News

A contributor to Workforce Management magazine recently handed out the Awfuls, a version of the Oscars that go to the year's worst bosses. Competition was tough, but the antics at one California alarm-sales company stand out from the crowd. Every morning, managers gathered the team for a motivational meeting before they headed out to sell home alarm systems door-to-door. "The meetings had a pep rally atmosphere with yelling, chanting and cheering," according to the magazine. The gathering also entailed "passing out bonuses, singing in front of the group, pies in the face, eating baby food, wearing diapers and spanking with Alarm One and its competitor's yard signs." The spanking of employee Janet Orlando resulted in a lawsuit against the company after a paddlin' left her with a bruise and a cut. A jury awarded her $500,000 (U.S.) in compensatory damages plus $1-million in punitive damages, though the case has been sent back to trial due to an "erroneous jury instruction." Perhaps the judge could use a spanking.

BY THE NUMBERS

TOO MUCH INFO

62

Percentage of white-collar and knowledge workers in the United States who say they "spend a lot of time sifting through irrelevant information to find what they need," according to a survey by LexisNexis, a provider of business information services. More than 40 per cent said they aren't equipped to handle an increase in business-related information. Does that include surveys about information overload?

7.89

The average number of hours white-collar workers spend each day "conducting research, attending meetings and searching for previously created documents," according to the survey. Sixty-eight per cent expressed the hope that they could spend less time finding and organizing information, and more time using it.

WORST JOB

JACK BLACK

Actor and musician Jack Black didn't hesitate when asked by Metro UK newspaper to name his worst job. "Telemarketing," he said. "I was selling audiotapes of whale sounds. I thought my acting skills would come in handy but it turns out the best telemarketing salespeople had no acting experience and spoke in a boring monotone. People trusted them more because when you get someone filled with energy talking about whale sounds, it's off-putting. I was 16. I didn't know what I was doing. I lasted a week and never showed up again." Meanwhile, audiences are still waiting for those acting skills to come in handy.

LETTING GO

FLATULENCE AT WORK

A woman who worked at Metropolitan University in Leeds, England, says she endured constant taunting and discrimination because of a medical condition that caused her to experience constant flatulence. The unnamed woman, who suffers from irritable bowel syndrome, told a tribunal that "she had been subjected to fellow workers making sniffing noises and bowel jokes when she was in earshot," according to the BBC. A tribunal hearing dismissed her discrimination claim. The fact that she also claimed disability and racial discrimination may have helped take the air out of her argument.

Craig Silverman is the author

of Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech.