Let me make it clear that I am not a racist, bigot, or anything along those lines. I just couldn't believe the audacity of this woman. And she's only doing it 'cause she's Asian, and therefore can.
Apologies in advance to anybody that is offended by the above paragraph.
Apologies in advance to anybody that is offended by the above paragraph.
Daily Mail wrote:
How badly would someone have to hurt your feelings for you to believe that you deserved a £16.7million payout? Yes, that's 16 million, not 16 thousand.
It's a sum that could see a village through this bleak recession or help thousands of frightened families avoid repossession, yet Muslim bank manager Mona Awad believes that Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) owes it to her personally in compensation for sex, race and religious discrimination.
The 29-year-old, who has since left her £40,000-a-year job, will claim at an employment tribunal that two of her bosses falsely accused her of having sex with a client, mocked her religion and made sexist remarks.
Normally, I would be the first to support women who face discrimination in the workplace, but looking at some of the incidents which supposedly injured Ms Awad's feelings, my first reaction is to tell the sensitive petal to get herself down to any club or pub in the land for a swift reality check.
For example, if your male boss slaps another female employee's bottom at a horse-racing event in front of clients, it may not rival tea at the Ritz for gentility, but who in their right mind thinks it's worth 'aggravated damages'?
Ms Awad, that's who. Not for suffering it, mind you, just for witnessing it! Surely the person who should decide whether they're upset is the lady with the smacked bum?
HBOS actually upheld a number of Ms Awad's original complaints against the two sleazeballs in question. It found their behaviour fell far short of acceptable standards and both men have since left the bank. End of story, you might think.
Not when there's a giant cash register marked grievance to sit on and watch the compensation come tumbling out. Kerching!
Funnily enough, over Christmas I read a book by another woman who had to put up with atrocious old sexists who thought she was out of her depth.
For some reason, she chose not to sue (nobody did in those days). Instead, she beat them at their own game and eventually became the most invincible foreign reporter of her generation, male or female.
I refer to Dame Ann Leslie of this parish, the title of whose autobiography - Killing My Own Snakes - says it all. 'You're keeping a good man out of a job,' a Northern news editor snarled at her in the early years.
God knows, no one wants to go back to those primitive times. But what kind of employee has thrived in our more pampered ones?
Regrettably, Mona the Moaner epitomises a particular type that spread like fungus during the Age of Excess. People whose main qualities are zero sense of humour, zero sense of proportion and the ability to take offence at any kind of behaviour other than her own.
Look at another case in the news this week. Ron Dennis, Lewis Hamilton's boss, has been branded a racist bully at a tribunal by the former steward on his private jet.
Peter Boland accuses the McLaren chief of being 'culturally insensitive' to Middle Eastern businessmen because he offered them alcohol against their religious beliefs. He also allegedly said that he needed to wash his hands after 'shaking hands with Arabs all day'.
Now I have no idea whether Mr Dennis is a homophobic, racist bullying manager, as his ex-employee alleges. That's for the tribunal to decide. What I do know is that it's classic Moaner behaviour to claim that you were personally wounded by having to turn a blind eye to your boss's gaffes.
Would Jeeves have sued Bertie Wooster for having to deal with a hangover arising from insensitive abuse of alcohol on Boat Race night, or would he have offered him an aspirin and a pick-me-up?
Before the credit crunch, I have no doubt that Mona Awad would have been in line for a huge payout. (The previous compensation record for such a case was the £6.5million won by bond trader Allison Schieffelin in 2005.) Today, her claim to have 16.7 million quid's worth of bruised feelings looks like a gross insult to the millions facing real injury and pain caused, in no small part, by the banks.
There will be widespread and justifiable public anger if taxpayers' money, which bailed out HBOS, is paid to Mona.
We can expect many tragic casualties during this recession, but one thing we won't miss about the old, high-spending times is the matching greed of the compensation culture. Just goes to show: there's more than one way to rob a bank.
