The weird workplace

Please don't come again'; Hanging tough; Grooving to safety; Bus-ted in New Zealand; Taking one for the team

Grooving to safety
GUERNSEY, U.K. — Safety videos can be dull as dishwater. Passengers everywhere tune out as soon as they start. So Condor Ferries in the United Kingdom tried a different approach — much to the amusement of social media. The company debuted a two-and-a-half-minute “safety rap” on YouTube featuring three staff members. “I’m the C.A.P.T. to the A.I.N. and I’m here to let you know that once you hear that whistle blow, my instructions will fol-low,” says the jiving captain at the start. Two lively crew members then dance away, singing, “Life jackets, life jackets, they’re right beneath your seat. They’re bold and bright, with a whistle and light, and look so very neat.” The captain later appears, holding a shoe, crooning, “Ladies, hey ladies, you have to realize, sharp objects can’t go on our slides, so leave those heels behind,” before the video ends with the three uniformed employees grooving to the beat. While one online fan commented, “This was actually very enjoyable. Much better than American Airlines’ skit,” another was less keen: “I think I’d rather drown.” 

'Please don't come again'
HAGERSTOWN, MD. — Nearly 100 years after women were allowed to vote nationally in the United States, there are still a few holdouts, judging by a customer service issue in Hagerstown, Md. Ella May Rudd took her Hummer H2 into a Maaco body shop for repair but when she was unsatisfied with the service, she posted a scathing review on Facebook, according to the Associated Press, calling the franchise “crooks, rude people and liars.” In response, a Maaco employee left a threatening voicemail on her husband’s phone: “I was just personally attacked by your wife on Facebook and I don’t appreciate it at all, pal,” he said. “So I want you to get her in check before there’s a big (expletive) problem here on my end.” Rudd ended up posting the recording on social media and, not surprisingly, Maaco said the body shop worker would be suspended, along with going through diversity and anger management training.
 
Hanging tough
MINNESOTA — We all have mornings when we’re rushing to work and realize we’ve forgotten something — our glasses, earrings or a sweater, say. But one weatherman for Fox 9 in Minnesota was particularly distracted recently. Live on air, he was starting his preamble about the weather conditions when he could be seen fidgeting uncomfortably, leading the co-anchor to ask him if he had a kink in his neck. Seconds later — to the amazement and amusement of his colleagues — the weatherman reached back and pulled a metal coat hanger out of the back of his suit. Tossing it on the news desk, he joked, “I thought it was just a tight button. Never mind, can we just get to the weather…?”

Bus-ted in New Zealand
AUCKLAND, N.Z. — For bus drivers, driving the same ol’ route every day probably can get rather dull. But is it really the best time to catch up on daily news? One Auckland bus driver was recently filmed reading a newspaper while driving the vehicle through traffic, according to the New Zealand Herald. Footage shot by a passenger shows the man casually flipping through the paper, spread across the steering wheel, as the bus cruises along, comes to a traffic light, and then continues on its route. The driver was “a complete idiot,” says Ritchies Coachlines boss Andrew Ritchie. “I am absolutely amazed by how absolutely stupid the guy is. Bloody irresponsible behaviour to the first degree, I can’t believe it,” he said. While not able to discuss details of the disciplinary process, Ritchie said the driver will be dealt with. 

Taking one for the team
PORTLAND, ORE. — Being a teacher has to be one of the toughest jobs in the world. They face all kinds of assault — verbal and physical. But one physics teacher truly took one for the team recently during a science demonstration, according to the Daily Mail. A video on YouTube shows a classroom with a man lying on the ground (apparently the teacher) with a cinder block on his chest balanced on a piece of wood with nails sticking down into his chest. Another man (apparently a staff member), with an axe held high, stands above, straddling him. With students watching in the background, the man swings the axe down — in an attempt to crush the block — but misses and strikes the teacher’s genitals with the blunt end of the axe. “The teacher walked funny for like a couple of days and then he was just fine,” said student Haneef Mubarak on Reddit. And fear not — a second swing of the axe saw the cinderblock crumbling, and the man on the floor wincing in pain.

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