Man Fired For Skipping Work to Keep His Yankee Stadium Streak Alive

By Eric B. Meyer

You’re probably thinking to yourself, “What kind of person cares that much about going to a baseball game that he would risk losing his job over it?”

The guy who hasn’t missed a Yankees home game for 38 years.

According to a CBS2 New York report, Joseph Neubauer, who hadn’t missed a Yankees home game since the 1970’s, was fired from his position because he didn’t want to mess up an attendance streak at Yankee Stadium.

Out of PTO, he skipped work for game

It all went down last year. Neubauer, who worked for the City of New York, was scheduled to attend a night game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, the game was rained out and rescheduled for the following afternoon. Neubauer, who had run out of paid time off, opted to skip work to keep his attendance streak alive.

And, for that, he got fired.

Now, before you start tuning up the violin, the CBS2 story further notes Mr. Neubauer’s attendance issues went far beyond one unexcused absence:

A Judge suspended him for 60 days without pay in 2011 for going to Phoenix for the All-Star game even though his vacation request had been denied.

A year prior to that Neubauer had been suspended for 25 days after calling out sick for 13 Yankee games. Despite his problems in the past, Neubauer said he just wants his job back.”

Well, at least now, nothing stands in the way of Neubauer attending the Yankees’ playoff games this season.

Oh…

This was originally published on Eric B. Meyer’s blog, The Employer Handbook.