Bastards Inc.

Charles Krauthammer once wrote about Australia, this is a place where, when the remains of a fallen soldier are accidentally switched with those of a Bosnian, the enraged widow picks up the phone late at night, calls the prime minister at home in bed and delivers a furious, unedited rant -- which he publicly and graciously accepts as fully deserved. Where Americans today sue, Australians slash and skewer.

By the time I finish writing this, many of you around the country may have heard about the following story, probably not our world-wide readers, but bear with me it is worth the read. On Monday morning, I was listening to AJ (Alan Jones) who returned from holidays at talk-back radio 2GB. He told us the story of John Beaven who worked for 43 years in the Accounts department of Tristar Steering (known from here on as Bastards Inc.), a parts manufacturer in Sydney.

He has two children, his wife has passed away and this was the only job he ever had. He has been battling bowel and liver cancer and is now at death’s door, the company recently offered him voluntary redundancy, which he agreed to, so that he could leave some money for his children. However, on his application form, he made the mistake of telling them of his illness. So what does Bastards Inc. do? They decided to stall, give this poor man sick leave and deny him the redundancy, stall until he’s dead, then they won’t have to pay the 50 grand.

On Monday AJ tried calling one of the directors about this, as soon as AJ identified himself, Mr. Bastard hung up. Not fazed, AJ kept on the matter; from there the terms Bastards Inc. and Mr. Bastard were coined and stuck like crap to shoes. The public were flaming red, many were calling for boycotts of Mr. Bastard and his bastard products, the only way to Bastards heart was through his wallet, so tell us what he sells and we’ll show the Bastard.

This morning AJ raised the matter with Prime Minister John Howard, he didn’t make any promises, saying the PM of the country could not just decide what a company in this country should do. AJ pressed him for some action, but the PM stuck to his guns and agreed to meet with his minister and get him on the job. Many callers called in later to voice their disappointment at the PMs responses,

I must say I wasn’t disappointed in PM Howard, what he said was entirely correct, yet I had the feeling something was going to happen. By the time I got home in the evening, I saw the news that the redundancy would be paid out to Mr. Beaven and Bastards Inc. will start negotiating with the rest of their workers.
Prime Minister John Howard today despatched Mr. Hockey for urgent talks with Mr. Beaven's employers and the company's parent, Arrowcrest. "I have had robust discussions with directors of Arrowcrest and they have agreed to pay Mr. Beaven his full voluntary redundancy," Mr. Hockey said.
Yeah “ROBUST”, I’ll bet the PM made it clear to Joe Hockey this morning, in no uncertain terms, not to come back until a boot print was decorating Bastards arse. And I’ll bet Joe Hockey emboldened by the PM, made it clear to Mr. Bastard that even if he or the PM couldn’t lawfully do anything, they would make sure everyone, even the pigs in Australia, will know about Bastards Inc.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Beaven and his family at this time.

Update

It has been brought to my attention (apologies and thanks CB) that some of our readers might mistake the above mentioned companies for an internet blog called Bastards Inc.

For the record, apart from the steering components in one of our or Chief Bastard's vehicles, Bastards Inc. is in no way affiliated with Tristar Steering or Arrowcrest. The terms were merely applied to Tristar Steering to convey our emotions over their morally bankrupt actions and to shame them into doing the right thing. I am assured the REAL Bastards Inc. and its directors will never stoop to such lows and good on them for that.

No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments containing Chinese characters will not be published as I do not understand them