There were some stories in my newspaper a couple of years ago about French civil servants who hadn't been at their desks for many years but were still on the payroll.

After having waited for ages in a slow-moving post office queue in a small French town listening to all the chit-chat and gossip between each customer and the counter girl I pulled her leg about being so busy.
I couldn't fault her reply: "All the while I have a queue I have a job".