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February 01, 2006
Don’t Dunk Your Coworkers in Pudding
With the amount of time many of us spend at work, it’s no wonder why we might subconsciously mistake our coworkers for annoying siblings -- and even get involved in some childish, office-drama antics.
A Swedish chef (no, not the Muppet) took coworker sabotage to a whole new level by attempting to drown his coworker into a cauldron of boiling rice pudding. The coworker suffered severe burns, from which he will never completely recover -- and legal proceedings are expected to follow in a few weeks. According to Metro Stockholm, the perpetrator said he didn’t intend to injure his colleague -- and that the fight erupted after an argument over the correct pronunciation of the film American Pie.
Next time you think your coworkers might literally drive you to distraction, get out of the kitchen before you dunk their heads in pudding. If you’re like me and your kitchen is an office, heed these tips to cool off.
For more restaurant/hospitality-related career advice, check out this page.
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Posted by Maya on February 1, 2006 at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments
So, I guess this means you can't hit them with a sandwich either? :-)
Posted by: John | Feb 9, 2006 5:22:06 AM
So the professional lesson of the day is to now try and kill your coworkers? I did not need to learn that.
Posted by: David | Feb 17, 2006 5:52:39 PM
Work related sabotage happens quite often and this situation is not so far from the truth. I have had staff do things such as: not give important phone call info, "lose" the mail, and mess with my desk items. this COULD drive a person over the edge.
Posted by: Susan | Feb 17, 2006 9:14:02 PM
Sounds like the lesson of the day should have included a discussion of job-related stress and some stress management techinques, or even a list of "It's time to consider a career change when . . ."
I'm with David -- if we don't already know that attempted murder is inappropriate, we have MUCH bigger issues.
Posted by: Suzanne | Feb 18, 2006 12:07:21 PM
I have been the victim of murder in the workplace and can tell you it's no fun. Instead of people just confronting an issue, they will do everything they can to sabotage your career instead. The latest murder was from a coworker who didn't like the fact the I knew the distributor sales funnel was full of #$%#@%$. I let her know, privately, so she wouldn't use the data in her funnel/close predictions and she used it to get me canned. Lesson here - let them burn themselves
Still burning
Posted by: Verne | Feb 18, 2006 4:07:20 PM
I worked as an A/P clerk for a cable company, nice job I really liked it I made one mistake, I mentioned I had some 'college' also plenty of compter knowledge of 'windows' before it was popular, well she really got back at me because I was after the 'promotion' she worked so hard for, I also made more money per hour than she did it was all out war when she found out. She sabotaged the entire office to get rid of me, she intercepted my mail,incoming and outgoing. She once sat on an outgoing check for six weeks until I got the okay from the bank(after placing a 'stop payment' on the 'missing' check) and then mailed the orginal missing check she had intercepted from the mail. How did I know it was her? There is no way checks could be held in the mail for six weeks and then mysteriously 'pop' up just as I mailed a second check.
This happned three times before I got fired. I was the first person in the office everyday and the very last to leave I did not want that 'bitch' touching anything on my desk. That was ten years ago I have not worked since...Guess I deserved the pudding.
Posted by: Alise | Feb 21, 2006 1:53:19 PM
You haven't worked in TEN YEARS? Or just not in that field? Can a bad reference hang around that long? And was there no way to counteract the sabotage with a supervisor?
Posted by: authorjln | Feb 22, 2006 4:55:57 PM
I am actually having serious problems at my workplace and just noticed this blog and thought it might help to share with others outside my corporate prison to perhaps get some outside perspective.
There have been several occassions where I was threatened twice by another co-worker in the nature that she actually was threatening to physically fight me outside of the building! All this took place in front of the entire staff including the manager! To top it off the manager did nothing and even human resources are protecting this particular co-worker because I believe they feel she is invaluable because she has been there for like 10 years and I have been at this place for only 8 months.
When I saw that nothing was being done - the co-worker was not even suspended - I went to Human Resources again. Well the whole time my boss kept changing the subject and was bringing up my "performance" instead. And a week later both my manager and the hiring manager in Human Resources interrogated me about my job performance. I feel if I hadn't made a big deal about the co-worker threatning me then my "performance" would not have become such a pressing issue. They even are pressuring me to quit! They made me take a day off so I could think about whether or not I want to work for this corporation. They won't fire me because then they would have to pay me unemployment.
Anyway, I feel like I am being harrassed and discriminated so I have been thinking about talking to some lawyers about this. And yes, I have been tape recording most of my last conversations with my managers if that helps.
My work environment is just extremely toxic and I feel I need to be active in doing something about it. I am not going to quit because that's what they want and I need the financial security of course.
Is there grounds here for definite legal action. I choose my battles very particularly and I do think this is one of them.
Thank you in advance for any advice or feedback
Carmel
Posted by: Carmel | Feb 23, 2006 8:13:02 PM
One night, Ithrew a hissy fit at work. I screamed yelled, kicked the file cabnet, and threw a chair. I was the only woman on the staff and the men enjoyed giving me the business.
All I got for my fit was suspended
The men still talk about it!!
Posted by: margo | Oct 14, 2007 5:55:57 AM
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