How to take the piss out of an Egotist you really like.

A dear friend was promoted to a managing position of a major software release. To put it mildly, he became full of himself, his ego swelled and he became almost unbearable to be around. That said, we all loved him. So I created this complicated and prank - on as large scale as his ego - to show him how silly he was being, yet worthy of the time and energy this prank entails. It wasn't until very late in the fame that i divulged that I was behind it to his girlfriend, and enlisted her help in the coup de gras.

What you will need:
- Actual stationary from exotic hotels, locations, businesses and institutions. Including matching envelopes.
- Stamps that correspond with any exotic foreign locations.
- a cohort that is close to your target

Step 1 Collect stationary.

Enlist friends - preferably no one who knows the target. Anyone traveling. People who work at recognizable companies.

I had been collecting stationary for months before I decided on this prank, but once I decided to pull it, I needed different stationary than I had and it only took a few days to have enough to start. And because of the length of time this prank takes to play out, I had plenty of time to acquire the rest.

Comments

[amacker]

His girlfriend, Janet, who had helped me with the last prank (slid the stamped and postmarked letter - Thai stamps and postmark i'd bought from a stamp dealer- from Bangkok into his mailbox with his key), held a dinner party and he brought all the prank letters and we passed them around and laughed our asses off. He was a much sweeter, humbler puppy after that.

Then he quit work as a Project Manager for a Major Software OS Release at a Large Computer Company in Silicon Valley, and went off to hike the Adirondack Trail. He was always a prolific self-absorbed writer, and wrote in the journals that are kept at every camp spot up the trail. He wrote a lot about Janet. Apparently there was another Paul behind him on the trail, reading his entries with increasing interest. Paul B starting writing postcards and letters up to Paul A's next stop.... everyone on the trail can walk into any Post Office in the towns off the Trail and ask if there's any mail for them. He and Paul B started up a great months long correspondence. When Paul B was leaving the Trail to return back to work, Paul A asked Paul B to look up Janet for him. He told her the small street she lived on in Los Gatos. Paul B said - NO WAY! *I* live on the same 3 block street!!! And of course I'll look up Janet and send your regards.

Well, turns out Paul B lived 3 houses down from Janet. They hit it off brilliantly.

They are now married with two kids and living in my old hometown, Austin, TX. :)

Paul A left the Trail 2 weeks before he'd have finished the whole Trail. He stopped into Virginia and met a woman with a couple of kids and they got married and i haven't seen Paul A since. But i hear he's happy - or was when I heard from him last. I think i'll look him up now!

I've visited Paul B and Janet in Austin, and they are living in bliss.

Sounds like a fairy tale - and it's true !!

[sterlingss]

may i ask what happened when you finished the prank

[amacker]

Oh yeah - the final letter really came from the Royal Bangkok Hotel :) Guess i gave that up just now :)

[amacker]

This comment will only have relevance if you know Burning Man :)

Six girl friends of mine showed up at Burning Man last year... Russian papers, accents, each with a small suitcase neatly packed, and a large makeup case... to meet their American Husbands, all unattached guys in DPW. They caused quite a stir at The Gate! The radio was buzzing all around the Playa as the 6 guys were rounded up and brought to the Gate to sort out the situation.
They stayed in character to the end... I wish I'd been there to witness the guys flustered arrival to find Wendy Clupper and her pals bringing these guys to their knees laughing while the whole Gate crew hooted and applauded the prank :)

[shaunak]

:D I fell off my chair laughing. :D This is one heck of a prank!

[Ninzerbean]

 This is sooooo funny! I am laughing so hard I can hardly type - did you ever 'fess up? What was his reaction? Did his ego come back down to size?

[amacker]

Thank you! yes - he LOVED it ... it was all about him, so not as deflating as you'd think :) 
He never figured it out. So i told him a week after his GF slipped the last letter into his apartment mailbox:  a letter from the Manager of the Royal Bangkok Hotel which thanked him for hosting the college kids' party, but also billed him for the hotel damages... and returned his inlfatable sheep ... dry-cleaned.

[Ninzerbean]

I am 4 years into a practical joke myself being played on the brother of a friend, it has gone so far that now we can NEVER tell him because he would think we had been laughing at him - truthfully we were, but not in a mean way.

[freakyqwerty]

lol what is it

[Ninzerbean]

I do a perfect Russian accent and he thinks, when I call him, that I am a Russian pole dancer who is friends with his brother and his wife, I am always asking him for financial advice and he thinks due to his helpful advice I have brought 8 of my sisters over from Moscow, along with my mom and we run an eight-plex apartment and all my sisters are now pole dancers, it goes on and on... He lives in Mississippi so of course we have never met in person.

[freakyqwerty]

lol that sounds fun