An April Fools Day prank

I started a silly prank on a few colleagues this Fool's Day - The pretext? That we had just closed a deal through a reseller in Pakistan and that they had to prepare to travel immediately to engage in meetings. They got quite worried, calling their spouses and parents to enquire frantically about the safety issues of visiting Karachi. One spouse insisted that her husband not travel, while one colleague's father told him that he would need to go to the project along with an ISI bodyguard. One felt that it would be best to turn down the deal rather than do business with terrorists.

We then got the group together in the board room, to explain the 'urgency' behind the trip, and to get their signatures on the visa application forms (conveniently downloaded from the Pakistani government website, with a authentic looking logo and the works) and a mocked up indemnification form signing off on all liabilities from the company. A few faces looked a bit small while the forms were being passed around.


When we broke the news, there were loud guffaws for the longest time!!!! Oh BTW, I'm now on the hit-list for the next prank, so stay tuned for updates ;-)

Note: Names changed(?) for anonymity

Team,

Great news – we’ve just closed a small but significant deal in Pakistan (new territory!) through our reseller partner (POS) there. Pakistan Telecom has signed up for 10,000 seats of SmartAccess, SubAgent and RA. POS will drive up most of the implementation since we for obvious security reasons will not be in a position to engage there longer term. However, we need to spend 3 weeks training them on the solutions, and to assist with the initial design.

You can find more information about the Pakistan Telecom at: http://www.ptcl.com.pk/

Harin and Narik, it would be good for you to start to prep for the travel to Karachi next week. I will get back to you with information on visas, etc. Vatsa/Rehan, lets sync up as well.

Thanks,

Aravind Krishnaswamy
Director, APAC Global Services
Cell: +91-9945564582
SupportSoft, Inc.

I got a call late that night around 10PM. I picked up the phone - it was one of my colleague's mother. I could hear it coming - "How could you do such a thing? My son and I got so worried!". Instead she said, "I was so amused to hear the whole thing - I am still laughing!".

Phew!