h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My dad is my hero. He isn't famous, he hasn't done anything famously heroic nor has he done any gallantly brave deeds, but he's my hero.

He was a draughtsman in a large company. His job was to create technical drawings, essentially design items, on paper. This was before computers and CAD.

One day he knew that a colleauge was going for an interview for an internal position. He found his colleague in the copy room making a copy of one of my father's designs, and changing the name to his own. This is one of the big faux pas in the industry. The original author must be credited, even if you are modify or amlost starting from scratch.


My dad made a fuss about it and was told by several people (some managers) to keep quiet and that when he went for promotion, he would be taken care of.

My father didn't do this and went very high in the company indeed. This caused a big noise in the company and several people came close to losing their jobs and pensions.

As a result, my dad was not the most popular guy for a while. And as the people he'd exposed mostly were his managers, he was stuck in a job and passed over again and again for promotion, until they were embarrassed to find he was the most highly qualified man in the department and had to promote him.

My dad taught me not to be afraid to rock the boat and voice my opinion when I felt I needed to.

My friends wouldn't thank him though. They say I talk far too much.

My dad said something to me once...

"Up until you get to about 11, your dad is your hero, he's what you aspire to be. From 12 - 20 you think he's a tosser and want nothing to do with him, then later in life you just realise he's an ordinary guy trying to raise a family and you love him all the more for it."

Then the tosser proceeded to get ratted and threw up in the road