Kiwi adman hires clown for redundancy meeting
By Staff on Monday, September 16, 2019
In the unfortunate situation where you find yourself being made redundant, it’s not unusual to bring someone with you to the meeting – a friend, colleague, maybe even a lawyer.
But this chap decided not to bring any of those people. He brought an ’emotional support clown’ instead.
He’s an ad man called Josh Thompson from New Zealand and this is what it looked like.
Jack told his local radio station Magic Talk that it began when he received an email from his agency employer telling him they needed a meeting to discuss his role.
“It did talk about being able to bring a support person. I thought, it’s either a promotion or worse. I thought it was best to bring in a professional — so I paid $200 and hired a clown.”
The clown even mimicked crying as Jack’s employers handed him the redundancy paperwork – and blew up a balloon unicorn and a poodle to help ease the situation.
Here’s more of what Joshua had to say.
“They were getting a free service and also getting the entertainment from Joe the clown. It was sort of noisy, him making balloon animals, so we did have to tell him to be quiet from time-to-time.”
“He was $200 so basically he was, I assume, one of the best clowns in Auckland. I definitely recommend bringing Joe or another clown. Highly recommended.”
Apparently his bosses could ‘see the funny side’ and the clown? Well, he thought it was a ‘touch unusual’ but was ‘overall supportive’.
And here’s what Joshua had to say about it on his Facebook page.
‘A while ago, I got a job. A short while later, I lost it. For anyone who hasn’t been fired, what happens is they schedule a serious meeting and advise you to bring a ‘support person’.
‘Sensing the bad news, I decided I’d need the best support person available, so I spent $200 to hire a clown. Today, somehow, it’s the top story story in the New Zealand Herald.’
Source New Zealand Herald, NY Post