In this modern world, you have to work hard to get anywhere, right? Maybe not. The ten people in this article are showing off the value of slacking off. Whether at home, at school or at the office, they take laziness to the next level and look awesome doing it.
John Beale
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Slackers tend to flock to government jobs, as the grinding wheels of bureaucracy tend to mask the sound of sleeping at your desk. Case in point, the amazing career of John Beale. The Princeton-educated lawyer began working for the Environmental Protection Agency in 1987 an, by all accounts, excelled there, helping write portions of the Clean Air Act. However, starting in 2000, he started taking Wednesdays off. When his superior inquired why, Beale told him that he was working for the CIA on those days. He obviously wasn't, but this charade continued for years. In 2008, he took a whole six months off from the EPA with pay, and even after he retired in 2011, he continued to draw his whole salary until an investigation revealed the $1.3 million of his fraud. (Photo courtesy of: CSPAN)
AK Verma
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How many days do you think you could get away with not going to work? Three? Four? Gaze upon the visage of AK Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department in New Delhi, who managed to skip going to the office for a staggering 24 years without getting fired. Verma went on leave in 1990 and, when an extension was denied, just decided to stop showing up. In 1992, he was convicted of "willful absence of duty," but it took the government until January of 2015 to actually fire him. I'm sure it'll look great on his resume, though. (Photo courtesy of: Ibnlive)
Howard Dean
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Here's another taxpayer-funded employee who had absolutely no compunctions about slacking off to an insane degree. Howard Dean was a food services director for New York's Department of Correctional Services who really liked three-day weekends. He liked them so much, in fact, that from 1992 to 2008 he didn't work a single Friday. Of course, Dean marked his timesheet to get paid for those very casual Fridays off, and investigators say that cost the state in excess of $230,000. Once found out, Dean was sentenced to six months in prison and fines of $100,000. (Photo courtesy of: New York Department of Corrections)
Kuang Zhengxuan
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One key ingredient to a successful slacker lifestyle is having parents who will put up with your laziness. Chinese bachelor Kuang Zhengxuan sponged off of Mommy and Daddy successfully until the age of 29, at which point they booted him out of the house. His response? Take them to court. In Kuang's opinion, he just doesn't have the necessary skills to support himself in the big bad world, but his parents do. Right now he's working part-time sitting for portraits at a local art school, but even a job that consists of nothing but sitting is too hard for him. (Photo courtesy of: via CCTV News)
OPhil Fendick
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Love is a many-splendored thing, but it can also make people act pretty ridiculous. When British man Phil Fendick was dumped by his girlfriend Marie Harden for texting with another bird, that should have been the end of their relationship. But the impossibly lazy Phil moved next door to spend all day in bed playing video games and, staggeringly, convinced Harden to continue to cook all of his meals! The layabout says he intends to find a job but hasn't come across one that meets his high standards. (Photo courtesy of: Joi Ito via Flickr CC)
William Morse
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One government job that has earned a reputation for laziness is the humble mailman. It seems that there are dozens of stories about mail carriers just dumping letters everywhere but the proper mailbox, but William Morse pushes things to the limit. The Kentucky postman would often cut his route early to pick his kids up from school, and he stowed the undelivered mail in his dead mother's basement. When postal investigators followed up on customer complaints, they discovered a staggering 45,000 letters in crates along with a storage unit he'd rented to hold even more. (Photo courtesy of: Kentucky Department of Corrections)
Susan Moore
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Ladies aren't immune to the lure of laziness, as Susan Moore can show. Dubbed by the Sun the "laziest woman in Britain," Moore collected government unemployment benefits for a staggering 16 years straight. These benefits are contingent on the recipient looking for a job, but Moore never bothered. She was actually offered a gig at a supermarket, but didn't take it because it was 5 miles away. When the government put her in a job training course and even paid for a taxi to take her, it looked like things were picking up, but one day the taxi didn't show up, so she quit the class. That's next-level slacking.
(Photo courtesy of: The Sun)
Emperor Wan Li
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Let's dive back into the mists of history for an example of epic laziness. Wan Li took the throne of China at the tender age of nine, and was spoiled by his mother and a court of suck-ups. This is the perfect recipe for a slacker, and Wan Li didn't disappoint. At the age of thirty-seven, disgusted by the work of ruling, the Emperor completely gave up on even the pretense of governance. For twenty years, he skipped every meeting, refused to appoint new ministers, and his inaction led to the downfall of the Ming dynasty. (Photo courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons)
Kevin Pyle
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Owning a pet is a serious responsibility, but slackers aren't cool with responsibility. So when British man Kevin Pyle was told he needed to regularly walk his bull mastiff, his innate laziness caused him to come up with a plan. With his son Karl behind the wheel, Kevin leashes up the dog and hangs his arm out the passenger window, taking the animal for a walk without ever taking a step himself. Don't think that this laziness is just confined to the pet - according to Karl, Kevin spends all of his free time in bed and makes his family change the channel on the TV for him. (Photo courtesy of: Lamerie via Flickr CC)
Louis Marciano and Gary Pivoda
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Here's a twofer, with a pair of slackers going to some pretty extreme ends to kill time at work. In 2004, a pair of employees at New York's Office of General Services, Lou Marciano and Gary Pivoda, were assigned to a garage in Albany to provide on-site maintenance. With little actual maintenance to be done, the duo took the time to construct a "man cave" in a hidden maintenance room, which they used to smoke weed and play board games. The pair kept up their slacking for five straight years before the government caught on. (Photo courtesy of: ABC)
John Beale
Slackers tend to flock to government jobs, as the grinding wheels of bureaucracy tend to mask the sound of sleeping at your desk. Case in point, the amazing career of John Beale. The Princeton-educated lawyer began working for the Environmental Protection Agency in 1987 an, by all accounts, excelled there, helping write portions of the Clean Air Act. However, starting in 2000, he started taking Wednesdays off. When his superior inquired why, Beale told him that he was working for the CIA on those days. He obviously wasn't, but this charade continued for years. In 2008, he took a whole six months off from the EPA with pay, and even after he retired in 2011, he continued to draw his whole salary until an investigation revealed the $1.3 million of his fraud. (Photo courtesy of: CSPAN)
AK Verma
How many days do you think you could get away with not going to work? Three? Four? Gaze upon the visage of AK Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department in New Delhi, who managed to skip going to the office for a staggering 24 years without getting fired. Verma went on leave in 1990 and, when an extension was denied, just decided to stop showing up. In 1992, he was convicted of "willful absence of duty," but it took the government until January of 2015 to actually fire him. I'm sure it'll look great on his resume, though. (Photo courtesy of: Ibnlive)
Howard Dean
Here's another taxpayer-funded employee who had absolutely no compunctions about slacking off to an insane degree. Howard Dean was a food services director for New York's Department of Correctional Services who really liked three-day weekends. He liked them so much, in fact, that from 1992 to 2008 he didn't work a single Friday. Of course, Dean marked his timesheet to get paid for those very casual Fridays off, and investigators say that cost the state in excess of $230,000. Once found out, Dean was sentenced to six months in prison and fines of $100,000. (Photo courtesy of: New York Department of Corrections)
Kuang Zhengxuan
One key ingredient to a successful slacker lifestyle is having parents who will put up with your laziness. Chinese bachelor Kuang Zhengxuan sponged off of Mommy and Daddy successfully until the age of 29, at which point they booted him out of the house. His response? Take them to court. In Kuang's opinion, he just doesn't have the necessary skills to support himself in the big bad world, but his parents do. Right now he's working part-time sitting for portraits at a local art school, but even a job that consists of nothing but sitting is too hard for him. (Photo courtesy of: via CCTV News)
OPhil Fendick
Love is a many-splendored thing, but it can also make people act pretty ridiculous. When British man Phil Fendick was dumped by his girlfriend Marie Harden for texting with another bird, that should have been the end of their relationship. But the impossibly lazy Phil moved next door to spend all day in bed playing video games and, staggeringly, convinced Harden to continue to cook all of his meals! The layabout says he intends to find a job but hasn't come across one that meets his high standards. (Photo courtesy of: Joi Ito via Flickr CC)
William Morse
One government job that has earned a reputation for laziness is the humble mailman. It seems that there are dozens of stories about mail carriers just dumping letters everywhere but the proper mailbox, but William Morse pushes things to the limit. The Kentucky postman would often cut his route early to pick his kids up from school, and he stowed the undelivered mail in his dead mother's basement. When postal investigators followed up on customer complaints, they discovered a staggering 45,000 letters in crates along with a storage unit he'd rented to hold even more. (Photo courtesy of: Kentucky Department of Corrections)
Susan Moore
Ladies aren't immune to the lure of laziness, as Susan Moore can show. Dubbed by the Sun the "laziest woman in Britain," Moore collected government unemployment benefits for a staggering 16 years straight. These benefits are contingent on the recipient looking for a job, but Moore never bothered. She was actually offered a gig at a supermarket, but didn't take it because it was 5 miles away. When the government put her in a job training course and even paid for a taxi to take her, it looked like things were picking up, but one day the taxi didn't show up, so she quit the class. That's next-level slacking.
(Photo courtesy of: The Sun)
Emperor Wan Li
Let's dive back into the mists of history for an example of epic laziness. Wan Li took the throne of China at the tender age of nine, and was spoiled by his mother and a court of suck-ups. This is the perfect recipe for a slacker, and Wan Li didn't disappoint. At the age of thirty-seven, disgusted by the work of ruling, the Emperor completely gave up on even the pretense of governance. For twenty years, he skipped every meeting, refused to appoint new ministers, and his inaction led to the downfall of the Ming dynasty. (Photo courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons)
Kevin Pyle
Owning a pet is a serious responsibility, but slackers aren't cool with responsibility. So when British man Kevin Pyle was told he needed to regularly walk his bull mastiff, his innate laziness caused him to come up with a plan. With his son Karl behind the wheel, Kevin leashes up the dog and hangs his arm out the passenger window, taking the animal for a walk without ever taking a step himself. Don't think that this laziness is just confined to the pet - according to Karl, Kevin spends all of his free time in bed and makes his family change the channel on the TV for him. (Photo courtesy of: Lamerie via Flickr CC)
Louis Marciano and Gary Pivoda
Here's a twofer, with a pair of slackers going to some pretty extreme ends to kill time at work. In 2004, a pair of employees at New York's Office of General Services, Lou Marciano and Gary Pivoda, were assigned to a garage in Albany to provide on-site maintenance. With little actual maintenance to be done, the duo took the time to construct a "man cave" in a hidden maintenance room, which they used to smoke weed and play board games. The pair kept up their slacking for five straight years before the government caught on. (Photo courtesy of: ABC)