A man from Spain presumably made history as he grabbed the headline for skipping work for six years and taking the whole concept of ghosting at work to a whole new level, all while getting his full pay. We all secretly wish we could do what he did and maybe escape to the hills for an infinite break from the monotony, but he did pay for the consequences later.
Joaquín Gracia, a civil servant in Cádiz whose prolonged absence went unnoticed until 2010, when he was set to receive a 20-year service award. He had been employed as a plant supervisor at a municipal water company in the state since 1990. However, due to professional negligence from a mix-up between two departments, each believing the other was overseeing him, Gracia vanished from work for six long years.
As per sources, in an ideal scenario, when an employee goes missing at work, HR or other people from the company contact the person and check up on them. Yet, thanks to the company’s incompetence and maybe Gracia’s luck, nobody found it. He was still being paid his $41,500 salary every year.
Reportedly, the 69-year-old man could not handle the work stress. Instead of filing for a transfer or simply resigning, he came up with an innovative solution and randomly stopped showing up at work.
Meanwhile, Jorge Blas Fernandez, then deputy mayor of Cadiz and the person who had initially hired Garcia, spoke to The Guardian: “We assumed the water company was managing him, but they weren’t. It only came to light when we prepared to present him with a commemorative plaque for 20 years of service.”
Man Skipped Work For 6 Years And Was Only Found Out After He Was Set To Win An Award: He collected a big salary each year and nearly got away with it 😲 https://t.co/eb7q4kvScT pic.twitter.com/daHuZ4WZA1
— ThatViralFeed (@thatviralfeed) July 14, 2024
Blas first thought that maybe Joaquin had retired or died and immediately inquired about it to others. Still, when everyone told him that they didn’t see him at work, he was really surprised, as his payroll indicated he was still actively employed.
Consequently, Jorge Blas Fernandez and Joaquín Gracia probably had the most awkward call in history, where the former confronted him. Directly, I asked him, “I called him up and asked, ‘What did you do yesterday? The month before? The month before that? He didn’t know what to say,” Blas recalled.
View this post on Instagram
His lawyer later claimed that Garcia had been a victim of workplace bullying and had chosen to stay away in fear of losing his job. Meanwhile, acquaintances revealed to El Mundo that Garcia had spent his time away from work reading philosophy.
As of now, a Spanish court ruled against Garcia, ordering him to pay a fine of $30,000, the equivalent of one year’s net salary, as a penalty for his six-year no-show. While Gracia sure did pull off one of the greatest workplace scams in history, mental well-being and burnout have been constant issues of concern in high-paying jobs.
View this post on Instagram
As per Euractiv, data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that around 12 billion workdays are lost each year globally due to depression and anxiety, due to psychological harassment, among issues like bullying and psychological harassment — commonly referred to as mobbing — being among the most reported concerns affecting mental health.
Similarly, a 2016 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that over 40 million people in the EU suffer from work-related stress and that depression linked to work costs Europe approximately €617 billion annually. Phew! That’s too many shocks for us to process. While we let you take a breather, we will be back with some more news soon.
