Friday, February 10, 2012

Wackiest Workplace Stories Have Tech Angle

December 19, 2007

Workplace consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas unveiled its annual compilation of the year's strangest business-related stories on Wednesday and it should come as no surprise that technology played an important role in the wackiness.

▪ An announcer for London's Tube system was fired in November after recording spoof messages and posting them on her Web site. Some of the alerts told American tourists they were talking too loudly and warned male passengers to stop staring at female riders.

▪ Hip-hop mogul P. Diddy turned to the Internet this summer to find a personal assistant. Applicants had three minutes to showcase their talents and win him over. More than 10,000 Diddy-helper hopefuls applied for the position via video-sharing site YouTube.

▪ An Iowa woman was fired in January for misuse of company time – keeping an electronic diary about how she avoids work. Some of the entries detailed her efforts to fool management into believing she was hard at work, usually by furiously typing. The entire 300-page, single-spaced tome was written on the clock with a company computer.

Non-tech stories involved a South Korean bank that sent its employees on blind dates; a hotel chain's job posting for a Chief Beer Officer position; an architecture firm's moon-based design project; and a Thai law enforcement program involving "Hello Kitty" armbands.

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Juliana Gruenwald

Tech Writer

E-Mail: jgruenwald@nationaljournal.com.


Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


Josh Smith

Tech Reporter

E-Mail: joshsmith@nationaljournal.com.


Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.