Categories: LifeWork

Headline of the Day: “Blockbuster Worker Stabbed Himself in the Leg in a Ploy to Miss Work”

combat knife The amount of work people do in order to avoid work never ceases to amaze me. If there’s a prize for this sort of thing, we might have to award it to Aaron Siebers, 27, of Denver, Colorado, a Blockbuster employee who didn’t think that simply calling in sick was enough. Here’s the report from the UK paper The Telegraph:

Facing a night shift at a Blockbuster video store, Aaron Siebers, 27, took a serrated knife and stabbed himself in the leg. For good measure he then slashed his own face and stomach.

Mr Siebers then told the video store in Denver, Colorado, that he had been attacked by three men dressed in black on his way to work.

After stabbing himself, he was hospitalised with a deep puncture wound to his lower leg.

But his ploy sparked a large police manhunt with officers and sniffer dogs combing the streets for his attacker.

CCTV near where the incident was supposed to have taken place showed no attack and, after repeated questioning, Mr Siebers eventually admitted that he had made it up to get out of work.

He has been charged with false reporting and obstructing police.

Joey deVilla

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View Comments

Chris Taylor says:

November 4, 2009 at 3:15 pm

If I hated work that much, I'd quit first.
Susan says:

November 4, 2009 at 3:44 pm

How about THIS guy?

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Swine-Flu-P.gif
Alyson says:

November 4, 2009 at 9:39 pm

Working at Blockbuster in the age of Hulu, Netflix and 800 HBO channels might be dull as dirt but I have to think it's preferable to puncture wounds and hospitalization, no? I mean, the shift lasts 8 hours - hospitals stop being interesting in 1/2 that time - and sometimes, you're still in the waiting room, having not yet been seen by a doctor. People's inability to think ahead is often astounding.
bnk says:

November 5, 2009 at 8:41 am

You may all be underestimating the end goal. Getting mugged and injured on the way to work not only gets you out of work, but likely would qualify for Workers Compensation benefits. There may have been a bit of fraud at work here as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he folded and blew the whole deal - or was he so stupid that he missed this angle?
dingobully says:

November 7, 2009 at 1:40 am

Nice thought, bnk, but generally Workers Comp really doesn't care what happens to you unless you're performing work duties i.e. "on the clock". Maybe he was emo and wanted to accomplish two things @ once.
bnk says:

November 9, 2009 at 9:23 am

I guess it depends on where you live. Where I am, it starts when you leave for work.
Joey deVilla says:

November 9, 2009 at 9:34 am

bnk: I wonder if worker's comp has been put to the test in the case of mobile workers like myself, where the concept of "workplace" and "on the clock" aren't so well-defined. It's probably new turf for some, but I've spent about a third of my career as The Man With No Office.