Beachcomber got this from a fan of Flotsam and Jetsam in Savusavu.

My husband hired one of his nephews to work at a renowned resort in Savusavu where he managed. He kept a close watch on his nephew to control the impending embarrassment he knew was sooner or later to come!

On the day his nephew finally didn’t show up, my husband checked with his HOD. He was told that the nephew had not shown up for work and had not called. The second day, the HOD confirmed that the nephew hadn’t shown up again.

“No call?”

“No boss!”

“No sick sheet?”

“No sign of one!”

“OK set! Thank you!”

The third day dawned and still no show of the nephew so off my husband drove to the spot where he knew he was likely to find his country-raised nephew.

Sure enough he found him plonked in front of the home copra dryer sitting with an uncle surrounded by chopped coconuts with a copra knife in his hand. He looked pretty formidable hacking away at the meat of the nuts in a background of smoke!

My husband wound the window of the van down and in a rage yelled, “Woe! What happened to you? Why haven’t you come to work? It’s been three days now! And make it worse, I have to come look for you! Why didn’t you at least call me?”

The nephew’s brow didn’t so much as crease. He looked up casually. With half a coconut in his left hand and the copra knife in his right, he lifted up his hands and shrugged his shoulders heavily and exclaimed: “At least I’m doing something!”