Everyone, sometimes, needs a mental health day from work. And most people, when they get to a certain age, know the drill: You tell your boss you’re sick and take the day, maybe to catch a matinee, or maybe to go to the beach. The next day you return to work. “I’m feeling much better and am no longer sick,” you report to your boss, sniffling a little. 

But you can only get away with this a few times a year at most, and, recently, some Italian municipal workers missed enough time to push up against absenteeism’s legal limits: Twenty-three were arrested in Boscotrecase, outside of Naples, after officials said they had routinely skipped work, according to the Guardian.

And a lot of them didn’t even ask, merely clocking in and then leaving again to go about their personal affairs. One unidentified worker, pictured above, was seen clocking in with cardboard over his head, in an apparently successful attempt at concealing his identity. 

The workers represented around half of the town’s staff, according to the Guardian, meaning that a whole host of municipal functions simply weren’t operating Tuesday, when workers again didn’t show up. 

This time, though, it wasn’t by choice. 

Workers of the world: learn quickly what you can and can’t get away with. And if you’re putting cardboard on your head for any reason, what you’re about to do probably isn’t a good idea.