McCandless manager notes 'majestic'-looking crew in 'The Office'-like prank to mark work anniversary

The Town of McCandless recently had a workday that looked a little like an episode of “The Office.”

Modeling prank-like humor from the popular television comedy from the 2000s, the crew in McCandless had their fun to celebrate town Manager John Schwend’s one-year work anniversary.

“I was suspicious when I came in the front door that day and our receptionist Debbie (Lucas) was wearing a ‘John’ name tag, but I was on the phone already and just assumed the name tag was the prank,” Schwend said.

Turning a few corners, quite a few of his crew had on his signature style.

“It all started to make sense once I saw a few others in khakis and polos, then I was quick to comment on how majestic everyone looked,” he said.

Members of the McCandless staff eagerly adopted Schwend’s attire. The complete look includes a “serious face, cellphone in hand and coffee,” as noted on the town’s Sept. 30 Facebook post.

The staff sent an internal email, sans Schwend, to share the secret scheme before the big day.

“I’m lucky to have a team like this that has supported me over the last year, as well as having a great sense of humor, too,” Schwend said.

Diane Romanek, McCandless’ executive assistant, helped with the idea, saying she runs on “sarcasm, memes and trolling and coffee.”

“I was trying to come up with a tasteful and fun way to troll John on his one-year anniversary and have the staff involved if they wanted to. Brittany Yavorka, the town finance director, and I were chatting about John’s ‘tells.’ We both agreed 100,000% — khakis, polo, phone, coffee and a serious face. The staff didn’t even hesitate. I got a resounding ‘yes’ to join in on the fun,” Romanek said.

She quickly added: “We promise he laughs a lot, too.”

However, as the town noted in the post — with a laughing emoji and a face palm — it was the “only day, EVER” Schwend decided to wear black pants.

“It’s hard to believe that it has been a year already, but as they say, time flies when you are having fun,” Schwend said.