Times are tough with recession deepening and redundancies escalating. To provide some light-hearted relief, www.allwork-noplay.co.uk take a look at some of the more bizarre ways people have lost their jobs in recent times…

1) Unwelcome News

At Turkmenistan television network, a cockroach was spotted scurrying across a newsreader’s desk during a live broadcast. The station was bombarded with calls from appalled viewers, who said the cockroach had put them off their dinner. The country's president was so disgusted by the incident he fired 30 employees who were working on the set at the time.

2) The Last Laugh

A 70 yr old Santa in an Australian department store was fired for saying "ho ho ho".  Unbelievable as this may sound, the company responsible had explicitly instructed its Santas to chuckle only with a “ha ha ha”, as Santa’s traditional catchphrase could be misconstrued as a derogatory term and offend the public.

3) Drunk and Orderly

In Lima, a cleaner was fired for being highly inebriated at work. This might seem like a sensible course of action, but the decision was overturned by Peru’s highest court when it was agreed the man didn’t present a danger or offend anyone. As a consequence, this ruling now means that no Peruvian worker can be fired for simply being drunk on the job!

4) Stripped of Title

School children can be an unruly bunch at times and we should spare a thought for teachers who have to deal with adolescents on a day-to-day basis. However, one teacher’s efforts to bring order to the class were just plain bizarre. A middle-aged teacher threatened to punish misbehaving teens by showing them his chubby torso. When the teenagers continued playing up, he stayed true to his word and whipped off his shirt and began flexing his muscles. The stunt backfired however, as a pupil secretly filmed the incident with a mobile phone and forwarded the clip to others. Before the day was out, the headmaster had seen the footage and ordered the teacher to leave the school and never return.

5) On Thin Ice

Laziness reached new heights when two Idaho ice skating rink employees made a midnight fast-food run in a pair of ice resurfacing machines with a top speed of 5 mph. An anonymous bystander reported seeing the two big machines chug through a Burger King drive-through and return to the rink around 12:30 am. Once word got back to their boss, they were immediately fired.

6) Drinking Competition

A US Coca Cola truck driver was sacked when caught drinking a Pepsi. Enough Said!

7) Holiday from Hell

An Austrian man was kidnapped and held hostage for 13 days whilst being tortured with electric shocks and burning cigarette butts. At one point, kidnappers even threatened to cut his head off if their ransom wasn’t paid. Once released, the 32 year-old called his boss and told him about his ordeal. However, his boss refused to believe him even though government officials confirmed his story and he had the physical scars to prove it. He was sacked for taking an "extended holiday without leave".

8) Fuming Boss

So you’re familiar with smoking bans, but who would have thought there would ever be a non-smoking ban?! This is what happened when the owner of a small German computer company fired three non-smoking workers after they requested a smoke-free environment. The trio were fired because their non-smoking was causing disruptions!

9) The Devil’s in the Detail

An administrative assistant forged more than $73,000 worth of payments to herself from the church where she was working. When later questioned about the missing money, she proclaimed, “Satan had a big part in the theft”. Perhaps she should have chosen a more credible story, as it didn’t wash with Church officials and she was eventually sacked.

10) Fantasy Football

A football manager set a new record after staying only 10 minutes in the job. The Torbay manager held a press conference, ending at 3:30, during which he announced his appointment at the struggling club. But, by 3:40 the chairman told him that the club had been sold, and that he wouldn't be the new boss.