A Very Public Redundancy

In September 2019 I received an email from HR saying that they had scheduled a meeting for tomorrow and that I was able to bring a support person if I needed. Sensing that it was going to be a redundancy, I decided to hire a professional support person in the form of a clown, who would attempt to cheer me up by making balloon animals throughout the meeting.

Someone at the agency told a reporter at the NZ Herald, who published an article. The story was then picked up by The Guardian, The New York Post, Fox News and a bunch of other publications, including the BBC, where it was that day’s top story.