The problems stemmed from not registering the workers, inadequate temporary worker housing on site, improper sanitation, no break-room area for lunch and no restrooms.

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That success promises to give fresh momentum to Microsoft's years-long effort to break into the living room, as the company turns the console into a showcase for its ideas about merging gaming, on-demand video and online communities.

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Free doughnuts in the break room, cakes in honor of co-workers' birthdays and pepperoni pizza, ordered by the boss to reward staff for working overtime, can take a toll on employees' waistlines.

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Two Hyatt housekeepers, who had 30 years experience combined, say they were fired when they protested Photoshopped images of their faces on bikini-clad women that were posted in the break room.

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None of the journalists in the huge pack in Perugia over the years made any but the most casual efforts to uncover the life story and habits of small-time break-in artist Rudy Guede, whose fingerprints were in the murder room, who never denied being there as Kercher was bleeding to death, and who has been convicted of murdering her in a separate trial.

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As for my co-worker, he quickly gobbled down his sandwich in the break room while we speculated over where they might have come from.

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But then why are special clean-up instructions, room ventilating precautions and disposal requirements needed in case we happen to break a bulb?

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