… and there’s a lot more to life than playing cards.
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Much the same idea has been mooted in our office from time to time. But PHBs are like cockroaches: they survive almost anything.
Chris Vernell said:
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Much the same idea has been mooted in our office from time to time. But PHBs are like cockroaches: they survive almost anything.
We had a VERY PHB who nearly got four of us killed by the IRA one fine afternoon by making a phone-call where he should not have done. Since it would have been obvious who had killed him if we had done it - like the non-stop gales of happy laffin’, we decided to get our revenge in more subtle ways. So three of us got together and made an Easter Egg out of Ex-lax. He was off work for six weeks with what diagnosed as amoebic dysentery. When he came back all his clothes looked like they belonged to his dad. When I came over to the mainland on a trip one time, I arranged for over two hundred mail-order companies to begin junk-mailing him, from fluffy slippers to double glazing and time-share holidays for tri-sexual necrophiliacs. As far as I am aware, they are still doing it. He left shortly afterwards on promotion, but spent the intervening time looking a lot over his shoulder… tac Ottawa Valley GRS
One office I was at one day had 20 large cheese pizzas arrive in my bosses name from his favorite pizzaria, with the bill, and a delivery kid who insisted on payment, he had correct address, and my bosses personal phone number and the pizza guy insisted the ordering voice over the phone was my bosses when he called to complain. He coughed up the cash eventually. This was about a month after a fellow who hated my boss left the office. It was good pizza!
Looks like most of us had a PHB in our time. Getting even was always much more fun than getting mad. Of course there was also the “helpful boss” without all the hair. Running a week long material/process test on sintered gears which were to be ground in one go. This called for a special two compounds grinding wheel - the interrupted cut of the gear was very aggressive, the hub itself just ordinary - and special coolant. Automatic machine but with manual loading. The “helpful boss” was dancing around the machine and in my way for two straight days. Nice summer weather. The way one started the cycle on the machine was by push button. Insert the part, push the button. With the “helpful boss” over my shoulder, that’s what I did; then stepped aside to check something on the automatic wheel dresser. Machine starts up, coolant starts up with a splutter - it always did prior to me inserting a check valve in the line 
- boss is too close and his nice, really light - in colour and fabric - summer suit looks rather green. The coolant was this real poison green, impossible to get out of your clothes; but the cat’s meow for aggressive grinding. Holy batman, he was livid. I told him laconically that next time he should a) not stand that close b) wear a shop coat, just in case and yes, the tests were proceeding as planned. That was my third year in Canada and my English was already much better. 
The salesman, who the tests were for, came back to the showroom after a minute - with a huge grin on his face - and asked what happened. Of course the real laugh was Friday night after work, when “the crew” went out for a drink. Yep, don’t get mad, just get even in a plausible, creative way.
