Friday, September 7, 2007

Worker Dead at Desk for 5 Days

WORKER DEAD AT DESK FOR 5 DAYS
New York Times, May 2003

Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for FIVE DAYS before anyone asked if he was feeling okay.

George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers. He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was still working during the weekend.

His boss Elliot Wachiaski said: "George was always the first guy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. "He was always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself."

A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days after suffering a coronary. Ironically, George was proofreading manuscripts of medical textbooks when he died.

You may want to give your co-workers a nudge occasionally.

Moral of the story: Don't work too hard. Nobody notices anyway.

6 comments:

imin said...

heyy lee chien
where r u from? =)

Lee Chien said...

hey, i'm sarawakian, been in KL (probably should say Selangor) for couple of years already...

imin said...

ohh hey =) im from kedahh

Apple said...

wow..yea, you know..
your hard work will never be recognized...but only if you did 1 mistake..then you will surely be blame for it. =(

aida.m said...

wahlau eh...got this kind of blog title also can still make friends one ha?

Lee Chien said...

apple, i totally agree with you, should work hard but not over hard..

aida, hahaha.. it's all about sharing ma... and the lesson of this news very meaningful...