In 1986, restless for a creative outlet, I indulged in a modest office prank that I felt was harmless enough to risk. This is what happened.
A common business practice, as you know, is to send out announcements about promotions and new hires. At Lithonia Lighting, printed notices heralding the latest changes were posted daily on every bulletin board in every department.
They were issued by Olin Pickens, our Director of Personnel; this was in the old days, before Human Resources was invented.
Olin had a difficult task. He was required to report the same occurrences over and over, day in and day out, year after year. Inevitably, the bulletins all read alike, following the same familiar formula. Only the names and job assignments changed.
When I stood at the bulletin board and read one, the structure and tone brought to mind a teacher mechanically taking attendance. “Bueller. Bueller.”
In time, I came to see Olin’s announcements as so lampoon-worthy that I was compelled — compelled as a journalist — to compose my own series of bogus personnel changes.
So, every morning for about two weeks, I prepared a counterfeit announcement. These were hand-typed, cut-and-paste jobs; this was in the old days, before we all had computers.
Each day, when no one was looking, I thumb-tacked another announcement to the bulletin board.
Nothing happened. My announcements were not removed, nor did anyone in the office mention them.
Were the fake announcements invisible because nobody read the real ones anyway? Was I the only audience? Had I miscalculated terribly?
Actually, no. Months later, one at a time, a number of my co-workers mentioned, with a chuckle, that they enjoyed the phony bulletins.
Thank God.
Packrat that I am, I still have copies of those bulletins. Here is a sampling.
Mr. Write's Page 
Masterful use of your subtle yet deviant sense of humor!
I always knew you should have written for Mad Magazine….!
Dang, those letters do smack of Mad Magazine. I guess this shows that eventually, one’s cultural influences will reveal themselves.
Alas ! No mention of “Nightlatch” and that’s just a well I suppose….I wish I’d kept the list of those characters we’d developed from our past….they all seemed to come alive you know. I am really enjoying reading these and do recall most of them….you were, and are still the master.
Thanks and keep the stuff coming.