Apprentices have long been the butt of workplace pranks but back in the 1950s there was one trainee mechanic able to claim this as a literal not metaphorical complaint. He was working in a garage when two of the supposedly more senior members of staff decided to pull down his pants and insert a rubber tube into an opportune opening. They then treated him to a pressured blast of air. The criminal courts dealt with the hose-wielding morons and the apprentice also took civil action against the garage owners. But they managed to avoid liability for the actions of their employees by arguing the men were off on what is known in the legal world as 'a frolic of their own'. Roughly translated, this means that inserting air tubes into the backsides of apprentices was not one of the duties the firm expected, nor encouraged, its staff to carry out. News which must have come as a relief to any teenagers still brave enough to be on the books.
