secretary fired over meatball snack after 34 years on the job (link)
10.07.09 - the local

this weekend, i'm heading up to massachusetts to celebrate my grandfathers' 90TH FRIGGIN BIRTHDAY. it's my mom's dad & he has a "keep smiling" coffee mug & he pretty much rules. obviously, he's been retired for a while, but when he was still working, he worked for the local power company (yankee electric) & did so forever, to the point where when he retired, the company threw him what, based on my memory of the photos i saw as a kid, was a big affair. in contrast, last year, my dad retired from the post office after almost forty years of service. a dozen or so friends & family had a bbq for him in a family friends' backyard. i guess the guvment isn't exactly in the habit of having big sendoffs for long time employees these days.

neither is the north rhine-westphalian building association, a germany company who, according to the local, fired a secretary after thirty-four years on the job. they did so because she took "two rolls and a frikadelle, a german meatball specialty" that were leftovers from a conference she'd helped set up for her boss. it's total bullshit, because everyone knows that if you're having a day of stupid meetings & there's food left over, it's fair game. you don't just toss it out.

this past tuesday, that secretary "faced her employer...in court to request that he give her a warning instead, saying the incident was not a classic case of theft." damn straight. her boss was all "whatever. she took the meatball snack. can't trust her. she's fired." she's 59 years old, so the chances of her finding another job are pretty damn low. proceedings begin next january & surprisingly, there's actually somewhat of a precedent for this in german courts. earlier this year, the courts ruled "that a former cashier for the kaiser’s supermarket chain was rightfully fired after allegedly taking €1.30 in bottle deposits." this is even more bullshit than that, so hopefully they'll rule in the secretary's favor. after all, it's just frikadelle.