• Although some of mankind’s greatest inventions have come from a desire to do less
work, we still look down on laziness.
But how far can some people take laziness?
And does it always work out badly for them?
Here’s the 15 laziest people ever.
15 - , A.K.
Verma • After working for the New Delhi public
works department for ten years, electrical engineer A.K.
Verma went on vacation in 1990.
Instead of returning from his holiday, he simply stopped showing up to work.
Two years later, an inquiry into his absence was delayed, and the same thing happened over
a decade later.
In the end, it wasn't until after 25 years of paid leave that Mr Verma was finally dismissed
in 2015.
14 - , Bernard Tomic • For many tennis players, competing at
the Championships in Wimbledon is peak of their career.
For Bernard Tomic, a previously top 20-ranked Australian player, the competition was too
much like hard work.
He performed poorly in the first round, and claimed that he was bored.
The tournament fined him a third of his participation fee and tennis players worldwide criticised
his lack of enthusiasm.
Some defended Tomic, saying that we've all had workdays that feel like a chore.
13 - , Calvin Coolidge • The 30th President of the United States
believed firmly in reducing government intervention.
To him, this meant that the job of President was to do as little as possible, and for this
reason he is known as 'Silent Cal' or America's laziest president.
He usually worked for as little as four hours a day, and slept for eleven.
On hearing that he had died in 1933, Dorothy Parker asked “How could they tell?”
12 - , Alberto Muraglia • In the sleepy Mediterranean town of San
Remo, life moves at an easy pace.
Policeman Alberto Muraglia lived in an apartment above his office and was recorded punching
his timecard in his underwear, before going back to bed, or wandering down to the beach.
In his defence, Alberto's lawyer claimed that the crimefighter had once foiled a robbery
with no pants on, holding a pistol.
Sadly, there is no video evidence.
11 - , George IV • Regarded by many as the worst monarch
in the history of Britain, George the Fourth lived an extravagant and hedonistic lifestyle.
His coronation cost a modern-day equivalent of around 25 million dollars, and he had acquired
colossal debt even before he became king.
Rather than take an interest in the affairs of the nation, George spent most of his time
womanising, drinking and gorging himself in to obesity.
10 - , Humphrey Potter • In the 18th century, huge steam-powered
pumps were used to pump water out of mines in Europe.
The valves of the steam engine had to be operated manually to ensure that the steam entered
the piston at the correct time.
Humphrey Potter was a young boy with the job of operating the valves, but he quickly grew
bored of this repetitive job.
So, he connected the two valves together with a system of cords.
And that’s how the automated steam engine was born.
9 - , Oxford Dictionary Lexicographers • In 1879, an English society of dictionary-writers,
or lexicographers, began compiling a truly comprehensive work for the Oxford University
Press.
They initially planned to finish the project in ten years.
A decade later and they had successfully compiled all the words starting with A and B. By the
time the final volume of V through Z was published, it was 1928, nearly fifty years later.
8 - , The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture • Japan is famous for its hard-working employees,
but six government bureaucrats from the ministry of agriculture showed very little interest
in getting any official work done.
Instead, computer records show that the men spent their time editing the Wikipedia page
for manga shows like Gundam.
The ministry reprimanded them, but they kept their jobs, on the condition that they stop
writing about cartoons and actually do some work.
7 - , JaMarcus Russell • NFL team the Oakland Raiders signed rookie
JaMarcus Russell for a record-breaking 61 million-dollar, six year contract.
The quarterback played only 31 games in three years.
He reportedly fell asleep during team meetings, failed to watch any of the gameplan videos
sent to him and put on a considerable amount of weight.
Russell has not played in the NFL since he was released after three years.
6 - , Lord Melbourne • in 1835 Lord Melbourne became Prime Minister
of Britain despite remarking beforehand that it would be 'a damned bore' to be head of
government.
He slept his way through debates, dinners and cabinet meetings.
He seemed to favour inactivity over activity, whether it was dealing with working class
revolution or Lord Byron sleeping with his wife.
Towards the end of his rule, he spent most of his time in office conversing with the
young Queen Victoria.
5 - , More's Department Store • Just outside of Tokyo stands a department
store with an escalator for the laziest of their customers.
The escalator is on the basement level and holds the record for being the shortest in
the world, with a height of around 80cm and only five steps at one time.
Riding it takes less than five seconds.
Even more ridiculous is the fact that it goes down – if you want to move up, take the
stairs.
4 - , Emmalee Bauer • Truly committed to the art of idleness,
25-year-old hotel employee Emmalee kept a journal of her lack of work The 300-page diary
included such entries as “This typing thing seems to be doing the trick.
It looks like I am hard at work on something important.”.
Not surprisingly, she was fired for misuse of company time.
She even had her eligibility for unemployment benefits removed, meaning she'd actually have
to work if she wanted to get paid.
3 - , Mariem Megalla • Mariem Megalla had been working as a forensics
technician for the NYPD when the extent of her negligence was discovered.
She was responsible for drug testing, which produces evidence used to convict or exonerate
suspects, but she preferred to produce results which saved her work.
In one case, she labelled a pipe as testing positive for cocaine, purely to save herself
the walk to another building for the right paperwork.
2 - , Frederick Lorz • At the 1904 St Louis Olympic Games, 32
men started the marathon on a hot summer's day.
It turned out to be one of the strangest races ever run, with runners collapsing and being
chased by wild dogs.
American Frederick Lorz made an attempt at the run for a few miles before giving up and
jumping into a car, driving eleven miles of the course.
He nearly received the gold medal at the end, before the ceremony was halted.
1 - , Ray Brent Marsh • A crematorium has pretty much one job
– burning the dead.
When Ray Brent Marsh took over the Tri-State crematorium in Georgia, he obviously decided
that that sounded like too much effort.
Of the 2000 bodies left in his care, over 300 went uncremated.
These bodies were left scattered around the property, rotting and decaying.
When the families requested their loved ones' ashes, Marsh filled up an urn with concrete
dust.
Marsh received ten years in prison for his careless corpse-keeping.