Rambling Rush: When it’s okay to give your boss a beating

IT may have been a CLM (career limiting move) from Amanda Herbert, a temp in the admin department at a local cement company, but she threw caution to the wind and gave her boss, Carl Myers (production manager) the beating of a lifetime.

It was swift and bloodless, but brutal.

Before you start wondering or worrying about a violent uprising in the workplace, the incident happened on the squash courts at Port Shepstone Country Club.

When first meeting Amanda, you could be forgiven she thinking she would not say ‘boo’ to a goose.

But be warned, there’s some reddish hair there… coupled with a fierce determination and very competitive spirit.

So, after much taunting and provoking from the production manager, famous for his chirping and teasing, the gauntlet was thrown down.

He had suggested Amanda lacked sporting qualities and wasn’t up for it. He boasted loudly that he would beat her easily. Words to that effect.

Silly man. Perhaps he had overestimated his own squash playing skills. Whatever the case, the duel was on and a few minutes were allowed for some warming up.

“He was hitting it quite hard, I thought ‘uh-oh’ he’s actually quite good,” said Amanda.

She needn’t have worried. The game was soon over, with Amanda winning 5-0. An emphatic hiding.

Initially Carl produced some Jahangir Khan moves, but they didn’t last.

For once, he was quiet.

He’s quite a big bloke, in his mid 40s, and he was soon gasping for air, while Amanda twirled her hair, and barely raised a sweat.

In fact, he asked for a mid-game time out, much to Amanda’s amusement.

However, to be fair to Carl, he did not get to the stage where he did not know which wall to aim at when serving.

“He has some talent but he lacked lung capacity,” said Amanda.

Aside from the chirping, Amanda had extra motivation. “He was playing for a brandy, I was playing for a Coke,” she said.

“But had he won, it would have been a glass, not a whole bottle, that’s for sure.”

Carl needn’t feel too bad by getting whipped by a girl.

Amanda is one of the coast’s better players and he isn’t the first man to lose to her.

There’s further light at the end of his oxygen-sucking tunnel: Amanda is moving to the Durban branch, so it may be a while before a rematch takes place, if he’s up for it.

In the meantime he can work on his fitness…and pay for his own drink at the bar!