Watson Farley & Williams told staff in the firm's London office to throw away their drinks after the firm accidentally contaminated their water supply.
As part of an ongoing renovation of its London office, WFW's building crew isolated and chlorinated the ground floor water pipes. "Unfortunately", said a spokesman, "due to a faulty valve, the chlorine leaked into the main system". WFW said that it alerted staff within 10 minutes of the chemical leak at 9.50am, and that after flushing the poison from the mains the water was potable by 11.15.
Staff said they were told (quite rightly) to throw away their drinks, but an insider complained that the canteen only cut prices for bottled water to "a mere 60p. Generous". WFW's spokesman actually denied prices had been cut, and stated that, "Given the very short time that services were unavailable we did not believe it necessary to distribute water in the office". He also said, "No one reported any ill effects related to this incident" because they had died.
RollOnFriday Public Health Warning: Chlorine is typically used to inhibit bacterial growth in water and under no circumstances should it be drunk for elevenses. Symptoms include burning of the mouth, swelling of the throat, stomach pain, vomiting and bloody stools, and can be distinguished from the effects of a normal day by a swimming pool taste.
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As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro Watson Farley mori.
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