Man Fired for Using Potato Chip Bag to Skip Work for Two Years

According to Yahoo News Australia, 60-year-old Tom Colella was a senior union delegate and had worked as an electrician for the same company for 20 years. Then one day his employers got an anonymous tip saying Colella had actually been playing golf while he was supposed to be at work at least 140 times during the past two years. Somehow, nobody had noticed his absence. 60-year-old Tom Colella was a senior union delegate and had worked as an electrician for the same company for 20 years. Then one day his employers got an anonymous tip saying Colella had actually been playing golf while he was supposed to be at work at least 140 times during the past two years. Somehow, nobody had noticed his absence.

Like other employees at his company, Colella had a personal digital assistant that tracked his assigned and completed job tasks and also had a GPS that monitored his location. Colella allegedly hid his PDA in an empty foil potato chip bag and sealed it up, which blocked the GPS signal and hid his location from his employers. Like other employees at his company, Colella had a personal digital assistant that tracked his assigned and completed job tasks and also had a GPS that monitored his location. Colella allegedlyin an empty foil potato chip bag and sealed it up, which blocked the GPS signal and hid his location from his employers.

Colella initially claimed the PDA had a glitch, but Australia’s Fair Work Commission, a workplace tribunal, declared there was no reasonable explanation for his potato chip bag trick other than trying to sneak out of work. He was reportedly golfing during work for at least 21 days during the month of April.

"Mr. Colella appears to have been deliberately mischievous in acting in this manner," said tribunal commissioner Bernie Riordan.