by David Guillen

Created on: December 09, 2008

As a Resident Assistant, Assistant Hall Director, Hall Director, and Residence Life Coordinator, I have run the gamut of ridiculous college pranks. After fostering this career in student life however, I have yet to meet the student that can deploy a college prank the way my roommates and I could. Almost as if during conception, when the universe walks around with it's "talent grab-bag", my tiny hand (in utero, of course) willingly avoided the good picks like scientist, architect, and rock star. The talent I did manage to pick, which has returned my investment time after time, is the innate gift of becoming a prankster...a role which to this day, proves to be a defining attribute of my character.

Simply put, there is no way I would have made it through a career in student housing without knowing how to appreciate the pranks students come up with. Other articles mention the classics like lubing up a neighbors doorknob, wedging objects in a door frame, or my personal favorite, tilting a trash can full of water on a closed door. These pranks are undoubtedly the staples of college dorm life, however, there are some of us who take pranking just step further. Transcending the boundaries of pedestrian tom foolery, here is one example of a college prank that ultimately serves as the embodiment of collegiate mischievousness.

Prank: One Coat or Two?

Within many residence halls built before the millennium, community showers are always a focal point of the floor's community development. They are usually in the middle of the hallway, their smells vary from hour to hour, and the shower heads are placed so low on the wall that you have to practically bend over backwards to wash certain body parts. Another interesting feature about these older style residence hall showers, is that the universities often spared no expense at the concept of water conservation. The water pressure in these things is closely akin to poking a hole in the Hoover dam, and trying to take a sip. Not to mention, the water temperature is something rivaled only by certain deep sea, volcanic exhaust vents. Put all these factors together, and you've got the perfect environment for a worthy shower prank.

By removing the small, plastic water regulator in the middle of the shower head, certain students have discovered that a 1/2" space has gone unfilled. Those same students discovered that certain small, dissolvable objects can be placed inside that space, and gradually dispensed all over an unsuspecting shower

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