Man brings clown as support person to meeting where he was fired: 'Highly recommended'
A young adman from New Zealand decided to bring a clown as his support person to a redundancy meeting after facing the axe. Auckland ad man Joshua Jack paid for the clown to be present at the meeting and provide him with relief while he got fired. According to a report in NY Post, Jack realized something was not right when he received an email from his agency employer, which said that they would have to meet to discuss his role this week.
In an email interview with a local radio station called Magic Talk, Jack said, "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 news of Jack using a clown performer as support went viral after the New Zealand Herald published a picture of the clown, Jack and two others at a serious meeting. While Jack did get fired in the end, the clown helped him cope with the situation, even if the entire thing was just a bit unusual.
The clown reportedly blew up balloon animals throughout the meetings to lighten the mood and even mimed a cry when Jack was handed in the papers.
While dogs, cats, goats, and strangely even hedgehogs and peacocks play the role of emotional support, but this clown performer is something that we have never heard of before.
Jack's bosses at the advertising agency FCB were appreciative of him deciding to "spice up the meeting" and "could see the humorous side.” Jack confessed that while the clown was distracting his bosses were getting free entertainment. "They were getting a free service and also getting the entertainment from Joe the clown." He added, "It was sort of noisy, him making balloon animals, so we did have to tell him to be quiet from time-to-time." It was also because of this that the clown could make no more than two animals.
Speaking of what the clown thought of his request, Jack said that the performer did think it was a "touch unusual" but was "overall supportive." "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," he added.