Something I wrote ten years ago about prank phone calls, suddenly relevant again today: “Cruelty."

The prank phone-call, at its essence, relies on the generosity of the person on the other end of the line. It preys on someone's willingness to do their job to the best of their ability, or it preys on the victim's willingness to give the perpetrator the benefit of the doubt. So in essence, what it's trying to say is “People who take strangers at face value are funny, and it's fine to laugh at someone whose job it is to be nice to you whatever you say.” That, to me, is not funny.