{"id":13174,"date":"2024-07-10T19:44:16","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=13174"},"modified":"2024-07-10T19:44:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:44:16","slug":"man-skipped-work-for-6-years-and-was-only-found-out-after-he-was-set-to-win-an-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=13174","title":{"rendered":"Man skipped work for 6 years and was only found out after he was set to win an award"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man in Spain was set to be recognized for his long service with the company.<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve all heard about The Invisible Man, but how about the invisible employee?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a world where many people wish they could get away with skipping work for a day or two, a man in Spain took things to a whole new level.<\/p>\n

Meet Joaqu\u00edn Garc\u00eda, 69, the man who skipped work for six years without anyone noticing\u2014until he, quite ironically, won an award for his long service.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n

The employee hadn’t come to work for six years (Getty stock images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

It all started innocently enough. Joaqu\u00edn, a building supervisor for a water treatment plant in C\u00e1diz, Spain, had been employed by the local\u00a0government<\/a>\u00a0for more than 20 years. As time went on, the work environment became increasingly stressful, leading Joaqu\u00edn to adopt a rather unconventional approach to coping: he simply stopped showing up.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, this plan worked for six whole years. During this time, Joaqu\u00edn still collected his annual salary of\u00a0$41,500<\/a> – even though he wasn\u2019t doing any work at all.<\/p>\n

One might wonder how such a thing could go unnoticed. The answer lies in a mix of bureaucratic oversight, the complex structure of the workplace, and a generous dose of luck.<\/p>\n

Joaqu\u00edn\u2019s absence was conveniently overlooked due to a mix-up between two departments, each assuming the other was responsible for overseeing his duties.<\/p>\n

The situation took a hilarious turn when Joaqu\u00edn was nominated for an award for his 20 years of service to the company. Imagine the surprise of his supervisors when they called him in for the ceremony and discovered he hadn’t set foot in the office for six years.<\/p>\n

The absent worker has since been ordered to pay back $30,000, the maximum he could be penalized for, the BBC reported.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n

The man’s absence wasn’t noticed for six years (Getty stock images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

When questioned, Joaqu\u00edn admitted to not working but claimed he had been a victim of workplace bullying and had initially stopped attending to avoid conflict. He maintained that he had been studying philosophy in his spare time, making the most of his unplanned sabbatical.<\/p>\n

“I wondered whether he was still working there, had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary,” deputy mayor Jorge Blas told Spanish newspaper\u00a0El Mundo<\/em>, according to\u00a0The Local.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI called him up and asked him, \u2018What did you do yesterday? The month before, the month before that?\u2019 He didn\u2019t know what to say,\u201d Blas said.<\/p>\n

In the end, Joaqu\u00edn was fined $30,000 for his prolonged absence, the maximum penalty that could be imposed, as reported by the BBC. However, he launched a petition against the fine, and some people even admiring his audacity, as well as being amused by the absurdity of the situation.<\/p>\n

So, the next time you daydream about skipping work for a while, remember Joaqu\u00edn Garc\u00eda, the man who turned an accidental extended leave into a legendary tale.<\/p>\n

Just don’t expect to win any awards if you follow in his footsteps!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The man in Spain was set to be recognized for his long service with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":131,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13174\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}