Reminds me of some of our old military days pranks. We would send new guys on a goose chase to get a can of purple prop wash...and since everyone knew of it (except the newbs) they would all play along and say they were all out and send them to the next place! Or during plane launches we would send them in to get the mech's to come out and service the pneumatic fluid.
Ah, the good old days before the military got all politically correct.