April Fool's shouldn't be another day at "The Office"

Advice to workplace drudges thinking about playing an April Fool's Day prank on a Michael Scott-style boss at the office: Leave those whoopee cushions at home.

Most pranks are better suited to fictional workplaces such as the one portrayed in "The Office," the NBC sitcom starring Steve Carell in the demanding role of a pompous and deluded boss named Michael Scott.

In the real world, April Fool's Day pranks in the work place may be "no joking matter," reports the Creative Group of California, a staffing service.

The group commissioned a national survey that conducted 250 telephone interviews with advertising and marketing executives around the country to determine the appropriateness of April Fool's Day shenanigans.

In general, advertising and marketing agencies are pretty liberal when it comes to workplace ambiance, the theory being that a Dilbert-style cubicle culture can stifle creativity.

Nevertheless, many ad and marketing execs take a dim view of April Fool's Day pranks in the work place, with 71 percent of marketing executives saying that April Fool's Day jokes in the office are either "not very appropriate" or "not at all appropriate," said the Creative Group, a unit of Robert Half International Inc., a California company that provides staffing and risk-consulting services.

Ad executives are more laid back than their marketing counterparts when quizzed on the subject of whoopee cushions and water balloons; 51 percent said that April's Day Fools jokes are either "very appropriate" or "somewhat appropriate," the survey found.

When it comes to April Fool's Day, Creative Group executive director Megan Slabinski recommends using good judgment.

Sound advice, that. But is she unclear on the concept? Isn't the whole idea of April Fool's about suspending good judgment for one day a year?
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)