all for a t-shirt
A lad who worked for me would do anything for something free.

By free I mean that he'd make the whole office a brew if he could have a mousemat that someone was throwing away, he'd promise to spend half of his lunch hour dropping you off somewhere just as long as he could have a union jack pint cooler that he'd seen lying on your desk, he'd dress up as a giant fish for a day at a careers fayre in his hometown, in front of colleagues and peers. In exchange for a .co.uk branded t-shirt.

If it was free there was no ceiling to his personal investment in getting said items.

I guess, they kind of made him look 'connected'. In his mind..

It was at the aforementioned jobs fayre that he really turned up trumps though. Almost literally. A load of schoolkids arrived and some of them wrecked the toilets, shat in the sink and smeared it on the walls. On his freebie high, this lad offered to clean it up. And he did! Cleaned up a shitty bathroom, dressed as a giant fish, in front of his peers, in exhcange for an extra .co.uk branded t-shirt and abrolly.

He. Cleaned. Up. Someone. Elses. Shit.

for a t-shirt and brolly.

(I'd love to have done a great build up to this story btw but all I really remember in detail is my comment to the boss that the army recruiting stand might help the situation by 'calling the bum disposal unit' - I got a Free icy stare myself for that one)

Anyway, knowing his love of recognition I recommended him for a monthly company employee award because at the end of the day he'd scraped up some shit but moreso so I could spread the story further and even better see how the compay handled announcing the nominees / winners and why they deserved it.

He won and with his £20 voucher he got a free certificate, but more importantly after a few selected conversations with those who feed the vines, everyone had discovered what 'beyond the call of duty' really meant.

feck, I have so many stories about this lad aliong these lines.

He could also be very arsey about certain things though and one time he was the only one in a team of 10 or so who refused to move some files,yes FILES, without 'protective clothing' in case he ruined a £7 asda shirt with dust. OFFICE DUST. I shit you not. I mean FFS, I was mucking in and I was wearing a £10 Burton's shirt.

I can be a git at times like that though and I knew he was taking the piss, so my half an hour going through contracts and legislation with the health and safety manager was well spent.

A member of staff was dispatched to one of our suppliers and within an hour your man was to spend the whole day, the only one in the office - in the 8 years I've been there - to wear one of these: www.sea.com.au/html/products/pospress/pp_images/suit_dust_s.jpg

He knew he'd stepped over the line and his bluff had been called but he couldn't get out of the situation.

Even when he ripped the one he was wearing we had a spare. And another few more just in case.

As it turned out that suit was the last freebie he had off me as a boss.

He ended up reporting elsewhere and then getting sacked following a row over David Bowie.

I won't apologise for length, but maybe I should've done for the sink and smear
(Heyzeus, Thu 8 Nov 2007, 23:26, Reply)