Introduction: Refrigerator Handle Switch Prank - Make a Fool Out of Your Coworkers!

By

Ahh yes, the saga of the Squid Labs downstairs refrigerator...

It all started one day when someone decided that the refrigerator door should swing open from the right instead of the left. It was a reasonable enough assumption, the door would often get in the way as it was and opening towards the wall is far more practical than opening towards the middle of the already small kitchenette. So that person changed the hinges. It's a strait forward switch, the over-under refrigerator/freezer combo is meant to be modular in that way. It's got hinge bolts for both sides and everything.

The best part is when that person neglects to move the handle to the right side. It's like running a marathon until the last 100 yards and deciding "Eh, I made it this far....good enough." Or like a lot of French films. Why even try?

Anyways, at roughly the same time the person leaves the job unfinished with a technically working refrigerator but non-intuitive handle placement a comic shows up right smack in the middle of the fridge door. You've seen it before; the Far-Side comic where the "gifted" kid is pushing all his weight into the door that says "pull."

How ironic, right? All these scientists and engineers pulling with all their might on the fridge door that has the handle on the same side as the hinges. This shennanigans lasted for about a month. Apparently you get tricked enough times by the same stupid door you tend to get motivated.

The handle was switched to its rightful side of the door and everything was merry for about a month. Until today...

Step 1: Hatch a Plan

Andrea, Mike and I were making lunch one day and decided that we needed to pull an April fools joke on our coworkers. We happened to be in the kitchen and somehow the refrigerator was brought up. Brilliant! We would switch the hinge back to its original place on the right side of the fridge, but keep the handle in its new place on the right side.

This was classic! It would be a mirror image of the hassle we had with the fridge previously but in the opposite configuration so it would be non-intuitive even for someone who was potentially prepared for the fridge's previous non-intuitive configuration!! Yes!

There was little more thought put into the plan outside of ways to document the torrent of drama that would unfold in our little kitchenette.

Step 2: Try to Execute Aforementioned Plan

It turns out switching the hinges on our particular model of fridge requires you to switch the freezer door too which makes a total of 3 hinges (the fridge and freezer share a hinge in the middle). It also turns out that I am lazy.

I switched the top hinge from the left to the right. That part is easy, a total of 6 lag bolts. As I surveyed the remaining hinges, it became apparent that more foresight was needed to execute the plan as intended. What I should have done is moved the hinges starting with the bottom most and worked my way up. Also it would require removing the fridge and freezer doors entirely.

This is where the lazyness comes in.

With the top hinge switched and the rest requiring more effort than I was willing to exert for a prank, Andrea and I decided to leave it.

Step 3: Bask in the Glory of the Unopenable Fridge

With my inability to finish what i started I left the top hinge on the opposite side. That makes the fridge now in a cross-hinge situation a.k.a. impossible to open.

beautiful.