At work the other day, my husband (HeWhoWorks) found a couple of large cardboard boxes that were to be thrown out. They were just what we needed to store our little used (ok, never used) camping gear so he thought he’d rescue them.
As he left work with the boxes that evening, the security guard on the gate asked him what they were and what precisely he was doing with them. HeWhoWorks explained, in his best Marcel Marceau impression, about the camping gear and how perfect these, otherwise totally useless, boxes were. The security guard – imagine Donatella Versace with a large beer belly and moustache – nodded encouragingly before pointing at the boxes and barking “Paperwork?”
HWW again tried to explain that the boxes were rubbish and of no use to anyone but him. The security guard again barked “Paperwork?” HWW winked and suggested the security guard could just look the other way whilst HWW walked through the gate with them. Gasp of horror from the security guard: allow something to happen without completing the correct forms? In triplicate? HWW was obviously deranged and uno straniero (a foreigner) who had no idea of the correct way things should be done. Needless to say, HWW lost the battle and sheepishly returned them to his office where his Italian colleagues laughed at his stupidity for even attempting such an operation. And the boxes were consigned to the “recycling”…
Discover more from BARBED WORDS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
BARBED WORDS 
My colleagues actually suggested I should go round the back and throw the boxes over the fence by where my car was parked out on the road. I’m sure they were excited by the prospect of the armed response that would create!
LikeLike
Stealing boxes full of air from Italian companies…. Whatever next? Maybe the secuirty guard made it all up, and he’s actually at the head of an international cardboard box black market mafia… 🙂 I’ve just discovered your blog, and jolly glad I did too (said with little finger sticking up in English way from virtual teacup). Thanks for popping by to my pad, too!
LikeLike
I’ll keep an eye out for used cardboard boxes being sold from backs of vans under the cover of darkness… Glad you like the blog, I haven’t been going for long but am enjoying it very much. Your blog is great, love the humour!
LikeLike
Ha, ha!!! x
LikeLike
Ha ha… you’ve got to love office security guards. They do like to make a stand every now and then. I once had to film and take photos at a research centre, so in I went with my big stills and video cameras, but they confiscated my phone, just in case I took any photos with it!
LikeLike
That’s so ridiculous, I don’t even know how to respond! They do like to make the most of their bit of power…
LikeLike
Oh wow! that is crazy!! Were there actually any forms that you could fill in, if you wanted to?
LikeLike
Who knows?? I’m sure HWW could have mocked up something official looking and they’d have been happy just to be able to say they’d seen the paperwork!
LikeLike
Only in Italy
LikeLike
Aaaaargh….
LikeLike