An April Fools' mystery

It's going to be one heck of an April Fools' Day at Graphique Communications Design Inc. in Scottsdale.

The owners are planning to punk their employees, big-time. (They gave The Buzz permission to let readers in on the joke.)

This morning, a "police officer" is set to arrive at the office and tell workers there's been a murder in the building, and evidence points to someone at the company.

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Employees will be questioned and then taken away as possible suspects. When appropriately worried, they'll be let in on the joke and taken to lunch. Then, the owners plan to sneak out of the restaurant and stiff workers with the bill.

"I think April Fools' and Halloween are our two favorite holidays," co-owner Stephanie Krinetz said.

The Buzz thought most Valley HR departments had put the kibosh on April Fools' pranks, but plenty of companies still believe the day encourages office fun.

In a recent CareerBuilder.com survey, 32 percent of workers said they'd either planned or were the target of a workplace prank.

Whether to sanction April Fools' depends on a company's culture, said Aaron Witsoe, president of Creative Business Resources in Phoenix. "If all year long, your office is goofing around, you have a real tight-knit, small organization, to put a memo out saying, 'Don't do anything for April Fools' ' would seem counterculture," he said.

Need a last-minute prank? CareerBuilder collected a couple from past years:


� "Placed a pair of pants and shoes inside the only toilet stall in a men's room to make it appear someone was using the stall. It sat there for hours until someone called security to check if the person had died."


� "Posted a sign on the bathroom door saying, 'The company ran out of toilet tissue; please use your own resources.' "