.
My first Naval deployment was to the Mediterranean in the late 90's. On the way across the pond, one of our Chiefs messed up and left his coffee cup out and, sacrilege, it was stolen by a junior enlisted Sailor.
Initially, the plan was to plant it somewhere on the boat where it would be 'found'. Somewhere he was unlikely to have been like enlisted mess or the Wardroom.
Anyway, I was let in on the secret and it wasnt long until the plan changed. First port we hit...Port of Gibraltar...three of us grabbed a disposable camera and spent the next five and a half months taking pictures of his cup in different places.
There were pictures of it on a gravestone dated in the 1400's in Gibraltar, with two French pier guards in Nice, an Italian street vendor in Civitaveccia, Italy making a Cappucino in it, with a group of Dutch Senior Enlisted sailors at a party on their boat in Naples, on a day trip in Rome with the Colisseum in the background, with some Greek hookers in (cant remember the port name) Crete, etc....
When we got home, the three of us developed the pictures and after the block leave period we left the gift wrapped cup and pictures on his desk.
There was no mistaking who the culprits were, there were pics of us in there, too. We wrote and signed a note in the box that said we were sorry, but it was a lot of fun and we hoped he would enjoy it, too.
Chief had a good sense of humor about it, said he liked the pics and that it was our one free pass. Touch his mug again at the risk of broken fingers.
Good times.
Good one!
I did something similar with an officers mini-maglite.
Maneuvering is a tight watch space on S5W submarines. There are four people in watch there under way. The Engineering Officer of the Watch, the Electrical Operator who is right next to the EOOW (practically touching), the Reactor Operator, next to the EO, and the Throttleman (TH) next to the RO.
The EOOW was getting upset at the EO for screwing with him so when the EOOW wasn't paying attention he slipped the watch officer's mini Maglite off his belt and palmed it to me and I pocketed it.
The EOOW went ballistic when he discovered his flashlight was missing and got into a pissy fit with the EO about it who, of course, played the game of "I don't have your fucking flashlight, sir!"
Which, of course, was true because I was the one with his light. Those of us in the nuclear program have integrity, don't you know!
BUT... since he lost his cool over it, it was now "game on". You NEVER show weakness around your shipmates!
For the next several weeks, until we pulled into a liberty port, I took pictures of his flashlight all over the boat and printed out sheets which I posted outside the Wardroom for everybody to see. "Goodbye cruel world!" suicide shot with the light standing up on a toilet seat preparing to jump. Sitting on top of a TDU weight in the Trash Disposal Unit like it was being dumped with the trash overboard. Inside a torpedo tube while preparing to shoot a water slug, etc.
A pile of "where is Waldo" posters from all over the boat.
Then there was the photoshoped one with a hot chick using his flashlight to plumb the depths of her back door. That was, of course, a favorite.
Finally, the coup de grace, where I did a marketing poster as if i were promoting the mini Maglite, showing how well constructed a mini Maglite was using an exploded view...a cutaway exploded view, mind you. With all the parts cut open and splayed out.
One of the rules I have about practical jokes is that it's NEVER acceptable to damage someone else's property. That's just not right.
BUT...if someone DONATES their own mini Maglite to the cause? Well, now I can cut that donated light right down the middle...lens to battery cap...and lay it all out so all the intricate internals are exposed!
Then I put all the cut up pieces in a baggie and put it in his rack!
Poor guy! He really thought his light was cut up and destroyed!
When the Maneuvering Watch was stationed to pull into port, I put his light on his rack with a copy of every poster I had made over the weeks as a keepsake.
I wonder if he still has it all?