Clowning around: NZ man brings clown to his redundancy meeting
Redundancy. It’s no laughing matter. Particularly as the Australian media and marketing industry faces various headwinds including reduced budgets, pullbacks in spending, and issues with consumer confidence.
What to do when you know you might be let go then? Dr Mumbo can only hope you take inspiration from Josh Thompson over in New Zealand, who brought a clown to his redundancy meeting with his (now former) employer FCB.
Thompson, a copy writer, told the BBC he could tell from the tone of the email he received, the meeting was likely about letting him go.
His legal entitlement was to bring a support person, and so, he picked ‘Joe, the professional clown.
Joe made balloon animals throughout the proceedings, however, he did occasionally have to pause as it was hard to hear over the “screeching of plastic”, according to the BBC.