Slip Slidin’ Away

Diane Williams, 34, an employee of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London, was excited after closing a business deal. To celebrate, she jumped on the bannister to slide down the office stairs. She missed, fell 12 feet, broke a tooth and got knocked unconscious. And was summarily fired. Anyone doing that “would have to be extremely drunk or crazy,” her boss said. “It is a frightening drop.” Williams appealed the sack to an industrial tribunal, where company officials testified that professional organizations such as theirs had to maintain “a certain decorum,” and called her bannister slide “both reckless and extraordinary.” The tribunal agreed: it upheld Williams’ dismissal. “They don’t know how to enjoy themselves,” Williams complained. (AP) ...Blockhead Bannister Babe Bombs Branch, Breaks Bicuspid, Bemoans Blustery Boss’s Boot.