At school
We used to have a couple of teachers who had an eye for the prank. A standard one would be for one of them - usually Mr H - to choose a scrut (that's what we called first years at my school) fairly early in the first term and to ask him to go to the staff room and ask Mr J for a long weight. And off he'd trot...
"Sir, Mr H has sent me here for a long weight"
"Oh, right. Hang on here then..."

And the minutes would pass. The scrut would patienly stand there. Occasionally another member of staff would pass by.
"What are you doing?"
"Mr J is getting me a long weight"
"Oh." They'd hide their smirk.

One cup of tea later, Mr J would reappear.
"Sorry - did Mr H mean a metric or imperial long weight?"
"Um... I don't know"
"Better go and ask him then."

So the scrut would trot back to the classroom.
"Sir, Mr J wants to know whether you meant a metric or imperial long weight."
"Didn't I say? I meant metric, of course. This is the 1980s, after all..."
"Right."

So, back to the staffroom; scrut knocks for attention, and gets Mr J back.
"Ah, hello, young man. Is it a metric or imperial long weight you're after?"
"Um, metric, Sir."
"Thought it might have been. This is the 1980s after all. A metric long weight is a bit longer, that's all. Stay here while I sort it out for you."

And with that, Mr J would disappear until the end-of-lesson bell went.

The scrut would usually understand about three weeks later.

Length? Metric ones are longer, as I said.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 14:29, 5 replies)

class
tis a truely marvelous prank, also works well with trainee mechanics, those and long stands
(pogo_it, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 14:35, closed)

i've also heard of
sending someone to the hardware store for a glass hammer
(electrogirl no one thinks about the implications of a clown su, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 14:38, closed)

We used to....
(When I was a teacher) send kids to ask other teachers for buckets of steam, left handed screwdrivers, rainbow paint and occasionally (if the IT department had annoyed us recently) white ink for the printer.
(ReAndyMator has been very bored since July, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 14:53, closed)

Office juniors
used to get sent for left handed BIC pens!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 13 Dec 2007, 16:00, closed)

My Phyics teacher...
...once sent a particularly annoying scrote to the head teacher for a length of Fallopian tubing. But then, those were the days you could get away with that sort of thing.
(pfer, Tue 18 Dec 2007, 11:25, closed)