Where has the white rabbit gone?
Standing in the heat and waving to passing motorist is a thing of the past for Caltex White Rabbit Phillip Mthethwa.
WHAT has happened to the familiar white rabbit doing his daily promotional jig outside the Caltex garage at the eastern entrance to Empangeni?
Phillip Wonderboy Mthethwa, the man inside the costume, has seemingly gone AWOL from his post for over a month.
That is not the case, however. The ever friendly Wonderboy has been promoted and can now be found in the forecourt doing duty as a petrol attendant.
After losing his father in 2008 and being the youngest child with three older sisters, Phillip, now 27 years old, decided that to survive and support his family he had to get a job – any job.
After sweating it out in the blistering sun, dressed in a stiflingly hot rabbit costume for more than a year, his chance to take a step up on the ladder came when garage owner Mike French offered him a trainee position as a petrol attendant.
‘I had to start somewhere,’ says Phillip philosophically. ‘Life starts at the bottom of the ladder and you make your way to the top step by step, and just pray you do not fall.’
Now Phillip, who is still known to his colleagues as ‘The Bunny’, is happily pumping petrol, washing windscreens and putting a smile on customers faces with his upbeat personality.
‘My mom was so pleased when I told her about the promotion. I am definitely bringing more money home for my family and I am doing something I enjoy doing.
‘I want customers to leave the garage with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts. It’s who I am and it keeps me smiling.’
