An advertising copywriter in New Zealand chose to see the funny side of a redundancy meeting when he brought an “emotional support” clown to the table.
Josh Thompson had only been working at FCB New Zealand in Auckland for five months before he received an email from his bosses that read: “Bad news. We’re having a meeting to discuss your role.”
In New Zealand, employers are legally required to let workers bring a support person to serious meetings, such as an employee’s potential dismissal.
After receiving the email from his boss, Thompson decided he wasn’t going down without a few laughs and proceeded to hire a professional clown to join him in the meeting, paying a tidy sum of $200.
As reported in the NZ Herald, the “support” clown, who Thompson called “Joe”, made balloon animals throughout the tense meeting.
Several times during the meeting Thompson’s bosses had to ask the clown to quieten down because his craft was causing too much noise.
It’s also understood the clown mimed crying when Thompson was handed the redundancy paperwork.
Luckily for Thompson, he will not be out of a job for long as DDB NZ confirmed they have offered the funny-man a job in its office starting from today.
