What do drunken lemurs and a Dilbert cartoon have in common with a rotten catfish?
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What do drunken lemurs and a Dilbert cartoon have in common with a rotten catfish?
Perhaps employees need the right to sue employers when the bosses leave common sense out of decision making and then waste tax payer resources in an attempt to punish employees exhibiting a sense of humor. Consider the following: David Steward worked on a floating gambling barge, I mean casino. His employer was the Catfish Bend Casino that ran a boat out of Fort Madison, Iowa. Somewhere along the way he became misguided and figured his bosses had a sense of humor. They don't. After employee moral improved the bosses became suspicious about the cause. They watched surveillance tapes and discovered the problem. It seems that Steward had thumb tacked a Dilbert cartoon to an employee bulletin board comparing bosses to drunken lemurs. Now granted most of us have never seen a lemur, let alone a drunken lemur. And most of us might need to have our moods elevated when told of pending lay-offs. But no, not these bosses. No they saw it as a personal insult that any employee might use a cartoon at their expense to lighten the mood of the working stiffs down on the floor. In fact they were so insulted they resisted his efforts to get unemployment benefits while he looked for a job.
Lemurs are found naturally only on the island of Madagascar some smaller islands, including the Comoros (Almost sounds like morons but with a "C".) Their ancestors were displaced in the rest of the world by monkeys, apes and other primates, like bosses who work in the Casino industry. Some lemurs are larger than others and some are up only during the night shift. Many lemurs eat only vegetation although some species supplement their diet with insects. Lemurs have nails rather than claws and tend to be caddy. Not surprising most lemurs is listed as endangered or as a threatened species.
This is the type of case that shows how an employer with vengeance on its mind can use the system in an inappropriate way to punish an employee. In the end it's a complete waste of tax payer's dollars. The lobbyists work the legislature to create a bad impression of how employees try to defraud the system but in reality it's exactly the opposite. This guy wants nothing more than to work and earn a living. Instead his fired for posting a stupid cartoon that says nothing about his actual bosses. The bosses make a wonderful case for unionized labor in the casino business. Obviously the public would be better served if there was a union representative to intervene. I suspect removing a single tack would have saved us tax dollars.
But here is what we should do. To even the odds that it doesn't happen again we should all send the Catfish Bend Casino a Dilbert cartoon by email. Just click on the links and you'll be taken to the Dilbert's E-Cards link and then the email link to the casino. Or why not fax him a Dilbert cartoon? I'm sure he'd love it. Of course re-hiring Dave Stewart and getting him off of unemployment would also be an option.
Steve Morley is the Human Resources Director. I'm betting he'd love to hear from you.
steve.morley@catfishbendcasino.com
Toll Free: 800-372-2WIN
Phone: 319-753-2WIN
Fax: 319-237-1253
3001 Winegard Drive
P.O. Box 727
Burlington, Iowa 52601