Watercooler Stories

Men send letter to found wallet's owner

ROCK HILL, S.C., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Four South Carolina men returned a wallet to a 73-year-old man after finding it in a Dumpster.

Guillermo Guerra, an El Salvador native who works at White Tiger Furniture in Rock Hill, said he discovered the wallet in the trash bin outside of the business while throwing some cardboard boxes away Nov. 3, The (Rock Hill) Herald reported Tuesday.

Guerra and his boss, Jim Wyatt, visited the neighboring Hydra Tech Transmissions to find out whether the owners, Frank Leone and Mike Allen, were familiar with the 73-year-old man whose identifiction and credit cards were inside the wallet.

The men were unable to find anyone who knew the man, so they used a 44-cent stamp to send a letter to the address on the ID explaining how they had found the wallet.

Allen and Leone said the man came into their shop Friday and told them the wallet had been lost or stolen when he'd stopped recently to help a pair of stranded motorists whose vehicle had run out of gas nearby.

The men said they refused the man's offer of a cash reward.

"It only costs 44 cents to do the right thing for somebody," Allen said.

Waiter allegedly gave sake to boy, 2

MASSILLON, Ohio, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Police in Ohio said they arrested a server at a Japanese restaurant who allegedly squirted sake, a Japanese rice wine, into the mouth of a 2-year-old.

Jackson Township Police Chief David Zink said a Massillon couple were dining Friday night with their 2-year-old son at the Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse and server Ming Yang Zhu was squirting sake into the mouths of adults with a squeezable bottle of the beverage, the Canton (Ohio) Repository reported Tuesday.

The couple said the server joked about whether their son was the legal drinking age, 21, when he first visited their table. They said Zhu again joked about the toddler's age when he returned later in their meal, but this time he squirted sake into the 2-year-old's mouth.

"He started crying, saying it burned," Zink said.

He said the couple's story was backed up by two witnesses.

Zhu was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor. He could face up to six months in jail if convicted.

Police: Bison head belonged to homeowner

BOULDER, Colo., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Police in Colorado said the mystery of a severed buffalo head found in a Boulder front yard was solved when the homeowner claimed it.

Boulder police said the homeowner's two roommates contacted officers after finding the head propped on a decorative rock about 1 a.m. Sunday, The Denver Post reported Tuesday.

However, the roommates apologized when the homeowner returned and revealed the bison head had been given to him, a souvenir from a recent trip to a Nevada buffalo ranch.

The owner said the head was in the yard because he was drying it out before displaying it on a wall in the home.

"The owner's roommates say they did not know the head belonged to anyone living at the residence, and they apologized for contacting law enforcement," police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said. "BPD is working with the owner to return the head to him. This case is closed."

Poll: Executives prefer SUVs, navy clothes

CHICAGO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Chicago-based Web site CareerBuilder said its survey indicates leaders of companies are more likely to part their hair on the right.

The Web site said the survey of 561 hiring managers in senior company positions, conducted online by Harris Interactive Aug. 16-Sept. 8, found the majority of those polled said they part their hair on the right, bring their own lunch from home, drive sport-utility vehicles and wear business casual attire to the office.

The survey found 36 percent of the respondents prefer their work clothing to be navy blue, while 26 percent wear black and 8 percent each prefer brown or gray.

CareerBuilder said 32 percent of the managers choose not to drink at company events while 26 percent sip glasses of wine, 22 percent drink beer, 18 percent reach for the mixed drinks, 5 percent drink martinis and 3 percent indulge in shots of liquor.

The survey had an error rate of 4.14 percentage points, with a 95 percent probability.