I think we’re all quite familiar with the state of the Internet industry today. Many firms have been caught flat-footed by the sudden need for sound fundamental business metrics, and morale has followed valuations into the red — or, at least, to levels more justifiable on the aforementioned fundamentals.

Leave it to the New Yorker to have some fun with this. Taking a page out of Dan Savage’s election-primary prank book, former Letterman staffer Rodney Rothman masqueraded as an employee in the New York office of i-builder Luminant (which recently laid off 25% of its workforce) for three weeks. One day he just started showing up, camped a at a desk, and commenced to aping what he saw as local tribe behavior as “a transfer from the Chicago office.” He even managed to appear on their office phone list, and appears to have completely escaped detection (at least until the November 27th New Yorker hit the stands).

Needless to say, Luminant management is not amused by the story.