Features

There can be many reasons for sacking an employee but it might be a step too far to sack a worker over a slice of cheese. In the Dutch town of Lemmer, a court ruled that a McDonald’s restaurant was wrong to dismiss a worker for adding a piece of cheese to her colleague’s hamburger. McDonald’s rules state that staff cannot give away products to staff, family and friends; by adding the slice of cheese, the hamburger became a more expensive cheeseburger. The judge said McDonald’s had acted too severely in sacking the worker because the cost of a slice of cheese was not comparable to such a severe measure as redundancy. The sacked worker was not reinstated but was awarded €4500 (US$6250) in salary compensation.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’ − That is what James W Buttery did when he walked into a Subway ‘I restaurant in Hamilton, Cincinnati in an attempt at armed robbery. He said to the clerk, ‘This is a robbery, give me the money!’ He then jumped on the counter and attempted to steal the cash register, but the clerk pushed the bandit off the counter and he fled the scene on foot. Thirty minutes later Buttery entered a Family Dollar Store and again told the clerk that he intended to rob the store and displayed the outline of a gun against his jacket. He unsuccessfully tried to open the register and again fled the scene. In this case, perhaps it would be more apt to quote: ‘a failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience.’

In a case destined to set precedent worldwide, a Malaysian court has fined a man and a woman four buffaloes and a pig after they were found guilty of an extra-marital affair. The man’s wife lodged a complaint last year saying that she had found her husband wearing shorts at his second home with her colleague who was wearing a sarong. The Native Court in Penampang on Borneo island, Sabah rejected their claim that they were just ‘best friends’. Judge William Sampil said there was strong evidence the pair had had an affair and convicted them under customary law. They were ordered to compensate their communities with the livestock, valued at about 6500 ringgit (US$1900), and fined 1000 ringgit (US$293) each for their tryst.