Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Do you really know your co-workers?

Jim Garrison of Highlands Ranch, Colorado went to work one day. It was a normal day; nothing out of the ordinary. They had a company meeting in which they had pizza brought in. At some point after the meeting, he ate 2 of the 6 pieces of pepperoni pizza that had been left over from the meeting. Unannounced to him, the leftover pizza was already spoken for. Some of the employees had planned to take the leftover pizza home. When those employees went to get their “gratis” food to take home, they realized that 1/3 of it was gone. These frugal co-workers were so upset they told the management that Jim had eaten 2 of “their” pieces.
This ultimately led to his termination of employment approximately a month later. First of all…he got fired for eating two left over pieces of pizza? Secondly…A month later? I thought this had to be a joke. Nevertheless, it wasn’t. What a nice bunch of co-workers, huh?
The one positive thing that came from this was the contest that he entered. An offbeat internet contest solicited stories about outrageous firings. He won! He had some good competition though. The runners-up included a furniture mover who was fired after he and a co-worker were caught fencing with some adult sex toys found in a customer's bedroom. Another worker was fired when he misunderstood a manager's instructions to send some sensitive data to microfilm and e-mailed it to a "Michael Finn" instead. Then there was the warehouse worker found doing perverse things with the prosthetics made by his employer.
People are strange!
Anyway, a panel of judges from Silicon Valley picked Jim as the winner from over a thousand entries. He won a Caribbean cruise!
Surely there had to be more to the story than eating two pieces of leftover pizza. Maybe he ate other peoples’ lunches on a regular basis, and they were just “fed up”! Or perhaps he was just “washed up” after bringing his wet laundry into the office to hang dry in his cubicle! Or maybe he would get people “wound up” by coming in to the office and pretending to be a cowboy with a lasso. Ok, enough of those feeble jokes.
At any rate, it seems pretty ridiculous to me. It seems logical that some of those runners up would have gotten fired for their actions, but to get fired for eating a little leftover pizza?

29 comments:

Alecia said...

What's amazing to me is how some people get fired for crap like that, yet at other places a person could be late every day, make obscene gestures, talk rudely to other associates, and be there for 25 years. Whatever.

Good post girly,
A

Lee Ann said...

Justice ~ hey! Exactly what I thought. I have to wonder if that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. He must have had problems in the past.

Alecia ~ Hi! I know what you mean. I had a post about work ethic once. I am simply amazed at what so many people can get away with. Funny, I tell my boyfriend all the time, if I did some of that crap, I would be at least reprimanded, whereas they get away with it completely.

Brooks Brown said...

Imagine the dudes faces getting caught in the sex toy sword fight. I wonder how they were going to declare a winner had the little romp not gotten broken up. On the other hand, maybe not. errrrrrr

Lee Ann said...

echeevo72 - Hey! Yes, how embarrassing. Don't you just wish you could be a fly on the wall in that scenario? ahaha

BadGod said...

All over pizza.

I think now, pizza is the greatest thing ever. (except for drunk college girls). I might have to agree that he should've been fired.

jiggs said...

I was nearly killed in a sex toy sword fight. They had to pull a dildo out of one of my lungs!

Lee Ann said...

Badgod ~ Hey! I guess I forgot the power of pizza with a man. I like pizza too, seems like it is most men's favorite!

Fred ~ Hey! Thanks for stopping by. Even cold leftover pizza? :)

Jiggs ~ Hey! I imagine that hurt! I would have like to have watched the jousting session:)

Lee Ann said...

Jef ~ Hey! When a company has bad management, you are better off quitting. I don't know if there is anything more frustrating than working for someone that just doesn't have it together (knowledge wise or leadership wise). As much time as we spend at work, it needs to be a good environment.

Becky said...

Some people just amaze me, with such a lack of compassion!

Rob Seifert said...

Chuckle, having been in management for a few years, I can assure you that Jim wasn't fired for pizza consumption. That was just the excuse they used in the end. The must have really wanted to get rid of him to reach for such a lame excuse. BTW I'm pissed at the inequities of the world! Highlands Ranch is one of the richest per capita areas in Colorado. If he got fired and is still living in Highland's Ranch, he's not doing too bad.

RCS

Lee Ann said...

rebecca ~ there definitely are those in the workforce that will step on anyone's toes to get where they want!

RCS ~ Hey! That is what I was saying to Justice, that the pizza eating thing must have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Lee Ann said...

Chris ~ Hey! Yeah, the tattling thing, not good. They must have truly had it out for him. I think that what goes around comes around, they will get theirs (eventually).

mojoala said...

Getting fired can also mean the difference of doing good at what you do or just mediocre.

Let's say that two employees both ate 2 pieces of pizza.

Let's assume that both employees do the same type of job.

The one to get fired will be the mediocre worker and other is the one that excels.

On the other hand if they are both equal in hard work, then the one not part of the clique that was frugal would be the one to get fired.

Stupid reasons for getting fired can boiled down where you stand in your job and with your co-workerss.

I would be in that position myself if I was a mediocre worker. I am not an Azz kissin conservative Republican whereas everybody that I work with and the owners are, so I am not in the clique persei.

My job is only safe because I am a kick azz programmer. Otherwise I would probably be fired for being a bleeding heart liberal, which is a legit reason in the state of Alabama....

Dave Morris said...

I'm not really surprised, it was probably some worm in middle management who hadn't gotten laid in months, drives a mini van and plays in Golden Tee tournaments.

Lee Ann said...

mojo ~ Hey! Yes, it is always best just to do your job to the best of your ability. Even at that you will have people jealous of you and try to get rid of you. If you do the best job, it makes it tougher for management to make that kind of a decision.

dave ~ Hey! hahaha, you could be right. Amazing - the power of .... (well I will be a lady, but you know what I mean) :)

Goan Pao said...

Guess the next time they have a lunch meeting Im getting my own lunch..have eaten way too much pizza at the company cost...

Lee Ann said...

goan pao ~ Hey! Just watch out for the left overs! =)

Carl Spackler said...

i think there is a website...urban legends or something, that has all these stories. they are all BS.

Lee Ann said...

I have seen that website. I haven't checked this story...you know what they say about assuming the news is right in what they report! I found this on MSNBC. Even if this guy did truly get fired for eating the leftover pizza, you know there had to be more that led to that.

Blake said...

That is a great firing story. I mean, come on, pizza? I personally like the sex toys one.

I wonder if I'll ever get fired for blogging at work?

Blake

BeckEye said...

Office workers are idiots about lunch. It's a HUGE deal. Just the other day, we forgot to ask this one girl if she wanted to order out with us. We tend to order out often (which I have to cut back on due to my shrinking wallet and expanding waistline) and this girl brings her lunch to work aout 29 days of the month. So, we just forgot and here she just happened to not bring anything that day. She made the biggest deal about it, acting like we shunned her and she pouted around the office all day. She kept making these little comments so we could hear her. I finally just said to her, "Hey I'm sorry I forgot to ask but I'm so used to you always saying no that it slipped my mind" and gave her a look that said "the next words out of my mouth will start with an F end with a you and have uck in the middle". She gave me a sheepish, "oh that's ok..." and still continued to give us the cold shoulder for the rest of the week.

Lee Ann said...

Blake ~ Hey! Well, you can rest assured, that if you worked where the guy got fired for eating pizza, that you probably would get fired for blogging at work.

Beckeye ~ Hey! I know exactly what you are saying. Waa waa, she should have spoken up, "I know I normally bring my lunch, but I didn't today, so if you guys order out, I want to!" I blame her!!!! Office politics are incredible.

Hotboy said...

It's hard to get the sack in my job, but once I got the sack (17 years old) for speaking to this very nice girl in the shop where I worked. That's why I'd like to live in America. If someone pisses you off, or give you the sack, you can just go home and get your gun and shoot them. Only in America! Hotboy

onan the bavarian said...

Qantas Airlines sacked a baggage handler for removing a camel costume from a passenger's checked-in bag and putting it on before driving across the tarmac in full view of passengers. Details

Anorion said...

leftover pizza took him on a cruise!

Next time my mother tells me to eat leftovers I am so totally going to oblige

Lee Ann said...

Hotboy ~ Hey! You got the boot for talking to a girl? Wow! I have never been fired from a job, but I dislike violence so much, that would never cross my mind. I have heard stories of disgruntled employees....does that only happen in America?

robmcj ~ Hey! Oh gosh that is hilarious. I know if I had been the person who had the costume in my bag, I wouldn't have liked it too much for him taking it out and putting it on. But since I am not, I would have loved to have seen that!

anorion ~ Hey! Thanks for stopping by. Let me know how that goes. You might be on to something :)

John Bryson said...

I would sever someones genitals if they ate my pizza.

Lee Ann said...

Zombie ~ Hey! Do you not like your job? What do you do? Just don't bring your wet laundry in and hang it to dry in your cubicle....that would be unforgiving! *giggle*

madhatter ~ Hey! Even cold leftover pizza? (Yeah, I know about men and their pizza) hehe

rm ~ Hey! Thanks for stopping by! You are right, he most likely had done it before:)

Lee Ann said...

awww Fred ~ cut with a scissors? mmmm, doesn't sound too appealing to me, sorry!

Zombie ~ computer geek? My boyfriend is a computer geek too, I even have a tshirt (that I wear to sleep in sometimes)that says I "heart" my geek. (hahaha, my mom says - "he's not a geek, is is a really nice guy"! she doesn't understand) Sorry you don't like your job. (the laundry thing....I just thought that could have been one of the annoying things he may have done to help himself get fired ~ just my mind working overtime:)