Outside the Bristol Zoo in England there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars £1 (about $1.40) and coaches £5 (about $7). This parking attendant worked there for all of 25 years. Then, one day, he just didn't turn up for work.
"Well", said Bristol Zoo Management - "we'd better phone up the City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant..."
"Nope", said the Council, "that parking lot is your responsibility"
"Err ... no?" said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed by the City Council, wasn't he?"
"NO, he was not!" insisted the Council.
Sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain, is a bloke who had been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at £400 (about $560) per day, at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years.
Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over £3.6 million ($7 million)!
And no one even knows his name.
Now......that's retirement planning!
From The London Times: May 15, 2009