WORKER DEAD AT DESK FOR 5 DAYS New York Times
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 2:35 pm
WORKER DEAD AT DESK FOR 5 DAYS New York Times
Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that
one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for FIVE DAYS
before anyone asked if he was feeling okay.
George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New
York
firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared
with
23 other workers. He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed
until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was still
working
during the weekend.
His boss Elliot Wachiaski said: "George was always the first guy in each
morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he
was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was
always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself."
A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days
after
suffering a coronary. Ironically, George was proofreading manuscripts of
medical textbooks when he died.
You may want to give your co-workers a nudge occasionally.
* Moral of the story: Don't work too hard. Nobody notices anyway.
Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that
one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for FIVE DAYS
before anyone asked if he was feeling okay.
George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New
York
firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared
with
23 other workers. He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed
until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was still
working
during the weekend.
His boss Elliot Wachiaski said: "George was always the first guy in each
morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he
was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was
always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself."
A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days
after
suffering a coronary. Ironically, George was proofreading manuscripts of
medical textbooks when he died.
You may want to give your co-workers a nudge occasionally.
* Moral of the story: Don't work too hard. Nobody notices anyway.