It's April Fools' Day, and you can be almost certain that some pranks and jokes will be pulled on Wall Street.
But the pranks are nothing like they used to be.
If you ever get the chance to speak to a veteran floor trader (you really should), you will probably hear about the camaraderie on the floor and the epic pranks traders used to pull on one another.
"Every joke was invented down there," a retired New York Stock Exchange specialist said.
"I always tell people that it was like being in a fraternity," a former NYMEX clerk told us. "The biggest jokes that were played on new workers and even better when companies had their clients come to visit were the spurs, an arrow on their backs. When the arrow (which was made of paper) was placed on their back everyone would do a tribal dance and chants. The customers had no idea what was going on; it was comical."
The humor has subsided in recent years, however, as some of the exchanges are publicly traded and have more eyes and television cameras on them. There's also fewer people on the floors and in the pits nowadays.
"Fortunately, or unfortunately, you don't see those pranks anymore," another veteran floor trader said.
Veteran traders both in New York and Chicago from the NYSE, CBOT, NYMEX, and AMEX told us about some of the classic pranks and jokes they used to pull back in the day.
* If you have another trading floor prank, joke or story you would like to share, please send Julia an email at jlaroche@businessinsider.com.
If you were being annoying, they'd duct tape you to a chair and throw you in an elevator and push all of the buttons.
Location: NYSE
The Prank: One long-time NYSE floor broker told us that pranksters would duct tape an "irritating personality" to a chair, place him in an elevator and press all of the floor buttons.
Traders would ink or paint a newbie's phone receiver.
Location: NYSE
The Prank: Traders would ink or paint the phone receiver so that one's ear would turn black.
Traders would also put shaving cream on the telephone receiver.
Location: CBOT
The Prank: Traders would carefully place shaving cream in a telephone receiver so that when someone picked up the phone they would get an earful of shaving cream.
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