So, apparently, at some point the victim is supposed to find this piece of destructive technology you've secretly placed in their machine, say "Oh, you card!" and ... hand it back to you? Because if he, say, angrily steps on it and tells you to fuck off forever, you just lost $30 on a pretty shitty joke.

The device won't press "Enter" or close unsaved documents, because that would be too easy -- it's not meant to get your friends fired, it's only supposed to drive them to suicide. And hey, if you can get them to pick up the phone and dial the number for the suicide hotline, that makes them the perfect target for the next "hilarious" joke ...

This is the type of joke that might seem funny for a second or two before you consider the potentially disastrous or even tragic consequences. It's an innocuous-looking piece of black plastic that, when attached to a phone line, randomly changes the number that was dialed to a different one. Whether the caller is trying to urgently reach their sick mother or simply wants to engage in some anonymous phone sex, the result will be the same: They'll end up talking to someone other than the person they called.

Getty

And just to make sure the victim doesn't catch on, the extremely easy to hide device is programmed to let the right number go through 25 percent of the time -- it's all coldly calculated to make victims question their own sanity and/or ability to dial. The only number that is never blocked is 911, which is probably just a security measure in case someone catches you installing this thing and deservedly beats the crap out of you.

Getty

This is supposed to be "for recreational purposes only," but the real reasons behind it become more apparent when you consider that the same company also offers a Disconnected Number Generator that does the opposite: It blocks all incoming calls and plays a "You have reached a number that is disconnected" message to anyone calling in. What exactly is the joke there?

Even the product description reads more like it was written by Dr. Doom or, at least, his understudy: "Just imagine the incredible havoc this could create. The potential consequences of this device being installed on a business telephone line are even more staggering."

Of course, if you really need to reach someone, the solution is simple: Just use a cellphone. Unless the prankster also bought ...

Another reason why this is disguised as a cigarette pack, we suspect, is that cellphone jammers are quite illegal in the U.S., and for good reason: They don't just block out annoying conversations, but also emergency signals and GPS services. Using a cellphone jammer can result in jail time and fines up to $16,000. Of course, the disguise may not be as clever as they think, because you can probably get a similar sentence these days just from taking out a cigarette pack in a public place.

Getty

Supposedly this thing is meant to help you find out if your boyfriend is a moral person ... by being the complete opposite to him. The official product description includes the phrase "sleep with your married boss and watch him squirm" -- we honestly can't tell if that's a joke or part of the instructions. It's hard to tell. To give an idea of the level of humor we're dealing with here, the page also includes the words "You May Also Be Interested In THE DICK TOWEL" (caps in the original).

PrankPalace.com

Besides the suggested method of use, the Fake Pregnancy Test can also be used to play a variety of other "pranks," like convincing another girl she's pregnant, leaving it in a teenager's room for her parents to find, giving false hope to a couple that's trying, etc. There's nothing you can do with this piece of plastic that won't make you a worse human being.

In fact, this may actually be more useful as a tool for terminating unwanted relationships: Simply prove to the other person how much of a bastard you are and wait for them to leave you.

Getty

Ever had a friend whose idea of a joke is to turn off the TV during the climatic part of the movie or the decisive moment of the game? Different people have different interpretations of the concept of humor, and some are just idiots. The TV Poltergeist Phantom Prank Device is like having that guy in your house all the time, every day, for weeks. Also he's a ghost.

Amazon.com

The TV Poltergeist is a small box that can be easily planted in almost any room, at which point it will start turning on and off a nearby TV at random intervals of five to 20 minutes for as long as the batteries last (which, according to Amazon, can be for months). It also works on DVD players and VCRs, apparently, so depending on how cluttered your living room is, you could easily waste hundreds of dollars replacing "faulty" equipment before finding it.

Amazon.com

And that's it. That's all this thing does. It's a $13 piece of machinery created to act on behalf of your annoying douchebag friend when he's not around. And because those guys tend to be loud and obnoxious, the same company has also produced a similar device called Annoy-A-Tron to take care of that part for as little as $9.99:

ThinkGeek

That small, easy to hide gadget produces three different types of annoying beeps and frequencies at varying pitches -- since the beeps are short and random, they can become extremely grating over time, while remaining difficult to locate. Oh, and this one also lasts for weeks, at which point it could reduce anyone to a paranoid mess. This company apparently has an entire department devoted to thinking up new ways of being the worst friend ever ... but hey, at least they haven't figured out how to create a gadget that makes people puke.

Unfortunately someone else has ...