Talk about asleep at the wheel. A bank clerk in Hesse, Germany, fell asleep in the middle of processing a transaction, had his finger on the number 2 key, and what should have been an $85.46 deposit (64.20 euros) became a $293 million error.
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The London Evening Standard reported that the clerk, sitting at a desk, apparently
fell asleep and entered the deposit as 222,222,222.22 euros, which equals more than $295 million today. It was likely around $293 million with the exchange rate when the accident occurred in April 2012.
The mistake was caught by another bank employee before any damage was done to the bank's bottom line. The clerk’s supervisor, who was in charge of reviewing all daily transactions, missed the mistake initially and, while having worked for the bank for more than 25 years when the error was discovered, was summarily fired. A judge later ordered the bank to give her job back after determining there was no malicious intent in allowing the error to go unnoticed.
No word on asleep-at-the-wheel, finger-on-number-2 guy, but it would be hard to believe that the news in his camp is good.
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