Monday, May 01, 2006

Prankster group invades Best Buy


Photo by Chad Nicholson


From BoingBoing.com: "Whether your gadget-buying experiences at Best Buy have been pleasure or pain (ours have tended towards the latter), you're probably familiar with the uniform their employees wear: royal blue shirt, khaki pants, black shoes. New York-based prankster group Improv Everywhere decided that for their latest mission, they'd get about fifty of their operatives to dress like Best Buy sales staff and invade the Chelsea branch. Customers were confused, some sales staff were supportive while others got upset, and predictably both management and security went apoplectic. IE Agent Firth's conversation with one agitated Best Buy staffer:

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"You're kicking me out?"
"No, I'm not saying that."
"Ok, then I can stay?"
"You're not buying anything."
"I'm waiting for my friend, just watching TV while I wait."
"I'm asking you to leave.""Are you kicking me out?"
"No."
This repeated in various versions until eventually he conceded with, "Fine, just do what you have to do." Agent Todd also overheard him add, "Have fun," as he walked away.

Lots of photos, videos and stories from the Best Buy mission operatives on their site, as well as links to previous pranks, our all-time favorite of which is Even Better Than The Real Thing.


Mission: Best Buy [Improv Everywhere, via The Morning News]
Improv Everywhere Best Buy [crnphoto on Flickr]