German civil servant did nothing for 14 years

An unnamed German man retired at age 65 when his civil service position was eliminated. In an email letter addressed to his colleagues in the city of Menden, he boasted that he had done no actual work since 1998. However, in that time he had gone to his office and collected 745,000 euros ($980,000) in pay from the municipal state surveyors office. He blamed the waste on authorities who hired another surveyor to do the same job, leaving him with nothing to do. The man had been in the same job since 1974. Mayor Volker Fleige was upset when he received the email, and said the employee had never once complained before now.