a news story with a happy ending

Of all the dumb things …



28 Nov 08 @ 08:56am by Miranda Forster
Of all the dumb things …

Touch up ... Clayton Coughlan (right) and Dan Woods give Kyle Walters a "touch up" after he painted the wrong house.

A costly workplace blunder has turned into a brush with fame for a Brendale painter.
When Clayton Coughlan of Wet Paint-ting at Brendale was contracted to paint a house on the other side of town, he did not think twice about sending his third year apprentice to the job.
“He was two days into the job when the owners came back from holiday and it turned out he was painting the wrong house,’’ Mr Coughlan said.
But the blunder turned into a boon when Mr Coughlan won a radio competition which had music legend Paul Kelly turn up at his Brendale business on Tuesday to perform a set, including his song “Dumb Things”.
The then 21-year-old apprentice Kyle Walters said he was horrified when the error was discovered.
“I was crapping my daks ... I thought I was going to get fired,” he said.
His boss was just as horrified when he learnt of the blunder.
“The first thing I thought was: ‘How much is this going to cost?’
“I made an appointment to see the owner and to fix it up, and we repainted it back to the colour they wanted, free of charge of course.
“I was a little out of pocket.”
Mr Coughlan said despite the costly error it never crossed his mind to fire his young employee.
“At the end of the day it probably wasn’t entirely his fault,” the Brendale painter said.
“His supervisor at the time probably had something to do with it as well, and besides, he’s a great employee.”
However the blunder won a Triple M competition which encouraged workers to dob in the dumb things their co-workers have done.
The timing could not have been better for Mr Walters, who became a fully qualified painter last week.
“I always make sure I double check the house numbers when I go to jobs now,” he said.
http://pine-rivers-press.whereilive.com.au/news/story/of-all-the-dumb-things/