Our people are our greatest asset....

and sometimes a bit of a liability...

• Case 1

A chap we deployed to hostile environment tested positive for drugs immediately upon arrival. In the ensuing conversation he informed the medic he had been for dental treatment the day of his flight and was given Valium as a relaxant. Unusual practise but I'm no expert, so we asked for the confirmation to corroborate this and a covering letter was duly sent from a dentist...but not the one he had stated he had visited. Adopting the mantle of Mr. Sherlock Holmes I was just about to start to look into this further when the aforementioned employee handed in his noticed and 'fessed up....resulting in him boarding the next flight home. Slightly ironic really as he alleges he took the Valium as he doesn't like flying!

• Case 2

Panic phone call from the office manager in Dubai. One of our female employees had got drunk and caused a disturbance, resulting in her being thrown in the Clink. By the time the Office Manager had got the call from the girl who'd been detained they'd already moved her to another Police Station and no one would say anything other than she'd be held until a Court date was arranged! The detainees passport was obtained and provided to the police station as a form of guarantee but they still wouldn't release her and by this point the Dubai end is in a right flap, so I consulted Rallyman as I was way out of my depth. He explained the usual process and asked all the relevant questions only for him to pronounce that the only reason the employee is probably still in the Nick is that she's non-European...his take is she got became inebriated, someone perchance thought she was a hooker, or made a remark…..she told them where to get off or threw a drink at them... Anyway, current state of play is that we've been assured the release paperwork will be done at some point tonight but she's still languishing in a cell as I type... Probably won't be doing that again in a hurry...