Pick on someone your own size.

Pulling a brilliant prank on your boss, the one person with the authority to call security and have you booted from the premises? Not a wise idea. Similarly, picking on a poor intern could seem mean-spirited and in bad taste. Best to joke around with someone of your own rank.

Consider your target.

Hopefully you’re thinking about pranking a close buddy, someone with whom you already joke on a daily basis. A more casual acquaintance, who may not share the same sense of humor? Or someone who's already disgruntled, and might use the prank as part of their larger grudge against the company? Abort the mission. "Only do it to a person who’s going to be able to take the joke," says Erwin.

Make sure no one gets hurt.

If your prank has potential injury involved, then scratch it off the list. Not least because you're about to give your company’s employment lawyers heart palpitations over liability issues. "It's just common sense that you don't want to injure anybody or stop everybody from working," says Erwin. "And you certainly don’t want to lose your own job because of it."