This story goes back to the 60s.
The economy was on the up. The consumer society was under way, and people started spending after the meagre immediate post war-years.
Many young people saw an opportunity. One of them was Tim. He soon realised that a television set would be a must in all homes in the years to come, and he raised money in the bank to set up a shop in High Street. Televisions, radios and records.
Business was good, more than good. Tim The Telly Man his shop was named. Soon he had to employ extra staff, the shop was extended and he became the symbol of the modern entrepreneurial man in town. And he got himself a fast and fancy new estate car for deliveries to customers. You just saw the back of Tim The Telly Man, it said in big bright letters on the back of the car. Thinks were moving fast.
One thing wasn't moving so fast, though. It was Tim's father. At that time I worked in a furniture factory in town, and one of my fellow workers was Tim's old man. He was not in the production line properly speaking, but moved around the shop floor to do the odd jobs of cleaning, small repairs and applying a few drops of oil or a bit of grease to the machinery. And he didn't move fast. Not at all.
One day I noticed a grin on the other workers' faces, when Tim's father was in the vicinity. When he slowly made his way past where I was standing, I found out why. A sheet of paper had been taped to his back: You just saw the back of Tim The Telly Man's Dad, it said in big bright letter.
This shows that harassment at work goes back at least to the days of black and white television, if not further, and that behind every son - sometimes far behind - there's a father.