This piece was written and was supposed to follow the guidelines below. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case maybe, sometimes stories take on a life of their own, and the characters do what they want and this is what happened here. I’m happy with the results though and hope you will be too!
Key Phrase: Bad Idea
Word Limit: 2000 Characters, including Spaces
Forbidden Words: Naked, Shower
Bonus Words: Tell us about a bad idea of your own.
Extra Credit: Come up with a new bad idea…..
“Whose idea was that?” I heard my secretary utter, his voice filled with obvious indignation. I thought about engaging in a conversation with him, but there were times when it was simpler to just ignore him, and this seemed to be one of those times. I had a huge amount of work to get through before the meeting tomorrow anyway, and distractions were the last thing I needed right now.
The sound of yet another email arriving in my in box caught my attention. I opened the company email, figuring it was just a run of the mill everyday email that we seemed to receive on a daily basis since the new management had taken over.
As my eyes scanned the text, I felt a lump form in my throat, and the words that my secretary had just spoken rang in my own ears. “Whose idea was that?”
Dear Colleague,
We at Starlight Corp. are committed to your health and well being. With this in mind we have implemented forthwith a new company policy that is designed with the goals set out in your new policy manual, which you will find attached to this mail.
It has been brought to our attention that the custom of hand shaking within the corporate world has been shown to produce a variety of health issues. These include but are not limited to: common colds, the flu virus, other viruses as yet unidentified.
In order to protect our employees we have decided that hand shaking is now banned as a form of greeting within the company. From now on you will instead greet your colleagues and business associates with a kiss. It has been scientifically shown that kissing produces far less health problems than hand shaking and the end product is a happier and healthier work force, something I think you will agree is something we at Starlight, all strive for.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours,
Dave Steward
CEO
I read the mail, three more times, absorbing the words and then hear myself utter the words, “Who the hell’s idea was that?”
John, my secretary entered the office and I looked up at him, and I suddenly wasn’t sure whether I relished the thought of having to kiss him each morning. Yes, he had a boyish charm about him, but he was just that a boy. The kid was barely out of college and I was old enough to be his Mother.
“I’m guessing you’ve seen the latest gem from upstairs?”
“Umm yep.” was all I could think of to say at that precise moment.
“It get’s even better when you read the new handbook. Have you read it yet?”
I simply looked up at him and shook my head.
“OMG is all I have to say. Apparently just a peck on the cheek does not suffice when it comes to our health. We have to greet each client, etc with a full on blo