[WiZ] Extra-Extra Largesse

[WiZ]

Dalvanius Tuiteleleapaga was a very generous man. He once paid all his employees for a business day in which they did not work. They were not on any sort of leave, and his business was fully operational during this period. Why did he pay them?

BOATS. Caveat Earlispoilor.

[Westing1992]

Judging by the name, did this take place in New Zealand? Relevant?

Was his business a retail store? Did they provide some sort of service? Was it a restaurant?

Were there other businesses whose employees didn't work on that day?

Did they have any customers on that day?

[WiZ]

Judging by the name, did this take place in New Zealand? no Relevant? yes

Was his business a retail store? Did they provide some sort of service? Was it a restaurant? irrelevant to all

Were there other businesses whose employees didn't work on that day? yes

Did they have any customers on that day? no

[wolfier]

Just to be explicit...are Maoris relevant?

[WiZ]

Just to be explicit...are Maoris relevant? not to this puzzle

[GalFisk]

Did he pay them because he was a generous man? Did they come to work? Was there any work for them to do? Did all his employees do no work this day? Did they expect to do no work this day? Did he expect them to do no work this day? Did this happen once? Once a year?

[Earnest]

To be sure...relevant how many employees he had? The particular day in which he did pay them even if they did not work? Did he decide to do so? Relevant the type of work?

Again to be sure...he paid them with money with a regular pay? Did he pay them for hour worked? Per day? Were the employees on vacation? Were they alive? Working in another place? Relevant where they were?

[WiZ]

GalFisk

Did he pay them because he was a generous man? no Did they come to work? no Was there any work for them to do? yes Did all his employees do no work this day? yes Did they expect to do no work this day? yes Did he expect them to do no work this day? yes Did this happen once? yes Once a year? no

Earnest

To be sure...relevant how many employees he had? no The particular day in which he did pay them even if they did not work? yes - but not in calendrical terms Did he decide to do so? no Relevant the type of work? no

Again to be sure...he paid them with money with a regular pay? yes Did he pay them for hour worked? Per day? yes (assume his workers are salaried) Were the employees on vacation? no Were they alive? yes Working in another place? no Relevant where they were? no (other than 'not at work')

[GalFisk]

Was there any person at the place of work that day? If so, someone he paid? Someone doing a job? Did the employees know this would haooen years in advance? Months? Weeks? Days? Hours? Did he lose money from this?

[WiZ]

Was there any person at the place of work that day? no If so, someone he paid? Someone doing a job? n/a to all Did the employees know this would haooen years in advance? no Months? yes Weeks? Days? Hours? no to rest Did he lose money from this? yes (inasmuch as he spent money on salaries but gained no production from it)

[Earnest]

So employees were paid monthly right? So 12 times in a year? Or this payment take into account also the 13th /14th month (at least in some sector in Italy one more salary is paid to employees as part of their rights)? Can we assume modern times? Relevant how much is the regular pay?

Can we consider employees far from their place of work that day? Was it a decision taken by all employers together? Would the employees have made a strike were they at work? Was it a strategic decision? Did he pay regularily his employees?

Relevant which type of business he run? War relevant? Restaurant? Bank? Hotel? Shop? Newspapers? Clothing relevant? Airports? Boats/navy?
Trains? Internet/technology relevant? (E.g. the employer was experimenting an automatic procedure in the Amazon delivery and paid his employees to stay home to receive the packages...)

Had he not paid them, would something negative happened? Was it a right of the employees the one to be paid even without working?
Is echology relevant? (e.g. it was one of those day in which travelling by car was forbidden and the employer was in favor so that he paid his employees to stay home?) Was it convenient for the employer to pay the workers to stay home? (E.g. in Italy during night people should be paid the double, is something like that relevant?)

[peter365]

Any newsworthy events relevant? Disasters ? Earthquake?

[WiZ]

Earnest

So employees were paid monthly right? So 12 times in a year? correct on both counts Or this payment take into account also the 13th /14th month (at least in some sector in Italy one more salary is paid to employees as part of their rights)? interesting, but no Can we assume modern times? Yes, this happened in 2011 Relevant how much is the regular pay? no

Can we consider employees far from their place of work that day? no, they would likely have been within commuting distance Was it a decision taken by all employers together? no Would the employees have made a strike were they at work? no Was it a strategic decision? no Did he pay regularily his employees? yes

Relevant which type of business he run? no War relevant? no Restaurant? Bank? Hotel? Shop? Newspapers? irrel to all Clothing relevant? Airports? Boats/navy?
Trains? Internet/technology relevant? (E.g. the employer was experimenting an automatic procedure in the Amazon delivery and paid his employees to stay home to receive the packages...) no to all

Had he not paid them, would something negative happened? Had he done everything in his power to ensure they were not paid, yes. Had he not paid them as a matter of consequence, not really - certainly not to anywhere near the same extent Was it a right of the employees the one to be paid even without working? In this case, yes - they were legally entitled to this pay
Is echology relevant? (e.g. it was one of those day in which travelling by car was forbidden and the employer was in favor so that he paid his employees to stay home?) no Was it convenient for the employer to pay the workers to stay home? (E.g. in Italy during night people should be paid the double, is something like that relevant?) no

Peter

Any newsworthy events relevant? yes Disasters ? Earthquake? no to both

[LemonCurry]

PM sent.

[Earnest]

Was there a celebration? A national one? A local one? One that concerns just the sector where the employees work? If there was a celebration, did the employees participate to it?

newsworthy event taking place just in the country where this happened? A worldwide event? World championship? Summit between political leaders? Events for which a crowd is expected/required? A religious celebration? Queen Elizabeth relevant? Royal weddings? Other famous events?

Is it relevant where it took place? E.g. it was an incentive for iceland people to support their team at the world championship since, had they been at work, very few would have support the team. Something along these lines?

Was the employer considered generous for this or was it his duty to do so?

[WiZ]

LemonCurry

PM sent. You are correct! Excellent work.

Earnest

Was there a celebration? no A national one? One that concerns just the sector where the employees work? If there was a celebration, did the employees participate to it? n/a to all

newsworthy event taking place just in the country where this happened? yes A worldwide event? World championship? Summit between political leaders? Events for which a crowd is expected/required? A religious celebration? Queen Elizabeth relevant? Royal weddings? Other famous events? no to all

Is it relevant where it took place? yes E.g. it was an incentive for iceland people to support their team at the world championship since, had they been at work, very few would have support the team. Something along these lines? but no

Was the employer considered generous for this no or was it his duty to do so? yes

[peter365]

Any political events ? Arab Spring? Killing of Bin Laden ? Uk Riots?

[Earnest]

Place: may I list all countries in the world? Arabic country? Asian countries? China? North korea? A dictatorship? A democracy? A kindom? Relevant?
An island?

He paid the employees for a business day means that the employees were absent for just a day and the firm was opened without employees for just a day? Or the employees did not get to work for a longer period ( months/days/weeks?) and he paid them the pay for a single business day?
To be sure...did the employees then come back to work regularly? Is it a legal job?

Does it happen every year the same day? (Maybe already asked) Ramadan relevant? Elections? Something all the citizens have the right to do/participate to?

WAG: is it something like inflation/other economic phenomenon played a role in that country so that it was "as if" employees earn a day more pay (e.g. they earn 4$ per day rather than the usual 2$ so that it is as if they are working half of what they are really working)?

[WiZ]

Peter

Any political events ? Yes, in a broad sense Arab Spring? Killing of Bin Laden ? Uk Riots? no to all, and OWT

Earnest

Place: may I list all countries in the world? Samoa

Arabic country? Asian countries? China? North korea? A dictatorship? no to these A democracy? yes A kindom? not any more Relevant? not really
An island? yes

He paid the employees for a business day means that the employees were absent for just a day and the firm was opened without employees for just a day? correct Or the employees did not get to work for a longer period ( months/days/weeks?) and he paid them the pay for a single business day? no
To be sure...did the employees then come back to work regularly? Yes Is it a legal job? Yes

Does it happen every year the same day? no (Maybe already asked) Ramadan relevant? Elections? no to both Something all the citizens have the right to do/participate to? No, in an active sense - the citizens weren't involved in anything. In a passive sense, the citizens had the right to be paid under these circumstances

WAG: is it something like inflation/other economic phenomenon played a role in that country so that it was "as if" employees earn a day more pay (e.g. they earn 4$ per day rather than the usual 2$ so that it is as if they are working half of what they are really working)? no

[Earnest]

Oh actually when you mentioned Samoa it came into my mind the solution of the puzzle! So I'll let the other to find it. Nice one!

[wwhere]

Is it related to the location of Samoa? to timezones? Some adjustment to the calendar?

[WiZ]

Earnest

Oh actually when you mentioned Samoa it came into my mind the solution of the puzzle! So I'll let the other to find it. Nice one!

Wwhere


(Hi, Wwhere!)

Is it related to the location of Samoa? to timezones? Strong yes to both Some adjustment to the calendar? Yesish

[wwhere]

Did Samoa at some point move from GMT+12 to GMT-12 (or a similar change. I know it is located around that timezones), changing the official date from, let's say the 12th to the 13th, so that month had actually one less day, but the workers still got paid for a full month?

[WiZ]

Did Samoa at some point move from GMT+12 to GMT-12 (or a similar change. I know it is located around that timezones), changing the official date from, let's say the 12th to the 13th, so that month had actually one less day, but the workers still got paid for a full month? I think you have the general idea.

***** SPOILER *****

In order to improve ties with their increasingly-important trade partners in Oceania, Samoa changed from one side of the international Date Line to the other at midnight on December 29, 2011. The country then immediately went to December 31. Although the country effectively legislated December 30 out of existence, all employees were still legally entitled to be paid for it!

Congratulations Wwhere, Earnest and LemonCurry on the solution, and thank you everyone for playing!

The spoiler tag means 'resolved' in Samoan.

[wwhere]

That must have been a fun occurrence for a lot of IT staff. Only thing worse than timezones are changing timezones.

[Earnest]

Very nice one again! I've read it when ingorming myself about a wrestler called Samoa Joe if I remember correctly...you know "zapping" on wiki I read something related to it.

[Balin]

I saw the spoiler tag and wondered what the Freedom of Information Act had to do with this puzzle. Apparently, nothing.

Brilliant.