I've Been Framed!
If there's one thing I've learned in my life of prankery, it is this rule: At night, everything looks suspicious.
In the daytime, the only thing that looks suspicious is the Hamburgler. I knew that lurking around the back of cars in the middle of the night would draw attention, so our
license plate frame switch-a-roo would have to occur during the day. To avert any and all suspicion, we would dress nice and act as though
we were working in some official capacity, such as the U.S. Department of License Plate Frame Regulations and Enforcement. And so it began...
(note: I've altered all the license plate numbers so you can't stalk my family, weird-o)
The first frame was tricky, but it didn't take long before we worked out a pretty
good system for switching license plates.
As the experiment progressed, we quickly became very skilled at replacing license plate frames in a matter of seconds.
If I'm ever asked to replace a license plate frame in a job interview, I'm totally getting that job.
We got a few strange looks from neighbors and people passing by, but overall
everyone just assumed we were doing something of vital importance.
And so, we waited patiently and in time we had our answer. The total amount of time it took until the first driver
noticed their new licence plate frame: about 5 minutes. It seemed that people are more observant than I had thought.
However, it took about 2 hours for them to identify who had made the switch. During this time we did our best to act surprised and keep
a straight face.
In the end, many of the drivers kept their new frames, and as of this writing five of the frames are still on the cars. The
other 4 people have removed us from their wills.
While we would have liked them to go unnoticed for a bit longer, it was an enjoyable experiment with excellent results. And
now we can begin our next experiment: How long will it take them to notice that we've severed their brake lines?
