Thanks to today’s Sunday Telegraph for news of the onset of hamper hostilities between arch retail rivals Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U.
It seems that not only has Charles Dunstone, the chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, been sending hampers of goodies to his own shop staff, but he has also been sending them to employees at Phones4U, the chain owned by his arch-rival, John Caudwell.
Dunstone’s quip: "We know Phones4U has been having a tough time lately so we thought it would be a nice seasonal gesture. It was a taster for them of what it's like to work for a company that values its employees. Ho ho ho."
But Caudwell, who once famously banned internal email because it wastes staff time and has described his fellow British bosses as "corporate tossers", hasn’t seen the funny side - Phones4U staff have been ordered to return the hampers back to their sender.