The man who inspired the character Sam Malone on TV’s Cheers has been laid off from his bar tending job in Boston.

Eddie Doyle tended bar for 35 years at the pub known as the Bull & Finch.

The bar’s owner says the economy is to blame.

After Cheers debuted on NBC in 1982, he started serving 5,000 customers a day.

Doyle tells The Boston Globe that he’s not bitter and he might write a book about his experiences.

Imagine this: A company tells some of its former employees, “We put too much in your severance check. Please give the extra amount back.”

It really happened. And it wasn’t just any employer — it was Microsoft.

The software giant attempted to recoup some severance money from 25 recently fired workers it mistakenly overpaid.

The employees received a letter which said, “This letter is to inform you that an inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft. We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you.”

There’s no word on the amount of the overpayments.

On second thought …

A scanned copy of such a letter first appeared on the Web site TechCrunch. After that — well, you know how things spread on the Web.

Shortly thereafter, Microsoft announced it had made a mistake.

“We should have handled this situation in a more thoughtful manner,” an e-mailed statement said. Microsoft “will not seek any payment from those individuals.”

Microsoft had laid off a total of 1,400 employees, the first of 5,000 planned layoffs.

As usual with these types of stories, Microsoft has refused to give any more details — so that’s all there is.

But, we’ll pose some questions anyway: Was it correct for Microsoft to ask for the overpayments back in the first place? Would it matter if the amounts were $10, $100 or $1,000? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Sharon and David Hegyi, wife and husband, were laid off after working seven years at Tipperary Station in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Of course, layoffs are devastating, especially when both working parents in a family with children are let go at the same time.

But Sharon is really shocked at the company’s decision because just months earlier she played a key part in saving the life of her boss.

Sharon was an office worker at the Station, but she’s also a registered nurse.

Station finance manager David Breed had a severe heart attack at work last September.

Sharon gave him medication, hooked him up to oxygen and called an ambulance.

When Breed deteriorated rapidly, Sharon and David put him in a car and drove toward the nearest town. The ambulance met them half way there.

Breed recovered.

Fast forward a few months: The Hegyis returned home from a Christmas vacation to find they were being laid off.

They were given a separation package and told to leave their company house with their five children in two weeks.

The Station’s general manager confirmed to the Northern Territory News that Sharon had saved the life of one of his managers. However, he said the couple had been laid off for economic reasons.

The Hegyis are confident they’ll find new jobs soon.

Gallup moved from New York to Billings, MT, to take a job with Stillwater Mining Co.

After completing his first day at work, we went home and got a recorded telephone message saying he was laid off.

Stillwater laid off 526 out of 1,770 employees.

Gallup says he spent more than $2,000 to make the westward trip, and now he could lose his car and other possessions.

Gallup moved after Stillwater executives traveled to Gouverneur, NY, in August to hire miners laid off by St. Lawrence Zinc.

Gallup said a Stillwater official had asked him if he was aware of declining prices for platinum and palladium, which the company produces. He said he never thought that would mean working one day and then being laid off.

Right now, Gallup is living with a friend in Billings. He says he wants to stay in Montana.

Help may be on the way. Signal Peak Energy, a Montana coal mine operator, will host job fairs for laid off Stillwater workers. Signal plans to add 100 jobs for miners.