A mainstay of situation comedies is when one of the characters plays hooky at work to go do something else -- bowling, watching a ball game, going to the movies -- and gets caught. Never fails.

Now there's a new wrinkle for them to try.

Reuters is reporting that a Swiss insurance worker for National Suisse lost her job for being seen surfing Facebook after calling in sick and saying she could not work in front of a computer as she needed to lie in the dark.

National Suisse emphasized the firing was because the woman had lied, not because of anything she'd done on Facebook -- an important distinction to make, because some people have lost their jobs based on things they've done online.

The woman accused her employer of spying on her and other employees by sending a friend request that allowed access to personal online activity, which National Suisse denied.

Expect to see it -- "ripped from the headlines" -- on television soon.