A trip taken by one or more co-workers during the
work week, which has no legitimate
work or family purpose, and is achieved through misdirection to fool
work colleagues into believing it is a legitimate family trip and to fool spouse/family into believing it is a legitimate business trip. When executed properly, this seldom used,
high-risk tactic, can result in significant
time away from both work and family but often results in awkward silences with or nonsensical explanations to co-workers and apologies to spouses and/or family members. The “flea flicker” is considered an extreme variant of the “stretch.”
Worker 1: Have you
seen co-worker X, Y or Z this week?
Worker 2: No, I thought they were in
New York for meetings.
Worker 1: There are no meetings in
New York this week, they must be running the flea flicker again and I can’t wait to hear the explanations for their simultaneous disappearances.