• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, April 1, 2016

"Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year," wrote Victor-bogdan Anchidin, Google software engineer, in a blog update. 

Google turned off one of its April Fools' Day jokes after it caused havoc online after multiple people claimed the loss of jobs and friends.

"Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs," Anchidin wrote. "We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page."

Media outlets continued to cite writer "Allan Pashby," a member on the Gmail help form since March 31, 2016, for igniting the storm after posting a note about losing his job as a result of the prank. A quick search on the Internet tells you little or nothing about Pashby.

Gmail Mic Drop isn't Google's only prank. Nat and Lo had some breaking news from Google's Quantum AI Lab, which found a ball of yarn floating around the universe that led to a parallel universe of cats.

The pranks delievered from the armed forces to brands showed a range of creativity and made light of critical issues in the United States. The U.S. Army tweeted on Twitter that scientists successfully created a machine to "teleport" soldiers. 

Esurance will not provide election insurance in the event that you move to Canada after the 2016 elections. Even Donald Trump used Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show and April Fools' Day to poke fun at the conspiracy theory that his candidacy was an "elaborate con."

Brands also just wanted to have fun and really stepped up their game this year. iRobot and Zumba will not partner to create Roomba that plays music while it vacuums.

And no, CanvasPop didn't create a dating match service called PlusOne based on the photos you upload to social sites and share with friends. And a photographer didn't capture these crazy creatures posted to DesignCrowd in the Australian outback. 

Nor did Bloomingdale's launch something called 40 Carrots Fragrances, a line of fragrances created to smell exactly like your favorite 40 Carrots frozen yogurt flavors. The announcement was to invite 40 Carrots fans to the restaurant for a free topping by mentioning the April Fools fragrances.