Names
/“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
In 1987 an old lady joined Glasgow Tree Lovers Society, a charity dating from Victorian times. She was a pillar of the community, a retired school secretary and Sunday school teacher.
She soon gained the trust of the other members of the Society and was given the position of honorary treasurer. “Honorary” means of course that the position was unpaid.
At the time the Society had sixty thousand pounds in the bank. The new honorary treasurer, sole signatory on the accounts, began to siphon the money.
By the time the theft was discovered the Society had just seventeen pence.
She explained in court that she did not feel the charity needed all that money, so she donated it to children’s charities. As the donations were anonymous, there were no receipts.
Despite being convicted of serious theft while in a position of trust, the old lady was not sent to prison.
The most memorable feature of the case is her name, Bunty McSkimming. Should the Tree Lovers have seen her coming?
In business, is it permissible, or even acceptable, to prefer Tim Good to Tom Crook, on the basis of their names?
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Drilling an exploration well is always a tense time for those involved in it, even the lawyers and contracts specialists whose contribution is usually finished before the well is begun. . .