You've Got to be Kidding Me - Craiglist

Sent in from Brooke - Seattle, WA

I am the admin assistant for an investment firm in Seattle. Several times a year I am asked to organize some employee fairs. In the past I have done book fairs, coffee fairs even BBQ cook-offs.

Recently, I was asked to work with the newest administrative assistant in the building by coordinating a bake sale/fair. This new admin, we will call her Jane, is six-foot tall, busty and blonde. The guys in our office love to watch her walk to-and-from meetings, but hate talking to her because I am told she isn't too bright.

Jane seemed to be an adequate admin until we began planning the agreed upon bake sale. She sent dozens of e-mails to the entire company asking questions that should have only gone to me and our team. However, the kicker would be how she opted to promote our company-only bake sale.

Three days before our bake sales was to take place, one of my managers sent me an email instructing me to check our local Craigslist site.

I followed his instructions and found this lovely advertisement:

"Seeking bake sale vendors. Do you like to bake? Have some tasty treats to share? Our company is looking for anyone who wants to participate. We have a few hundred employees who are looking for some home-baked goodness. (Inserted company name and address). Stations open at 8 a.m. Please e-mail Jane for details and station assignment."

I literally grabbed onto my desk to make sure I wasn't dreaming this. Jane actually posted an internal bake sale on Craigslist and was seeking outside vendors. I passed the information on to our security staff so they were aware and called it a day.

I am told Jane had a chat with her manager about giving out company details about internal events online.

What amazed me the most was that she did it AGAIN on the day of the event. She posted:

"We are having a bake sale today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and it is open to the public. We have many vendors with sugary sweets to sell. Please call Jane for directions."

It was a security and logistical nightmare. We had angry employees because the vendors who showed up had over-priced and undercooked baked goods; we had upset vendors because they either couldn't make it past security or didn't sell much.

Needless to say, Jane was terminated and our company is now limited to one fair a year. Plus, there is a handy new "online posting" section in our employee HR manual.