The guy who wrote such books as “Hey, Idiot!” and “What’s the Number for 911?” has found another gold mine of a source for true-life tales of humanity and stupidity. That helps to explain Leland Gregory’s latest collection of insanity, “Idiots at Work: Chronicles of Workplace Stupidity” (Andrews McMeel).

Some of the stupidity featured in Gregory’s book is fairly predictable, such as one job hunter’s resume that included this sentence: “I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award.”

If you’re one of those who has ever put your foot in your mouth during a job interview, you’ll appreciate those candidates who went at least knee deep, such as the woman who wore a Walkman so she could listen to music while she was talking with her potential boss. Or the person who challenged the interviewer to arm wrestle. Or the candidate who said she hadn’t had time to have lunch, so she proceeded to eat a hamburger and French fries in the interviewer’s office.

Then there’s my favorite: the applicant who interrupted the interview so she could phone her therapist for advice on how to answer specific questions.
Well beyond that, though, are other anecdotes that raise stupidity to an almost iconic level. Take these:

— “A guard at an armored car company pulled into the company parking lot in a new $53,000 Chevrolet Corvette,” Gregory writes. “Officials for Dunbar Armored in Cinnaminson, N.J., approached the man and asked about the new car.

“Were they admiring his new wheels? Nope, they were curious if the guard’s purchase of a new car had anything to do with the theft of more than $400,000, just days before. The guard admitted to the theft and was arrested. Maybe it would have been less conspicuous if he had built an addition to his Buick.”

— The warden at an animal sanctuary took home a parrot named Oliver one night so she could give him some special attention, but also decided to spend that night giving her boyfriend some special attention. When she returned to her job the next day, her feathered friend was mimicking new phrases, such as “God — oh — God” and “how do you like it?”

“Oliver’s attention to detail left nothing to the imagination,” Gregory quotes the woman’s boss as saying. “It sounded like he was reliving every moment from the night before.”

— After having several layoffs, a printing company held a farewell luncheon for an old and dear co-worker.

“The lunch was great,” Gregory writes, “and everybody was having a wonderful time until the manager cheerfully said, ‘This is fun. We should do this more often.’ As expected, the room fell silent.”

— More job sharing: When my recent column on the book “Going Back to Work: A Survival Guide for Comeback Moms” mentioned that job sharing is often a good alternative for those who want work-life balance, a reader said that such jobs are scarce, even among companies that are allegedly family friendly. Columns like mine, she says, could falsely raise people’s hopes.

Just so there is no misunderstanding: Yes, the jobs are indeed rare. But there are steps you can take to improve your chances of landing or creating one.

The most obvious strategy any time you want special treatment, of course, is to establish yourself as one of your company’s best workers. That means great, not merely above average. If you’re not someone your boss would hate to lose, your job sharing chances are tremendously weaker.

Draft as specific of a proposal as you can. Who would your teammate be?
How can you make the boss feel confident that your strengths are complementary and you won’t be passing the buck to one another? How will your plan help the company more than hiring a single, somewhat less talented, worker?

Check around the company to see if other people have done it, or if any other managers are more open to it, and ask for advice. Think about any objections the boss raises and see if you can back with an alternative that helps both you and the company.