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What a load of fat-heads
Sunday Mirror, Feb 11, 2007 by ANNA SMITH
HELL hath no fury like a pot-bellied boss being told he's fat. He might be sitting there in his padded chair with his padded midriff resting on the oak desk - but nobody dares call him lardass.
And even if he's sprouted wellfed jowls, flushed with years of hearty lunches, you'd better not refer to him as Mr Blobby.
Or if you do, make sure you don't put it in writing.
Look what happened to TV producer Agnes Wilkie when she stupidly fired off an email describing STV managing director Bobby Hain as "Mr Blobby".
It cost the 50-year-old awardwinning producer her job, because "His Blobbiness", as she described the portly Mr Hain, was so affronted at the jibe he gave Agnes her marching orders.
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It made me laugh out loud when I read the details unravelling at Agnes's industrial tribunal claim for unfair dismissal. God forbid a man has been insulted by a merewoman in the workplace. That just won't do. Agnes's case was a glimpse into the world of TV that could easily have been a scene out of the satirical Drop The Dead Donkey. What amazes me is that a veteran TV producer like Agnes was daft enough to put her bitchy comments in writing in the first place. Rule number one: Never put anything in writing unless you are prepared to stand by it for the rest of your life.
You would think that having spent 24 years at the sharp end in entertainment and features she'd have known better.
But it's the shocking double standards that really got me.
I'm not saying that Hain, a former disc jockey who used to be called Mr Bobby - hence the Blobby tag - is the kind of man who would ever have insulted a woman or a workmate in his life. Of course not.
But being in the entertainment industry, he must have witnessed plenty of them and didn't turn a hair. Because what used to be a bit of banter and badinage in the workplace is now a sackable offence in this sterile, politically correct world we live in.
It wasn't like that when I grew up in the rough and tumble of a predominantly maledominated profession. I could tell you stories of sexual harassment and insults that would make your teeth curl. And all the taunts came from fatarsed middleaged men who would routinely make remarks on the size of your breasts and sneak a grope of them at an office party. And if you happened to be a bit irritable, you were asked if you were having your period.
I remember being asked by a guy if it was "Rottweiler week". "Rottweiler week?" He learned by the snarling reply. But such was life in offices and shop floors, that women just got on with it.
I'm not saying sexual harassment or any other kind of bullying in the workplace doesn't leave its mark on some people. Nor am I condoning Agnes's comments. And of course I'm glad we have moved on from the days when women were blatantly discriminated against at work.
But it's all gone too far, as Agnes Wilkie's unfair dismissal claim has demonstrated. What she wrote about her boss was wrong. It was bitchy and sarky - but typical in the world of creative TV production. And don't tell me she's the only STV employee who has made a remark about her boss and Mr Blobby.
But for them to sack her after she apologised looks like the bad blood was already there. And for them to suggest it was bringing the company into disrepute is just plain stupid.
Mr Bobby and Co should concentrate on giving us better TV, cutting-edge dramas and news programmes, rather than getting their big knickers in a twist over a silly remark from one of their more talented producers.
As for Agnes, she won her claim, but her compensation has been cut to a minimum because it was mostly her fault. I'm sure she'll think twice before putting anything in writing again.
Copyright 2007 MGN LTD
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