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Employee accused of skipping work for 15 years
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- patates 6y agoThat made me vaguely remember the story someone once upon a time posted somewhere about his position being obsolete and going to work doing nothing... It's been so long, I don't remember enough details to search for it. Maybe someone here would help me out. Edit: I meant exactly what Tomte posted (see below), thanks!
- Tomte 6y agohttps://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/ https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/
- nicolas_t 6y agoThis could rather easily be turned into a decent movie.
- boxfoxdox 6y agoThat was a good one thanks :)
- codethief 6y agoSlightly nicer format for reading, along with some background info: https://github.com/bibanon/bibanon/wiki/American-Dream https://github.com/bibanon/bibanon/wiki/American-Dream
- bori5 6y agohttps://youtu.be/bU6m5UqLx9M https://youtu.be/bU6m5UqLx9M
- dukeofharen 6y agoReading this also reminded me of this: https://web.archive.org/web/20160523114950/https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/4km3yc/finally_fired_after_6_years/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160523114950/https://www.reddi...
- Joeri 6y agoReminds me of this story of a civil servant who was told to stay home until called, fired 5 years later when they discovered he had been paid all that time without working, ordered to pay back those 5 years of wages, fought it in court for another 6 years, and in the end won 11 years of wages. https://www.hln.be/binnenland/ambtenaar-krijgt-211-000-euro-om-11-jaar-thuis-te-zitten~a9873d31/ https://www.hln.be/binnenland/ambtenaar-krijgt-211-000-euro-...
- adamors 6y agoSo a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-show_job https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-show_job ?
- yosito 6y ago> The employee was a civil servant [in southern Italy], and was assigned to a job in the hospital in 2005. It was at this point he stopped going into work, the police said. > The police have also accused him of threatening his manager to stop her from filing a disciplinary report against him. The article gives a much different impression than the headline. Corrupt civil servant using threats of violence to siphon money under the cover of "employment" is much different than some rando playing hookey and getting away with it.
- ulzeraj 6y agoI thought it was going to be one of those fun stories about a sysadmin automating his work and it takes years to for their employers to realize that he've been doing nothing. This one however I feel no sympathy. I hope the public funds parasite gets punished.
- s_dev 6y agoReading between the lines -- is this Mafia related?
- bobthechef 6y agoNot an unreasonable suspicion. How often do you get to threaten your manager like that unless you have something to back it up with? And Italy, especially the south, is notorious for Mafia presence. Heck, they bombed a church when Francis condemned them.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoThe threat was almost certainly along the lines of "you know what happens to cops that narc on other cops" and not one of physical violence. Edit: yes I was wrong but cut me some f-ing slack for assuming the default.
- pc86 6y agoSince there's nothing in the article even remotely suggesting the nature of the threat I'm curious what your source is.
- jakub_g 6y agoThis was already on HN yesterday (108 points, 107 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26889281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26889281
- lifeisstillgood 6y agoOh I did not catch that.
- jakub_g 6y agoSince it got points, it means other missed it too :) No worries.
- JI00912 6y ago> The employee was a civil servant Apparently he wasn't. :)
- andoli 6y agoAs an italian, i'm a bit amazed that BBC wrote an article about this, and also that someone posted here on HN. As someone already pointed out, reminds me of the forgotten employee tale, except this guy is probably mafia.
- camillomiller 6y agoCame to say this. A random employee threat to a manager isn’t normally swept under the carpet. A threat from someone from a ‘ndrangheta background (the Calabrian mafia) on the other hand... This would explain also why a lot of the other managers involved were happy to forget about him for so long.
- Udik 6y ago> A random employee threat to a manager isn’t normally swept under the carpet Do you think that managers in Calabria actually check if the threat came from an actual 'ndrangheta affiliate or not? I think it's simply a matter of "looking dangerous" and the idea (probably correct) that reporting to the police is much more risky than just doing nothing. Anyone who has little to lose can behave in the same threatening way where there is no repercussion to be feared.
- capableweb 6y agoLying about being in the mafia can have grave consequences, obviously. Especially if there is a big media storm about it and you happen to live in the vicinity. I think it's pretty normal to give them "benefit of doubt" if they claim to be in any mafia, and stay clear of them, no matter if you think they actually are in the mafia or not.
- Udik 6y ago> Lying about being in the mafia can have grave consequences, obviously What do you mean? I hope you don’t seriously think that there is a mafia entity that is going around chasing people who casually claim to be part of it. Except for the higher-ups, the mafia is just a loose social network of people who don't mind using intimidation for personal gain. You don't even need (or want) to claim you're part of it, just act as if you're dangerous. The only risk you have (apart from that of the proper authorities) is that of trying to intimidate someone who is even better connected in that social network than you are.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoThat's a great fluff piece to bury the PM having just been caught in corruption ... can you see that story in the top 10 "most read" ... The story is there, it's hidden in a "top 5 things about Covid today". When something random and unimportant hits the top of BBC news in recent years that seems to mean there's a story on Tory failure/corruption being buried.
- switch007 6y agoThis, so much this. It's top 5 most read (#5) for me.
- estaseuropano 6y agoI don't see any corruption article on the BBC page.
- pessimizer 6y agoIt was very difficult to find: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56839459 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56839459
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bobthechef 6y agoThe BBC a Tory newspaper? Wow, that's a new one. Is the NYTimes a Republic rag then?
- dijit 6y agoReal talk, so please read charitably: 1) BBC has a policy of not going hard against the sitting government, this seems to be true regardless of who's in charge. 2) BBC is a large organisation, they have parts which are more pro-tory and others which are more anti-tory, but overall the anti-tory stuff will be a bit more curbed due to point 1. 3) David Cameron stacked the board with pro-tory people, this has little effect on the actual stories since the board has no direct involvement, but this could lead to a tory bias in some cases. citation on point 3: https://www.ft.com/content/7ba884c2-176d-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e https://www.ft.com/content/7ba884c2-176d-11e6-b197-a4af20d55...
- apples_oranges 6y agoMassive HR fail or fraud..
- rvba 6y agoMafia?
- jcims 6y agoPeak psychological safety.
- leroy_masochist 6y agoNice, a real-life case of "Quo Vado" (check it out on Netflix)
- forinti 6y agoReminds me of the Spanish bloke who studied Spinoza while he should have been working. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/long-lunch-spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-years-without-anyone-noticing https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/12/long-lunch-spa...
- KoftaBob 6y agoNew York LIRR employees: "he didn't get overtime pay for the fake hours? what a rookie".
- bobthechef 6y agoNo joke. If you work "too hard", apparently fellow MTA employees will kindly as you to "slow down".
- nullifidian 6y agohttps://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/09/07/160748725/episode-400-what-two-pasta-factories-tell-us-about-the-italian-economy https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/09/07/160748725/epis... This Planet Money podcast pretty much explains it.
- JetSetWilly 6y agoAbout a decade ago (or more) I knew a chap who had worked for a bank in Gran Canaria. He resigned, in order to leave for the mainland, but to his surprise his salary kept being deposited in his account. Rather than report this, he spent the next year "on holiday" at full pay, until eventually someone realised and the money stopped appearing. He said he felt a bit aggrieved by this - as though he was entitled to it. There was no follow up action by the bank. I expect that it is a bit embarrassing for a bank to make such a mistake and so they just decided to sweep it under the rug.
- thret 6y agoThere's three phases to any ongoing favour: 1. Gratitude 2. Taking it for granted 3. Expecting it as a right
- bob33212 6y agoAt least he wasn't slowing anyone down. I have been in several meetings with "Project Managers" who waste everyone's time asking for dates and estimates for their spreadsheet even after I have explained that this is an iterative process and we cannot expect to know in detail what tasks will be complete on which days and that we should give general updates with a rough ETA of completion every 2 weeks instead.
- ABeeSea 6y agoNo one expects the date to be right. But you have to have a plan to iterate on and learn from. “Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
- marcosdumay 6y ago> No one expects the date to be right. I have never seen this in practice. On my experience, every single person that pushes for estimations expects your date to be right.
- ThalesX 6y agoOh, I've seen the other kind too! Whenever I have a direct manager, the estimation is expected to be right. Whenever I talk to a manager that is not directly tied to me, they always push the "no one expects the date to be right" narrative. I guess the set of managers that have not been my direct managers is what you are looking for!
- bob33212 6y agoThen don't write any dates down. It is a basic communication skill to avoid sending out a spreadsheet with dates on it when you know those dates are not expected to be met. Someone reading it is going to assume that there is a problem if tasks are not completed by the date on the spreadsheet.
- datavirtue 6y agoJust give them a date so they shut up. Whatever date, is fine.
- rootusrootus 6y agoI have an acquaintance who goes to work at a pretty boring 9-5 IT job for a local insurance company. Sits down at his desk for a bit in the morning, then gets a cup of coffee, puts it on his desk, hangs his coat on the back of his chair, and leaves. Heads over to his real day job as a salesman for a local Mercedes dealer. Towards the end of the workday he heads back to the office, cleans up his work area, and goes home. Every day, like clockwork. Sometimes I wonder how often stuff like that happens and we don't hear about it. It isn't lost on me that I can (and sometimes do) accomplish a completely satisfactory amount of work for my job in a couple hours each morning. Now that we're remote, if I were so inclined I bet I could hold down a second job and not go over 40 hours of total work time.
- Rendello 6y agoAlthough the body of the story was quite different, the headline reminded me of this, "Forgotten Employee" (also mentioned in yesterday's thread): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17332440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17332440
- SaltyBackendGuy 6y ago> Now that we're remote, if I were so inclined I bet I could hold down a second job and not go over 40 hours of total work time. We had a guy do exactly that recently. He was working another full time job for several months before being terminated. Funny thing is, he got caught because he updated his LinkedIn.
- y-c-o-m-b 6y ago> Now that we're remote, if I were so inclined I bet I could hold down a second job and not go over 40 hours of total work time. It can totally be done... BUT I would not recommend it because the stress load can be extremely high. For one, you're constantly in fear of getting caught (even though many places have a friendly moonlighting clause now). You may have to juggle two meetings at the same time - which can also be done - though there's always that chance you'll be asked to participate actively in both. The money is nice, but the stress sucks
- KingOfCoders 6y agoI thought that was only a thing in the Sopranos :-)
- rurban 6y agoI am under the impression that this more of the regular case in Greece. There is no need to threaten your manager, because the manager also would have a second job elsewhere.
- Cosmin_C 6y agoThis is an obligatory watch with this thread - https://youtu.be/WDiB4rtp1qw https://youtu.be/WDiB4rtp1qw
- tpoacher 6y agoI have a counterexample to this story. I was once paid an extra £20k pounds by the NHS. I promptly contacted payroll, but just got canned responses. This continued for another 2 months, with me sending repeated emails informing of the mistake. The overpayments stopped eventually, but my constant emails trying to arrange a repayment continued for 1 year. I even went to payroll in person, and they basically asked me to go back home and send a letter. The whole thing ended abruptly when I sent a "final" email to inform them my contract was coming to an end, and most likely I would be leaving the country after that. I promptly received a letter from payroll saying in angry red letters something along the lines of: "IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT YOU OWE THE NHS MONEY. IF YOU DO NOT MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO PAY WITHIN 14 DAYS PROCEEDINGS WILL BE STARTED AGAINST YOU". So after one year of pestering them to get their act together, they gave me 14 days to arrange payment. Great. At least this letter meant someone finally opened a formal case, which meant there was now an actual human assigned to the case who I could arrange payment with. Since the money had temporarily put me at a higher tax bracket, I lost money from tax after repayment. I then spent another 2 years dealing with HMRC Tax Office applying for a refund. I managed to claim some, but not all the extra tax. In the end this whole incompetence parade cost me personally about £1k (not including time and money wasted chasing this up).