What do you think your firm would do if you painted a picture of it that was less than flattering ? Oh, and you happened to provide details of a bit of laddish behaviour, a touch of racism and the odd drunken exploit to a journalist, who subsequently wrote up a piece which appeared in the national media. Would it come as a surprise to you if you were subsequently asked to leave ?

Well, 23-year-old ex-public schoolgirl Venetia Thompson (apparently known as Posh Bird and Airbags - 'on account of my breasts') did just that. And her description of life as a junior broker at BGC International (previously known as Cantor Fitzgerald International) featured in an edition of The Spectator dated 6th February (although, to be fair, she didn't actually identify her employer at that stage). In the article Ms Thompson referred to her boss as 'one of the most disliked and thickest-skinned people in the City', and told of how he'd been physically attacked on many occasions throughout his career. 'Every time a fight broke out', she said, 'people would spread rumours in the market that he had been hospitalised or was dead'. This news was apparently greeted with 'merriment' in the office.

The article went on to detail long work days, which often culminated in boozy nights out with clients (a feature of the business BGC is in). And Ms Thompson admitted that she soon discovered that 'getting up so early (she rose for work at 5.45am each day) 'invariably meant not having enough time to sleep off the alcohol and thus meant turning up at my desk at 7am still drunk'. She also subsequently told The Daily Telegraph that, in the midst of a conversation with an important client, she once advised that she was 'sorry, I'm going to have to throw up'. Nice.

Soon after the article appeared, Ms Thompson was let go by BGC. She then agreed to be interviewed by The Daily Telegraph to tell her side of the story (again). This item appeared last week and the former broker had her 15 minutes of fame. She admitted that, after the Spectator article appeared, she was hauled before Human Resources and asked to elaborate further on her claims that some BGC staff had made racist remarks in her presence. She says that she 'let out a stifled laugh when the Head of Human Resources tried to get me to name colleagues who (allegedly) used the expression 'Feargal Sharkey' (cockney rhyming slang, it seems, for a black person).

Anyway, Ms Thompson's City career appears to be in tatters. And doubts are now even emerging about whether she was actually let go by BGC because of the Spectator article itself anyway. Rumours are flying that she may actually have lost her job for another reason altogether, and that she chose not to exercise her right to appeal the decision to terminate her employment. But fear not. All is not lost. Our heroine, it appears, is a budding journalist too. Her first piece has already been published by - wait for it - The Spectator (on the subject of Barack Obama no less). The newspaper has described our Venetia as 'a very talented journalist', and hopes that she'll write for it again. As Venetia will probably be able to cope with the odd boozy journalistic lunch, a new career in journalism appears to be a good match.

And the moral of this story is: 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'. But, if you really do have an issue with what's going on at work, go through the appropriate channels!

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