The 18 Cent Act of Stupidity

There's a short story today to drive home a point that I made about a year ago on battery-powered vehicles. Basically....this guy had a scooter that ran off batteries...not gas. He drives up to his bosses business, and plug into it. The boss figures this out. He uses approximately 18 Euro cents (CENTs, note), and then the boss decided to fire him.

The labor court convened.

Round one, the guy won. The company has appealed and tomorrow....round two will occur. Adding to the story....this guy had worked nineteen years for the company....so it makes it a bit difficult to stand there and admit firing the guy for 18 cents.

The problem here, which I noted would eventually come is that folks are trying hard to convince the public to switch over to battery vehicles. Technology is arriving to make this possible...but my argument from a year ago still stands....where do you charge at work and how will the boss handle this? Free power? No....no company will dare offer that. Most folks don't grasp the implications of this matter.

If you explained that a guy would need $2.00 a day to power up the car at work, and then a second $2.00 at home for this battery deal....would you be willing to pay that? Most folks would start to add this up, and then the battery switch-out cost (figure a thousand Euro minimum to dispose of the old battery and at least 1,500 Euro for the new battery for a car).

My guess on the German case? The guy took something of value from the company. Make him pay for it and then establish a policy that forbids use for something like this. Remember, if you didn't have a company policy written down....then firing becomes a difficult task. But after you make it a policy....and the guy violates it....terminate immediately with no ill will.