Recent one my mate told me about...
...but not exactly a sales one. My mate works as a corporate trainer and is an NVQ Assessor to boot. One day recently he had a call from an admittedly nice lady in the education board to canvass his opinion on plans to give the whole NVQ shebang a makeover.

From what he told me, it went something like this:

NICE LADY: {after detailing various technical changes which didn't sound too unbearable} And finally, we're going to be changing the name.
MY MATE: Well that would be welcome - National Vocational Qualification can be a bit of a mouthful.
NL: Yes indeed - the favourite in the office right now is Certificate of Competence.

Think about it for a moment, as my mate did.

MM: I'm sorry, but that's a joke, right?
NL: Why no, we're deadly serious. Why would you think it was a joke?
MM: Well let me put it this way - if that particular name change goes through then I and hundreds, perhaps thousands of others are going to have to walk around with "COC Assessor" printed on their business cards. And that's saying nothing of the mountains of, if you'll pardon the expression, nob gags that students will come up with.

It has to be pointed out that my mate is in point of fact an ex-boyfriend of mine and also a little camp in his conversational style, so this just added to the hilarity for him.

NL: Oh I see. We hadn't thought of that.
MM: Indeed. You may as well rename it to Certificate of Competence & Knowledge, then the abbreviation will at least be a bona-fide acronym.
NL: {laughs} I see exactly what you mean. Well, that's definitely given us something to think long and hard about.
MM: {unable to control his mirth now} Oh, you're just digging the hole deeper now.
NL: Oh goodness, I'm awfully sorry {laughs again}. Well, we'll, er, do some serious thinking about the name. Suffice to say that Certificate of Competence will likely be a no-no from here on.
MM: That's a relief - I'm glad that I could help.
NL: Me too, that would have been very embarrassing if no-one else has spotted it in time.
MM: Oh yes. Well, unless there's anything else...
NL: No, I've taken quite enough of your time today. Thanks again. Bye.

Foresight is a gift that not all possess but all should, for sure :)
(thatblokeoverthere not quite as much an arsehole as I thought, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 10:28, 2 replies)

*snigger*
COC (or even COCK) Assessor is superb.

And the students:
"So, what are you in college for?"
"Um, I doing a few COCs..."

*clicks*
*sniggers some more*
( snee held his breath since, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 11:14, closed)

Heheheh is right...
...the nob gag possibilities are endless:

"I'm finding this COC really hard"
"I've been studying for the past year and now have several COCs under my belt"
"I can't wait to get the COC at the end of this course"
"The tutor said my COC was very impressive/a little lackluster"

I could go on all day :)
(thatblokeoverthere not quite as much an arsehole as I thought, Thu 10 Sep 2009, 11:59, closed)