We all know that, on the whole, employment sucks. Who wants to spend 50+ years doing some tedious set of tasks to grind the wheels of capitalism? Well it doesn't really matter what you think, because most often if you want to stay alive and well you're going to have to. Boo.

It is therefore of little surprise that much time is taken up dwelling on methods of getting out of a few days work without encountering the termination of ones employment. There are no doubt many classic tales, but James Snyder and Mary Jensen went further than most.

Months ago, the couple had claimed to their employers, Tyson Foods, that their son was seriously ill. Supposedly bedridden in hospital, he of course would need the odd compassionate visit from his parents. Except he wasn't at all ill, it was just an excuse.

These smatterings of falsehoods were not enough to get the big prize though - a block of several days off. For that, funeral leave seemed the obvious option. They therefore created the story that he was on a life support system at the hospital, which in the end had to be turned off, leading to the death of their son. Duly, they received compassionate leave. To prove they had a valid reason, they brought in the following obituary they had submitted to the Waterloo Courier.

Dan "D.J." Reddout (1988-2005)

WATERLOO — Dan "D.J"” Reddout, 17, of Waterloo, died Saturday, Dec. 24, at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., of complications from surgery.

He was born April 26, 1988, in Waterloo, son of James Snyder and Mary Jo Jensen. He attended West High School.

Survived by: his parents of Waterloo; grandparents, Vern and Edie Reddout of Iowa City and Glenda Tidaman of Waterloo; an uncle, Kevin Reddout of Cedar Rapids; and two aunts, Janet Reddout of Cedar Rapids and Sandy (Randy) Lee of Stout.

Graveside services: were Tuesday at Osage Memorial Cemetery, Osage.

Memorials: may be directed to the family."

Unfortunately, in all this macabre but so far working-well scheming, they had forgotten one thing. Namely that they still had the son in question, and that, as he had been for the past few months, he was walking healthily around the town with no knowledge of his illness or death.

People who knew him sighted him in a nearby restaurant. Presumably fearful that they had witnessed a wormhole into the afterlife situated in the middle of a dining table, they alerted "the authorities".

Of course the whole lie became untangled at this point, and the employers were presumably rather annoyed. Perhaps not as annoyed as James and Mary though, as it turns out to be a criminal offence to pull this sort of stunt. Snyder has now been found guilty of "tampering with records" and has been sentenced to a year in jail. The unfortunate teen's mother, Mary, gets a mere 30 days for being an accessory.

The paper has put in place new procedures to stop these fraudulent claims happening again and is most keen to get the $50 enhanced obituary publication fee from the miscreants.

The Poorhouse applauds the couple for successfully getting a serious amount of time off from their paid employment. There are however lessons to be learnt by anyone else getting inspiration from this story. One key point would be to at least make up the details of the person who is dead if they are more than likely going to be spotted wandering around the area post-mortem.