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Ever Got Lucky?

Started by Tony Tony Tony, June 03, 2021, 11:44:19 PM

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Tony Tony Tony

Ever got lucky in your job or home life to the extent that you thought I shouldn't be here but what the heck?

This happened to me whilst a Civil Servant. An invitation came to my department to attend a conference in Budapest. The invite was for the head of the department but they couldn't be arsed so passed it down the line until, unfathomably, it ended up on my desk. I jumped at the chance for a couple of days in Budapest at the cost of making a shite  powerpoint presentation at a meaningless conference.

As the hosts thought I was the head of a huge govt. department I was met at the airport by a uniformed flunkey and ferried in a limo to some ex-Communist party holiday villa where all the staff were lined up to greet me. The toady at the end gave me a bag of local produce consisting of various pickled items,a tie and a couple of bottles of wine. During my stay the staff fawned over me, including organising a tour of the local football teams stadium (Ferencvaros) and a cruise down the Danube... all in all a nice couple of days.

The pay off came when I had to present at the conference as my fellow local officer (a Geordie) gave a short speech introducing my bit. One of the translators (them folks that talk into the headsets they wear at multi lingual events) came up later to ask me what language my chum had been speaking as he had never come across it before.

So you folks ever got an undeserved bit of luck?             

imitationleather


mothman

On a business trip to the US, for some reason I got upgraded to BA Club World - essentially first class. I briefly toyed with the idea of letting my boss have it - not to curry favour, but because he'd had a thrombosis on a previous long haul flight and the extra legroom might have been beneficial.

But then I thought, no, this will probably never happen again. So we walked down the jetway, they all went right, I went left.

Absolutely brilliant. I had to consciously decide to stop drinking champagne, not because there wasn't any more, but because otherwise I'd be wrecked. They asked me how I'd like my steak. What wine I wanted with it. Brought me bottles of water regularly without being asked.

phes

#3
I found a lovely place to live that costs me about 50% of the going rate for rent and bills. I got chatting to someone who wasn't a professional landlord and just wanted someone they trusted to caretake the place and cover their costs. I found it after taking a new job and it is 200 yards from work.

I mean I did deserve some kind of a fucking break after a run of shite luck but this really was a doozy and I shouldn't be here

mothman

^ That's a nice one. And totally deserved.

thenoise

A woman married me and bore my child.

Edit: hers as well, admittedly, but even so.


pigamus

I was given ten grand to do a masters degree.

Fr.Bigley

I got offered to do a disproportionate amount of manual labour for a paltry sum of currency.

Luxury.

My boss let me go to a corporate shindig hosted by a supplier at Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands. I don't think he'd read the itinerary properly and was under the impression that the day would be spent watching pro drivers demoing cars. As we hadn't done much business with these guys in recent years and he knew I was into cars, he passed on it and let me go. I ended up spending an afternoon in the driving seat, fucking about in some of Mercedes-AMG's finest V8 sports cars under professional instruction. Launching, skid pans, hooning around a circuit, absolutely fucking mint. Best day of my working life.

He seemed genuinely gutted when I thanked him for the opportunity and told him what I'd been up to. He'd basically given me a paid day off with expenses and missed out on a gratis £225 driving experience in the process.

checkoutgirl

About 3 years ago I was about to go on a week holiday to New York. I had put in a tax expense for some medical receipts a few weeks prior. The day before the trip in bed I casually checked my bank account on my phone eagerly awaiting my couple of hundred quid and somehow there was about 5 grànd on top of my wages there. Must have overpaid my tax for a few years. Amazing.

This meant I could buy a load of meals at big shot restaurants on holiday. Brilliant.

Marti Pellow sang about wishing he was lucky when he'd just become a successful pop star.  There's no pleasing some folk.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

I've banged some fit birds, is that the kind of thing you're looking for?

checkoutgirl

Quote from: thenoise on June 04, 2021, 12:09:34 AM
A woman married me and bore my child.

Edit: hers as well, admittedly, but even so.

Yeah but have you ever got lucky?

Jockice

Quote from: pigamus on June 04, 2021, 12:31:06 AM
I was given ten grand to do a masters degree.

Yeah, so was I. Only after someone else dropped out though. I was also given a departmental award when I'd finished the thing and a fee waiver for my PhD. Which, considering that people had come from abroad and/or paid considerable amounts of money to come to a university that is five minutes away from me, makes me feel even more guilty for fucking my doctorate up so spectacularly.

wooders1978

BA once upgraded me to business class on a trip back from Singapore - they didn't even bother telling me until I arrived at my seat and hey up!!

I suspect they didn't tell me so I wouldn't go and make a pig of myself in the lounge, but a nice surprise all the same, a once in a lifetime thing I would imagine

bakabaka

Only the obvious one - surviving incurable lung cancer. Though that was obviously skill rather than luck.

BlodwynPig

I tumbled off a cliff but landed on a cloud

Jockice

I once went on a press trip to a leisure park in Slovakia. It was good fun but we had to wait for the plane to get changed on the return journey because they'd found a crack on the windscreen, Which meant I arrived back at Stansted at a time when there was no way I could get back to Sheffield. I think they thought I'd give the place a bad review because of that. I wouldn't. Things like that are all part of the fun as far as I'm concerned. But anyway, I ended up being taken home in the company boss's limousine. Only time I've ever been in a Mercedes in my life.

Beagle 2

I was skint but my girlfriend wanted to see a West End musical, so I bought tickets for Oliver!, but literally the shittest seats in the theatre, basically back row at the top behind a pillar that you could only reach via a stepladder and a winch or some shit. When we got there they said they'd had to close off that section due to it being unsafe so we were promoted to dead centre front row for free. Alright, you might not think that's a huge win but I fucking loved it, despite having to see Griff Rhys-Jones really close up.

Beagle 2

Quote from: Jockice on June 04, 2021, 09:18:42 AM
I once went on a press trip to a leisure park in Slovakia. It was good fun but we had to wait for the plane to get changed on the return journey because they'd found a crack on the windscreen, Which meant I arrived back at Stansted at a time when there was no way I could get back to Sheffield. I think they thought I'd give the place a bad review because of that. I wouldn't. Things like that are all part of the fun as far as I'm concerned. But anyway, I ended up being taken home in the company boss's limousine. Only time I've ever been in a Mercedes in my life.

Reminds me of my mate who was trying to get to a gig on the Isle of Man, I think it was Ian Brown before he turned into an absolute carrot. The flight was cancelled from Manchester so he was going to miss the gig but he had got talking to a bloke at the gate who was off to the same gig. Turned out he was a millionaire who managed to immediately charter a helicopter to take them over. When they got there they were refused entry for being too pissed.

In the 60s, my then-teenage dad hung around De Montfort Hall in Leicester, hoping for a glimpse of his hero Bob Dylan, who was playing there that night.  My dad didn't have a ticket for the show itself and some passer by offered him a spare one, totally out of the blue.  My dad was totally cock-a-hoop.

JamesTC

Fell down a huge and really steep hill (bottom of a mountain) and was tripped up by running into a bush which stopped me landing in slate which probably would have killed me.

Was really ill but was forced to go to an award ceremony at Bootle Town Hall when I was 13. I was accepting a drama award. Everybody was forced to stand by the side of the stage and after about half an hour of standing I got woozy and fainted. At the last second somebody pushed me out the way from a banister which probably would have cracked my head open. Went home and ate cake while watching Only Fools and Horses.

Got a couple of free couches when I moved into my house.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on June 04, 2021, 09:45:38 AM
In the 60s, my then-teenage dad hung around De Montfort Hall in Leicester, hoping for a glimpse of his hero Bob Dylan, who was playing there that night.  My dad didn't have a ticket for the show itself and some passer by offered him a spare one, totally out of the blue.  My dad was totally cock-a-hoop.

The stranger? Why, if it wasnt Mr Robert Dylan himself.


Echo Valley 2-6809

Quote from: Tony Tony Tony on June 03, 2021, 11:44:19 PM
Ever got lucky in your job or home life to the extent that you thought I shouldn't be here but what the heck?

This happened to me whilst a Civil Servant. An invitation came to my department to attend a conference in Budapest. The invite was for the head of the department but they couldn't be arsed so passed it down the line until, unfathomably, it ended up on my desk. I jumped at the chance for a couple of days in Budapest at the cost of making a shite  powerpoint presentation at a meaningless conference.

As the hosts thought I was the head of a huge govt. department I was met at the airport by a uniformed flunkey and ferried in a limo to some ex-Communist party holiday villa where all the staff were lined up to greet me. The toady at the end gave me a bag of local produce consisting of various pickled items,a tie and a couple of bottles of wine. During my stay the staff fawned over me, including organising a tour of the local football teams stadium (Ferencvaros) and a cruise down the Danube... all in all a nice couple of days.

The pay off came when I had to present at the conference as my fellow local officer (a Geordie) gave a short speech introducing my bit. One of the translators (them folks that talk into the headsets they wear at multi lingual events) came up later to ask me what language my chum had been speaking as he had never come across it before.           

Probably something wrong with me but I'd have hated all that. I'd rather be told I can go home half-an-hour early.

Dr Rock

Two of my teachers at school were paedos but luckily neither of them must've fancied me.

Gurke and Hare

In a former job I was based for a while at a client site. The client had a box at Lords, and they invited me (after asking all the people who work there, I guess - they had no reason to want to impress me) to go to the one-day cricket final. It was great - bacon rolls on arrival, then they just kept bringing us food and drink all day. Lovely stuff.

Fr.Bigley

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on June 04, 2021, 11:27:30 AM
In a former job I was based for a while at a client site. The client had a box at Lords, and they invited me (after asking all the people who work there, I guess - they had no reason to want to impress me) to go to the one-day cricket final. It was great - bacon rolls on arrival, then they just kept bringing us food and drink all day. Lovely stuff.

Yeah but..cricket..really.

pigamus

I got a tax rebate once after working in a solicitors for a bit. It was like winning the lottery at the time. Bought a Mac Mini with it.

An tSaoi

Got stabbed in the neck (that's not the lucky part). It was very close to the jugular vein. "An inch to the side and you'd have been fucked" were the nurse's exact words. I'm not sure that's true: cuts to arteries are what get you, moreso than the veins. But anyway, lucky not to die I suppose.