2005 MOST UNBELIEVABLE WORKPLACE EVENTS

Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.,
released the following ranking of The Most Unbelievable Workplace
Events of 2005. These are the stories that are most likely to make you
ask, “What was that person/company thinking?” or “Can a company
actually do that?”
• The Whine-Free Policy. A German company initiated a strict no-whining
policy. Negative Nellies and other boat rockers are under a two-moansand-
out rule. According to the company, several workers have quit and two
others have been fired for violating the whine-free policy.

• We Are Family, Only. DaimlerChrysler’s transmission plants in
Kokomo, Indiana, have designated 80 percent of their employee parking
as reserved for Chrysler vehicles only. Any non-Chrysler vehicle parked
in a reserved area will be towed to Indianapolis, 50 miles away, where
the employee will have to pay $200 to get his or her car back.

• No Slack For War Wives. A Michigan woman was fired from her
part-time receptionist job after failing to show up for work the day after
seeing her husband off to war as a National Guard member.

• Rescue Squirrels On Your Own Time. A woman says she was
suspended from her job for spending too much time trying to rescue a
squirrel trapped in the ceiling of the library where she works.

• Executive Whipped Into Shape. An executive for a foundation that
funds heart disease research was accused of embezzling more than
$237,000 and using some of the money to pay for the services of a
dominatrix.

• Anyone Desperate For A Job? The National Labor Relations Board
refused to strike down a security company’s rule that prohibits
employees from getting together away from work. The policy forbids
workers from going to lunch together, attending each other’s weddings,
or doing anything else they might want to do with each other outside of
work.

• Productivity vs. Religion: And the Winner is… 30 Muslim workers
were fired from a major computer manufacturer’s Nashville plant for
adhering to religious doctrine that requires them to pray daily at sunset.

• Forgot To Wrap That Can! A worker with a good record and no
problems with his supervisors was unexpectedly fired from his job with a
beer distributor. While no reason was given, the firing occurred on the
same day a picture of the worker drinking a competitor’s beer appeared
in a local newspaper.

• No Hablas Español. Two Spanish-speaking hair stylists in Chicago
claim in a federal lawsuit that the company they worked for strictly
banned the use of Spanish, even when employees were on their breaks.
A sign at the establishment read, “Speaking a language other than
English is not only disrespectful, it’s also prohibited.”

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.©