1. FEATURE STORY: WE COULDN'T MAKE THIS UP: YEAR-END ROUNDUP
The "best" and the "worst" of 2009 from workplaces around the globe…
Worst Retirement Party Ever: A 60-year-old man in Japan was celebrating his retirement when his colleagues threw him up in the air — but failed to catch him, letting him fall to the floor. The man was left paralyzed, and he died of blood poisoning 10 months after the retirement party. His wife filed a police complaint accusing his colleagues of gross negligence.
Best Performance Self-Appraisal: A U.S. Department of Energy manager pleaded guilty to falsifying his own performance evaluation in order to justify an annual performance award to which he was not entitled. As the resource manager in the Office of Public Affairs, he was the one responsible for overseeing the process through which many public affairs employees received annual performance awards.
Worst Labor Negotiation Tactic: Unhappy French workers resorted to "bossnapping" in light of impending layoffs. In a handful of plants in France, workers have held managers hostage overnight as a tactic to negotiate better layoff terms. One executive was trapped for an hour in a taxi by employees until riot police intervened. Although bossnapping is reportedly considered a last-resort measure, 45% of French people polled found the practice acceptable.
Best Choice of Scapegoat: An administrative assistant at a church in Washington was accused of stealing more than $73,000 by forging the pastor's signature on 80 checks. But, of course, the devil made her do it! The AP reported that she told detectives, "Satan had a big part in the theft."
Worst Choice of Extracurricular Activity: A fourth-grade teacher was allegedly moonlighting as a prostitute, posting ads for her services on Craigslist.com. Acting on a tip, local authorities arranged to meet with her on a school day afternoon. The teacher allegedly used a school computer to set up the meeting and took half of a sick day for the rendezvous, where she was immediately arrested.
Best Incentive to Proofread More Carefully: A Pennsylvania attorney's fees were slashed from more than $180,000 to about $26,000 because the documents he'd submitted in court were riddled with errors. Among them: numerous typos; cutting and pasting from a different case document without changing any names or dollar figures; misidentifying a defendant named Andrew as "Richard," "Ritchard," or "Anthony"; and referring to a U.S. Supreme Court dissenting opinion as a concurring opinion.
Worst Time to Terminate: In Madison, WI, a manager allegedly called a nurse out of surgery in order to tell her she was being laid off. Although other clinical staff members were present and the patient was ultimately not affected, the manager violated patient care procedures — and common sense.
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