Bonuses.

I must confess that, as an ex-Civil Servant, I've never understood bonuses. I had a friend who worked in the banking industry, and he happened to mention to me one day that he'd just had his bonus, and I said "What's that then?" and he said "It's a lump sum payment I get on top of my salary" and I said "What for?" and he said "For doing my job well" and I thought "But that's what they pay you for!". The idea of being paid extra for doing what you should be doing anyway always struck me as slightly crazy. And now it seems that you can get them without even doing a good job - no understandee!