Here's a lesson in what not to do that's so obvious, you only need to know the facts. Bill Ernst, owner QC Marts, a small chain of convenience stores in the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois, faxed his employees to announce a new contest: Guess The Next Cashier Who Will Be Fired!

'To win our game, write on a piece of paper the name of the next cashier you believe will be fired. Seal it in an envelope and give it to the manager to put in my envelope. Here's how the game will work. We are doubling our secret-shopper efforts, and your store will be visited duriing the day and night several times a week. Secret shoppers will be looking for cashiers wearing a hat, talking on a cell phone, not wearing a QC Mart shirt, having someone hanging around/behind the counter and/or a personal car parked by the pumps after 7pm. If the name in your envelope has the right answer, you will win $10 CASH. Only one winner per firing. 'Once we fire the person, we will open all the envelopes, award the prize, and start the contest again.

I particularly like the note about only one winner per firing. I mean, if two people won it might cost Ernst 20 bucks. Anyway, just to make sure his employees received the exciting news, each one was required to sign and return the fax in order to get their next paycheck. Oh, the memo also named a worker who'd been fired that day. Four humorless employees quit immediately. When one of them applied for unemployment, QC Marts fought her. However, the employee received the benefits when the administrative law judge reviewing the case called the contest "deplorable." Funny thing: The Judge also said the workplace at QC Marts was "hostile." You can't make this stuff up.