Workers Spanked for Poor Performance

The other day I posted an item defending the progressive pockets of my native Tennessee. Maybe I jumped the gun. There's a story on the AP wires today about two women in Red Bank, Tennessee (outside of Chattanooga), who complained to authorities that their boss had spanked--yes, literally spanked--them for doing a poor job at work. One of the women alleges that the owner of a local "Tasty Flavors Sno Biz" called her into his office after she forgot to put banana chunks into a smoothie. Then, he proceeded to give her 20 spankings (or "licks" as they say in the region). The store owner was charged with two counts of sexual assault and released on $2,000 bail. Of course, the boss thought his legal flank was covered. On their first day at work, he made the two women sign a statement that said: "I give Gene [the owner] permission to bust my behind any way he sees fit." A spokesman at the parent company's headquarters in Minneapolis defended the spanker, saying he's "a very Christian person." Who knows, maybe Tasty Flavors is onto something: Spare the rod, spoil the worker.