Paid For Drinking
In the late 90's I was working as an IT contractor for a large insurance company in a North West city that shall remain nameless in case they see this post. At the time, I was very, very well paid, £75 an hour in fact.

The network manager, a mental dwarf Scouser called John was responsible for signing off my timesheets and also had a drinking problem - he couldn't get enough of the stuff. Roughly three time a week I'd be slaving away at my terminal sorting out their crappy network when my phone would ring.

"Cisco meeting, 5 minutes" John would growl down the phone.

That was my cue to pack my gear up and head for the Black Horse. John would meet me their a few minutes later and the drinking would start. Over the next few hours various cronies of Johns would arrive and we'd start drinking our way across town until closing time or until the last person fell over whichever came first.

The deal was that I'd buy all of the beer, all night for John and his friends and John would sign my time-sheets as overtime. So I was frequently logging 20 hour days at £75 an hour and making a fortune. It's impossible to drink £75 an hour all night even with a few hangers on so I was making a fucking fortune.

I eventually had to give the job up as my liver (clue there) was in severe danger of permanent damage. Drinking 12 hours a day and getting up after three hours sleep to work does you no good after a while.

That job was one of the main reasons why
I remain, as usual,
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 28 Apr 2005, 14:08, Reply)