# Spanish Civil Servant skips work for six years! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967 "2016-02-12T20:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/1 "2016-02-12T20:56:38Z")
I found this amusing. Here is the link to the story : [http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/civil-servant-who-did-no-work-for-six-years-found-out-by-officials-preparing-to-reward-him-for-long-service/ar-BBpqw3K?ocid=ansmsnnews11](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/civil-servant-who-did-no-work-for-six-years-found-out-by-officials-preparing-to-reward-him-for-long-service/ar-BBpqw3K?ocid=ansmsnnews11) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/2 "2016-02-13T04:20:32Z")
My Hero. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/3 "2016-02-13T04:21:44Z")
The best part is they didn’t realize he wasn’t showing up until they went to give him an award. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/4 "2016-02-13T04:25:35Z")
> [@](#): > > The 69-year-old was not fired from the post because he had already retired. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/5 "2016-02-13T05:08:22Z")
I like this part, about what he did with his time: > [@](#): > > … read extensively and became an “expert on the philosopher Spinoza”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/6 "2016-02-13T09:28:01Z")
All he did was read about Spinoza at home instead of at his desk. Don’t see much of a difference… One of my great-aunts was a civil servant in Madrid. When she’d held the job for a few months, her manager called her on always being a few minutes late although not enough to warrant an official reprimand\*. Her response: “yes, but I come _after_ I’ve read the newspaper.” Her coworkers read it at work. - There actually is a national law defining “late to work” as “by more than 15 minutes.” ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-civil-servant-skips-work-for-six-years/745967/7 "2016-02-13T12:40:55Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > All he did was read about Spinoza at home instead of at his desk. Don’t see much of a difference… > > One of my great-aunts was a civil servant in Madrid. When she’d held the job for a few months, her manager called her on always being a few minutes late although not enough to warrant an official reprimand\*. Her response: “yes, but I come _after_ I’ve read the newspaper.” Her coworkers read it at work. > > - There actually is a national law defining “late to work” as “by more than 15 minutes.” In my country it’s traditional to eat gnocchi on the 29th of every month, hence the derogatory term for public servants of _gnocchi_… because they only show up at the end of the month to collect their salary.