If You're Gonna Goof Off at Work, Don't Blog About It

Hi folks -- got a couple of bloggy stories to wrap up the week:

Not a Good Idea:
Okay, this technically isn't a blogging story (since it sounds like it involves a paper diary and word processing program), but it should be: Emmalee Bauer, a 25-year-old hotel worker in Des Moines, Iowa, was fired for keeping a 300-page journal detailing everything she did to avoid work.

Ms. Bauer was reportedly told to stop writing in her personal paper diary at work, so she did: She just (allegedly) switched to typing them up on her computer.

Apparently, tippy-typing on her computer made her look like she was doing, you know, work:

"'This typing thing seems to be doing the trick," she wrote. "It just looks like I am hard at work on something very important."'

Darn it, she's giving away all my best secrets. It worked up until the point when her bosses found out about it.

They didn't like it very much.

The article includes other quotes from her journal (including references to killing time playing Elf Bowling). It's a pretty good read.

Also, during her state hearing where she requested unemployment benefits (denied), she used the "everyone else was doing it" defense, which traditionally ranks up there with "that's not mine, I was holding it for someone else" defense in effectiveness.

The article also states:

"In the journal, Bauer speculated that her writings might someday be published even though they dealt largely with the minutiae of her daily life such as rearranging the furniture at home, doing the dishes and planning for a tattoo on her lower back."

So she sounds like she's definitely cut out to be a blogger.

(link via Obscurestore)

Art Imitates Life:
Do we really have to say this? Please don't lick stop signs when it's really cold out. At least, not if you don't want to have to hear the phrase, "He lost some skin from his tongue."

As the article says, there was no word if the kid was triple-dog dared. (Another Obscurestore link)

This Is as Political as I Get on a Friday Afternoon:
If you've been seeing recent e-mails and blog entries about political bloggers with over 500 readers having to be treated as lobbyists, by needing to register their blogs: Don't even worry about it -- the provision was defeated. Please go about your business.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks -- Joe