Speaking of Seinfeld moments.....

What are the odds that I would come across this story from The Des Moines Register only a day after my last post? Before we get to the article, let the record show that I do not routinely browse The Des Moines Register. This story was linked to from a sports blog that I frequent.


'Seinfeld' joke gets man canned for harassment

By CLARK KAUFFMAN • ckauffman@dmreg.com • August 23, 2009


A Cedar Falls man who repeated a gag from the "Seinfeld" show while at work has been fired for sexual harassment.

It's the second case of an Iowan being fired for harassment stemming from an episode of the popular comedy series.

In the most recent case, John Preston and several of his co-workers at the Brain Injury Association of Iowa attended an outdoor retreat in July 2008. During the event, one of the female workers told her colleagues that whenever she or her husband sneezed, the other would respond by saying, "You are so good looking."

For the rest of the retreat, Preston and other workers adopted the routine. It was derived from an episode of "Seinfeld" in which the characters use the phrase "You are so good looking" in place of "God bless you."

According to a subsequent report by the association's executive director, Geoffrey Lauer, part of the retreat was held in an area near fields of blooming plants. "As a result, there was a somewhat higher than normal incidence of sneezing by agency staff," Lauer wrote.

A week after the retreat, Preston allegedly sent the female worker who initiated the joke a series of e-mails in which he reiterated that she was good looking.

The woman complained to her superiors, and Preston was cautioned about such comments. A few weeks later, Preston allegedly stopped the woman in a hallway at work and massaged her shoulders while speaking to her. That generated another complaint, and early this year Preston confronted the woman at a work-related event.

Preston was then fired for sexual harassment. At a hearing last week on Preston's claim for unemployment benefits, his attorney, Bradley Strouse, questioned Lauer at length on the origins of the "good looking" remark.

"It was, in fact, a 'Seinfeld' reference?" Strouse asked.

"Yes," Lauer replied.

Preston testified that he meant no harm by repeating the phrase. "It was just a continuation of that joke," he said.

He was denied unemployment benefits. -Let me quickly point out that this dude was pretty creepy and definitely deserved to get canned.

The case is similar to the 2004 firing of Ronald Knight, who worked as a manager at the Fareway grocery store in Shenandoah. Knight allegedly told a female subordinate that he had heard she was drunk and running naked through the streets the previous night. He also implied that her forgetfulness was due to lack of sex, and he telephoned her at home and asked what she was wearing.

Knight claimed that he was simply repeating comments heard on a "Seinfeld" show and that the remarks were made in jest. He was denied unemployment benefits. -Again, the punishment fits the crime.

In a 1992 Wisconsin case, Miller Brewing Co. fired one of its executives, Jerold Mackenzie, for an incident that stemmed from a "Seinfeld" episode.

Mackenzie had told his secretary about a show in which a woman was described by the series' characters as having a name that rhymed with part of the female anatomy. The woman was named Delores, and because Mackenzie was too embarrassed to tell his secretary what that rhymed with, he showed her the word in a dictionary.

After he was fired for sexual harassment, Mackenzie sued Miller Brewing Co. and his former secretary. The jury didn't believe the secretary felt harassed and awarded Mackenzie $1.5 million in damages, plus $25 million for unrelated claims. The verdict was appealed and eventually the entire jury award was set aside. - Oh, sweet justice.