Give em a night out and they can’t handle the excitement!!
The Lt. Governor is advised to lock up her personal stash of Lucky Lager.
Here’s a more detailed story on the fiasco:
Government House gone wild
Campagnolo maintains her cool while awards-dinner guests get pins, drink with abandon and let invectives fly
Maybe it was the convivial surroundings the liquor branch maintenance man found himself in, or the enormity of the award he was receiving. Maybe it was the strain of fighting the day-to-day temptation that comes with spending 25 years as a janitor in the government’s vast liquor warehouses.
But an unholy combination of circumstances developed at the province’s annual long service awards dinner at Government House that left many guests shuddering. The event turned into such a drunken horror show it took almost a full year of legal wrangling to resolve. The full story, recounted in a recently released arbitrator’s ruling, is a hair-raising tribute to Lt.-Gov. Iona Campagnolo’s grace in the midst of chaos (and ability to keep a lid on the story of the Party Disaster of the Century).
With 25 years service to Her Majesty on his record, the janitor – let’s call him Party Boy – was given an invitation to the dinner. He checked into the Laurel Point Inn and had four ciders to relax, before attending the pre-reception reception, where he downed four rum and cokes, and two glasses of wine from the open bar. He had four more rum and cokes at Government House.
With 250 guests assembled, including every single one of his bosses from the deputy minister on down, the festivities began.
The program called for each recipient to go on stage, get a pin, and pose for a photo with the lieutenant governor. When Party Boy’s name was called, testimony shows “he fell, and crawled up the steps before rising hands up like a gymnast does after making a landing.”
The more senior, sober guests were perturbed. But the move drew roars, hoots and hollers from some pals at the liquor distribution branch tables, which made up most of the room. Campagnolo posed with him, then steered him by the elbows to staff who escorted him to his seat. But the fun was just beginning.
He went back to the bar and was denied service, which brought loud persistent complaints. Maybe that’s what prompted the heckling when the speeches started. Try to picture gracious speeches in the halllowed vice-regal
ballroom about the nature of public service, punctuated by: “Gordon Campbell is full of s–!”…“F-- this!”… and best of all – “What about the f–ing teachers!!!”
Another guest – call her Party Girl – got in on the act, telling the lieutenant governor "You can have my pin, you
f–ing bitch."
It went downhill from there, to the point where a liquor distribution branch loss prevention investigator who was on hand for his award wound up investigating the disappearance of some of the lieutenant-governor’s silverware.
Other mortified supervisors worried about the political implications. One testified “he was embarrassed for his branch that is constantly threatened with being privatized and needs to maintain a good image to stay in business.” Another guest didn’t particularly notice Party Boy’s antics – he was too busy trying to quiet another loudmouth “and picking up a third drunken employee who had fallen out of his chair.”
Party Boy was fired a month later. He filed a grievance, citing alcoholism, but a doctor discounted that. The union went to bat for him before the Labour Relations Board and two weeks ago an arbitrator ruled the firing was excessive. The liquor distribution branch was ordered to reinstate him without loss of seniority, subject to a six-month suspension without pay. That means he’s only 41/2 years from eligibility for his 30-year pin and dinner.
The lieutenant-governor was at her imperturbable best when she noted at one point during the carnival: “It’s always entertaining when liquor distribution branch employees are receiving awards.”
That is hilarious!
now that’s my idea of a party…and you have to give them this…they were right about Campbell.
Heh-heh, that is one wild staff party!! Funny stuff. 