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Admin Fired for Eating Boss' Food
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Save the Assistants
Lilit Marcus used to have a really, really terrible assistant job. So she quit. Now she is the Co-Founder and Editor in Chief of www.savetheassistants.com, “a blog for the beleaguered,” where assistants from all industries can submit horror stories, get advice, and more. A New Yorker via North Carolina, Lilit is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Newsweek, The New York Post, and Mediabistro.com. When she’s not trying to save assistants, Lilit lives, works, writes, learns to cook, and shops for vintage clothes in Brooklyn, NY.
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October 14, 2009
I have heard of some pretty damn stupid reasons for getting fired, but this one is up there on the top ten list.
A German secretary, 59-year-old Magdalene, was charged with putting together a buffet of food for her boss and some of his guests. After setting up, she ate a frikadelle (a kind of German meatball, apparently) and two halves of a roll that she had made into an ersatz sandwich. After another employee reported her, she was fired.
Let’s see both sides of the story, shall we? First up, Magdalene’s lawyer:
“She was of the opinion that her behavior was acceptable,” said her lawyer Wolfgang Pinkepank. “Bread rolls and burgers left over after conferences are always given to employees to eat.” Magdalene had taken the sandwich beforehand, succumbing to a hunger pang.And now, the company’s official response:
“Outwardly this of course seems like a trifling matter,” the company’s managing director, Hermann Schulte-Hiltrop, told Bild [a German newspaper]. “This is a highly sensitive case. When you lose your trust in someone you are left with a bad feeling.”In case there was any confusion on this matter, I’m Team Magdalene.
Thanks to Save the Assistants!
KJoseph
3 days ago
4 comments
Give me a break. This thing is as ugly as it gets.
BruceNY
15 days ago
2 comments
Whatever happened to asking? If you want something that's not yours, why not ask? If you don't ask, it's theft, no question about that.
I suspect there was an underlying conflict between boss and secretary, It probably wasn't about the meatball.
grios
17 days ago
2 comments
I agree with shandy!
shandy
about 1 month ago
330 comments
Really its unethical to eat the meal, when the meeting has not ended, maybe if the secretary had waited for the meeting to end, and then eat, its ok, but the meeting had not ended, and someone in the meeting can still request for more whatever! However, it was too harsh to have fired the Assistant for that!
sbledger
about 1 month ago
6 comments
Do you have any idea what Frikadelles cost these days?
Me neither. Sounds like a hungry exec wanted seconds.
editor
about 1 month ago
26 comments
For real. I can't believe this could happen. They probably would have just thrown it away anyway!
Sonyaj
about 1 month ago
4 comments
Obviously this company has an underling hostile corporate culture. Really, telling on someone for eating a meatbal and a dinner roll? Especially out of the buffet she herself put together? And then getting fired for it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to work there.
jforbes
about 1 month ago
16 comments
That's insane, not to mention expensive. The seemingly random firing of an employee is a huge drain on a company. It sounds like the management of this place is very poor.