Oddball Facts: Inexcusable Absence
by Miki Saxon
A few weeks ago I read an article in Business Week about corporations using security surveillance to check on people taking sick days. It was a list of high profile absences that I wanted to share with you and that gave me the idea for Oddball Facts as an occasional alternative to Quotable Quotes.
Of course, sometimes employees are at work when they aren’t; in other words, the body is present, but the mind is absent, which can have dire results.
Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, radio operators, Titanic: The duo were tasked with handling radio messages for the ship’s 2,220-plus passengers. Unfortunately, they didn’t heed significant iceberg warnings.
Typically, inexcusable absences focus on line workers who call in sick when they aren’t; most people assume that it’s more prevalent in lower levels and mostly on unimportant days, but that isn’t always the case.
There’s a commercial running these days for a cold remedy that features quarterback Drew Brees; the take away is that some people can’t miss a day’s work. But consider another sports figure that didn’t see it that way.
Manny Ramirez, MLB superstar: Playing for the Red Sox in 2003, he was out sick during a series against the Yankees. Though not sick enough to stop him from socializing with the Pinstripes’ Enrique Wilson at the Boston Ritz-Carlton bar.
Remember Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned? He didn’t have anything on this CEO.
Jimmy Cayne, former CEO, Bear Stearns: The Bridge Grand Master famously departed for a tournament as his firm—and its nearly $400 billion in assets—flirted with bankruptcy and sent Wall Street into chaos.
Many companies allow employees to work from home, even management on occasion, but how long would Wall Street tolerate the president of a troubled company who worked a third of the time from home, let alone a vacation home? Not long, you say? It didn’t seem to bother them when it was the President of the United States.
George W. Bush, former President, brush-clearing enthusiast: During two terms, Bush spent 487 days at Camp David and 490 at his Crawford ranch. One-third of his Presidency was thus spent “working from home.”
Flickr image credit: D Sharon Pruitt
