When I was in high school, I worked at a Taco Bell with a friend named Bill whom I'd known since grade school, but hadn't seen in a few years. We had pulled lots of stupid pranks together back in grade school, so of course the retardedness resumed once we started working together.
We pulled a few small-time stunts here and there, mostly aimed at the more easygoing of our fellow employees, but forgettable enough to stay below the radar of the managers.
Then, one night while taking trash out to the dumpster, I noticed that due to the shape of the building's roof and the height of the dumpster-enclosure fence thingy (which was positioned right next to the restaurant), it would be very easy to climb onto the roof of the building. I mentioned this to Bill, and it was then that we decided to go for the big-time prank: The Taco Bell itself.
One Friday night we got dressed all in black, brought along some tools and drove to our Taco Bell. I drove and made sure to park my car real close to the dumpster fence. We both climbed onto the roof of the car, then onto the fence, then from there onto the roof. We climbed up the roof to the bell tower thing and removed the fiberglass bell using a socket wrench. After stealing it, we hid the bell in my friend's basement storage room.
The following week, for some reason our store manager targeted us (imagine that!) in his investigation of the bell's disappearance. Of course we lied when questioned seperately and said we knew nothing about the whereabouts of the bell. It's a good thing he didn't question us together at the same time, or we'd probably both have lost it and started laughing our asses off. The manager told me during my questioning that if we didn't admit to stealing it, he'd be forced to call the police.
Well, he never did call the police, but my friend was immediately fired for some reason, and he wouldn't tell me exactly why. He only told me the manager had said, "We know you took the bell, Bill. We like the bell. We want the bell back, Bill." He said it had been too much to bear, and he just busted out laughing at that point.
I was allowed to keep my job, however and I kept in contact with my friend Bill. We were hanging out at Bill's house one day when he told me he had a great idea: we sneak back there at night and put the bell back on the Taco Bell roof. I was totally against this idea. It was far too risky, and what would we be gaining, anyway?
Bill said nothing, but left the room and returned with the bell. It had been spray-painted all black, with a pink swastika painted on it.
So we returned that weekend and replaced the bell, with the pink swastika facing the street in plain view from the front of the restaurant. The following week I showed up on a tuesday to begin my shift, and the bell had already been taken back down. The managers never mentioned a thing about the bell. I wanted to ask some of the employees if they'd heard about it, but I knew better. At the most, it had been up there for a few hours, before being removed. It was over a year before they ever got a new bell at that Taco Bell location.
Maybe not as cool or as funny as the McDonald's sign prank, but it was fun to do at the time. I wonder if Bill still has photos of the black, pink-swastika bell atop the restaurant...
