The Old Guv’s Production Manager at Netley Ron “Ankles” Fletcher awoke from a dream one morning that was just so “beautiful”.
For that night he had dreamt that he was the Grand Imperial Wizard of Freemasonry and before him on the Stone of Sacrifice was one Cathy Wing.
Now Cathy was a Tea Lady and had been since Day One!
The fact that she could talk under 40 feet of wet concrete with a mouthful of marbles was a bit offputting for some.
But she was a mine of gossip and made a good cup of Tea (except for the day she forgot to put the Tea in the Urn).
Cath never deserved what Fletcher had planned for her. So he gets me in as the Union Rep. and announces, “We are getting a Tea and Coffee Vending Machine!”
“Does that mean that eventually Cath would lose her job?” I asked. “That is a good word, Eventually.”
“Yes, she would be surplus to requirements and eventually we would have to let her go,” he answered.
Which when translated into BossSpeak means “We’ll Fuck Her Off!”.
“So are we going have an Assessment trial of the Machine, while Cath stays on?” was the question.
“Yes”, he replied. “I’m quite confident that free vending machine coffee and tea will win the day!’
As I left his Office I muttered under my breath, “Like Fuck it will!”
The Rest is history, no-one touched that vending machine, no-one had vending machine coffee or tea. it just sat there until the day they took it away.
Cath was happy to keep her job.
Ankles was furious and accused me of organising a “Black Ban.”
My name is Rod Parham, Hot Metal Compositor. I was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1947. Single with two children and a grandson. I Love History, Movies and Words.
I remember Cathy looking after the apprentices (including yours truly) when she worked in the original canteen. Certainly gave good value when making our sandwiches.
Always had a lot of time for Cathy and her offsider, who I think was Mae, or something similar.
Both lovely ladies who cared about people. Something that is at times sadly missing these days.
As for Fletch and his nickname? No comment!
Keep up the great work.
Cheers mate, Kevin Stone
PS – rain’s good over here in Canberra. We need it!
From Kevin Stone, Compositor
Good one, Rod.
I remember Cathy looking after the apprentices (including yours truly) when she worked in the original canteen. Certainly gave good value when making our sandwiches.
Always had a lot of time for Cathy and her offsider, who I think was Mae, or something similar.
Both lovely ladies who cared about people. Something that is at times sadly missing these days.
As for Fletch and his nickname? No comment!
Keep up the great work.
Cheers mate, Kevin Stone
PS – rain’s good over here in Canberra. We need it!
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Thanks Kevin,
Wet here too! Rod
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