Getting fired from a job is something everyone dreads, but one man found a pretty brilliant way to make his final conversation with HR much more enjoyable than it would otherwise have been.
Josh Thompson, who is from Auckland, decided to make the uncomfortable moment one to remember for the right reasons - by bringing an emotional support clown along with him.
After sensing bad news was coming when he was called in for a meeting with bosses at the ad agency he was working for, Josh made the most of having the option to bring a support person with him.
He enlisted his friend - known as Joe the clown - to sit in the meeting with him and Joe lightened the mood by making balloon animals and even mimed crying when redundancy papers were slid across the desk to Josh.
In New Zealand, the law states that employees can bring a friend or family member to these kinds of meetings with them so that they can make notes or support the person if they become overwhelmed by what is happening.
He revealed during an appearance on UK breakfast TV show This Morning: "I thought the news was going to be quite bad, and I thought if it's going to be bad news I'd best get a professional in.
"Obviously family and friends are the usual support people but to be honest, my mum can't even juggle so I thought best to get in Joe to make a few people balloon animals and keep my spirits high."
Discussing how his boss reacted to the less-than-conventional support person in front of them, Josh revealed: "I think they were a little bit taken aback.
"[There were] smiles all round, I think everyone was quite impressed by Joe - he is very good at what he does and he was $200 and they got him for free, so what could they complain about?"
News of Josh's emotional support clown went viral after the New Zealand Herald published a photo of him in the midst of a serious meeting with two of his employers with Joe by his side.
In fact, the only time that Josh's former bosses got a bit annoyed was due to the noises made by Joe making balloon animals in the meeting.
He explained: "Yeah, boy, oh boy - balloon animals are very noisy. I didn't really think about it at the time."
Despite Joe brightening up the mood, Josh still ended up getting fired but found his 15 minutes of fame as the quirky tale ended up going viral worldwide. He also confirmed that he had soon found a new job and was back working shortly after being let go by his old firm.
If you have to have a redundancy meeting, this is definitely the way to do it.
Featured image credit: Getty Images
