COME IN SPINNER

I was reminded of something today when something amused me.

Years ago when I was in Australia on a business trip with my boss, after dinner one evening we went to a casino. It was in Adelaide. We had some drinks and played a few games, one of which was 'Two Up'. This is an Australian game where a designated 'spinner' throws two pennies up in the air. Punters bet on whether the coins will fall with both heads up, both tails up, or with one coin a head and one a tail.

Anyway, we were playing this game, and winning when a young and rangy guy, who was a bit pissed got a bit belligerent as he was losing. He turned to my old boss and said "God you'e an ugly bastard!" My boss, to be fair, wasn't Robert's god's gift to womenkind but I thought it was a bit on the nose of this guy to bring that to everyone's attention.

My boss who was, and is, a good twelve years older than me, at the time would have been in his mid fifties. He's a big guy, very smart and accomplished and was a regional representative rugby player in his day. He has hands like baseball mitts and, even in his fifties could have dealt with that scrote with one of those hands. He chose to say to the belligerent and younger man "Hey, steady on."

There was a bit of banter back and forth and the potentially tense situation was diffused. We moved on, had a nightcap' and went back to our hotel.

This boss, who was very successful in his career had/has a great philosophy on life both business and family. Some of the sayings he had still stick with me:

• As long as they leave you with enough (when considering employee theft.
• You can take the first shot but make it count (when in confrontational situations).
• Family is what counts most.

Like old Bruce Campbell, my very early boss at Murray Roberts & co. this guy was inspirational and I owe a lot to him in my career and the way that I have seen people both in business and in general.

So, moving on.

After that particular Australian business trip, and when I was back in Christchurch giving The Old Girl a 'debrief', when it came to my recount of the casino scene I could hardly describe it through uncontrollable laughter. Every-time I mentioned what the scrote said I started laughing and couldn't get the words out. For a long time afterwards, every-time The Old Girl and I talked about this I would end up in fits of laughter.

As I write this, tears are welling up in my eyes and I can hardly read the screen (my apologies for spelling mistakes).

What's that about?