June 11, 2013
BERLIN (AFP) - An obviously tired German bank employee fell asleep on his keyboard and accidentally transformed a minor transfer into a 222 million euro ($293 million) order, a court heard Monday.
The Hessen labour court heard that the man was supposed to transfer just 62.40 euros from a bank account belonging to a retiree, but instead "fell asleep for an instant, while pushing onto the number 2 key on the keyboard" -- making it a huge 222,222,222.22 euro order.
The bank discovered the mistake shortly afterwards and corrected the error.
The case was taken to court by the man's 48-year-old colleague who was fired for letting the mistake slip through when verifying the order.
The court ruled that the plaintiff should be reinstated in his job.
