Watercooler Stories

Kmart sued by father-son Santa team

DETROIT, March 29 (UPI) -- A father-and-son team of retail Santa Clauses is suing a Detroit-area Kmart store, claiming the store didn't pay them with the toys they had negotiated.

Robert Murphy, 48, and his son Cody, 11, claim the deal they had was to roam the store last December for 20 hours with bags of candy canes in exchange for 1,440 Hot Wheels miniature toy cars.

Murphy told the Detroit News he entered into the unusual payment arrangement because he and his son share a love for collecting Hot Wheels. But he says the company's refusal to keep a deal has soured the love for the toy cars, as well as the thought of working as Santa and Santa Jr. again.

He's seeking $2,700 in lost wages and damages, the newspaper said.

Kmart spokesman Chris Brathwaite said the company would not have made such a deal, but acknowledged there may have been a misunderstanding. He added the company never agreed to hire the 11-year-old, but allowed him to roam the store "in the spirit of the season."

Katrina survivor dog in ownership battle

TAMPA, Fla., March 29 (UPI) -- A St. Bernard dog who barely survived Hurricane Katrina is recovering in his new adoptive home in Tampa, Fla., but his New Orleans owners want him back.

The battle is between the St. Bernard Parish's animal shelter in New Orleans, that tracked a dog named Master Tank to Florida's North Pinellas Humane Society, which took in nearly 300 animals after the August disaster.

At the end of September, the dog was adopted by Hillsborough Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi, who took him to her vet and renamed the emaciated dog Noah, as a flood survivor.

The dog, about 4 years old, has regained 30 pounds, and no longer cowers and wants to be fed from a trashcan, WFLA-TV, Tampa, reported.

Veterinarian Eddie Garcia said Noah will likely require constant medical care, as severe outbreaks of heartworms, hookworms and whipworms probably predated Katrina's landfall.

"Whoever owned it may have loved this dog," Garcia said. "But no one can convince me this dog was well cared for."

Police seize $400,000 Mercedes

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., March 29 (UPI) -- Police seized a $400,000 Mercedes from the wife of former videogame executive Stefan Eriksson, whose $1 million Enzo Ferrari was destroyed in an earlier crash.

Beverly Hills, Calif., police confiscated the 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren in a Sunday stop of 33-year-old Nicole Persson.

Police said European license plates caught their attention.

"We contacted Scotland Yard and subsequently learned that the car was perhaps stolen" from Britain, Lt. Mitch McCann told the Los Angeles Times.

Police said the car was not registered in the United States and Eriksson's wife had no driver's license.

European financial institutions claim they own the Mercedes and the red Enzo Ferrari that crashed Feb. 21 at 162 mph near Malibu, Calif., and was destroyed.

Eriksson has denied he was driving the Ferrari, which earlier reports said crashed during a race with a Mercedes.

In an ironic twist, 13-year-old car enthusiast Spyder Dobrofsky happened to be at the scene and captured Sunday's stop on videotape.

When Dobrofsky asked a tow truck driver where he was taking the car he jokingly said he planned to take the Mercedes "to my house," the newspaper reported.

Britons not shy about naked phone calls

LONDON, March 29 (UPI) -- While known for keeping a stiff upper lip, a poll has found about 1-in-3 Britons are uninhibited enough to make or answer telephone calls while naked.

Research commissioned for a new telephone service by the British Post Office found 40 percent of men admitted to chatting nude, compared with about 27 percent of women, Sky News said.

Of 1,500 telephone users polled, it emerged many also weren't exactly polite and paying attention -- two-thirds said they were guilty of watching TV instead of concentrating on the call.

About 1-in-10 admitted to setting the phone down and wandering off to leave the caller talking to themselves, while 1-in-20 said that they had been so bored with a conversation they had fallen asleep.