A 69-year-old Spanish man was fined after failing to show up for work — where he was meant to be supervising the construction of a water treatment plant — for at least six years.
Joaquín García, a civil servant, was only found out when the deputy mayor attempted to give him an award for 20 years of “loyal and dedicated” service in 2010.
“I thought, where is this man?” the deputy mayor said. “Is he still there? Has he retired? Has he died?”
The court case, which came to a close this week, found García guilty and issued him with a fine of $30,000.
The investigation into García found that he hadn’t been to his office for at least six years and possibly as long as 14 years and had done “absolutely no work” between 2007 and 2010.
With all that free time, García became “an avid reader of philosophy and an expert on the works of Spinoza,” according to the Guardian.
How could this possibly occur? Well, the water company thought the city council was in charge of García, while the city council thought the water company was in charge of him. D’oh.
A water company manager even admitted to not having seen García for years despite having an office across from him.
Meanwhile, García argued that he was bullied and given a job with no actual work to do because of his socialist politics.