What’s the craziest thing you’ve done at work? Used the office printer for personal use? Pulled a sickie because you had one drink too many on a week night?
For most that’s probably about as wild as it gets; however you’d be surprised what some people have got away with at work and the stunts that have been pulled!
Here are a few of the craziest things that people have done at work, to avoid work and to find work:
The man who skipped work for 6 years
For six years, a building supervisor in Spain continued to receive his $41,500 salary, without working a single day! It wasn’t until he won an award for his 20 years of loyal service that anyone noticed that he was still on the pay-roll despite not showing up for work at the water treatment plant for years.
When questioned about his absence, Joaquín Garcia’s reportedly blamed bullying at his previous workplace for his absence, as it had led to him taking a new role at the Water Plant, where he found there was no work to do.
García was recently fined $30,000 for the long holiday that he issues himself, which is the maximum penalty government officials could deliver; however, this is nothing in comparison to the earnings he has totalled up over the years!
The AirBnB host who lived in his office
George Tzortis was eager to quit his job as an editor at the U.S. Department of Energy; however in order to afford to do so, he first needed to save up some money. He came up with the idea that he could earn a bit of extra cash if he rented out his apartment to strangers on Airbnb; however this left him with no where to sleep himself. The answer? He started to live in his office, stocking the communal fridge with frozen meals and storing a pillow and bedding at the office that he would whip out after the cleaners left each night. He ended up saving more than $25,000 in six months and managed to quit as planned!
The guy who landed a job with a Google ad
How often do you Google yourself? If you say never, I don’t believe you!
After struggling in his job search, Alec Brownstein realised he was going to have to step up his game and do something special to get himself noticed by employers. He came up with the genius idea of taking out Google ads with the names of Ad Execs who he wanted to get the attention of. When any of them Googled themselves they were faced with his request at the top of the page that read “Googling your self is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun too.”
Over the next couple of months, Brownstein received calls from all but one of the creative directors whose names he had purchased ads on. Looks like the stunt paid off!
The “I Quit” video girl
Back in 2013, Marina Shifrin decided enough was enough and it was time to quit her job at the Taiwanese viral news video company, Next Media Animation. Seeing as she spent her days making videos, she felt it fit to say her final goodbye with a video of her own. The video features her dancing around an empty office to Kanye West’s ‘Gone’ on one of her night shifts, while her reasons for leaving scroll across the bottom of the screen. The video soon went viral and she even received an invitation to appear on the Queen Latifah Show, which then even led on to a job offer to become a digital content producer for the program!
Among all the hype her former company also went on to create their own tongue-in-cheek parody of the video in response to her resignation.
Sachsgate
Comedian turned presenters Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross were famously forced to leave the BBC in 2008, after they crossed the line with a prank involving actor Andrew Sachs, famous for playing Manuel on TV show Fawlty Tower. Brand and Ross were due to interview Andrew Sachs on Brand’s Saturday night Radio 2 show, however when Sachs failed to answer the phone, they continued to leave a number of inappropriate messages on his answer phone, including a series of crude comments about Brand’s relationship with Sach’s granddaughter.
The stunt led to thousands of complaints from the public and politicians, which lead to Brand and Ross being suspended from their posts. Brand later resigned from the BBC and Ross’s contract unsurprisingly was not renewed when it ended the following year.
