Assistant Horror Stories? Close Calls?

[Secret_Ninja]

I have been quite lucky in that my gut seems to be spot on when I hire assistants. However, I have had one go a bit crazy after the fact about letters of recommendation. I was willing to write them, but told him I needed his information before I left for the field. As you can guess, a frantic email arrived while I was deep in the jungle. To sum up a long story (and avoid remembering some of his less than professional emails), I had to tell him "good luck on your future endeavors".  Both my advisor and I were very surprised by the entire ordeal.

 

Just recently I had a close call - thank goodness I actually take the time to call the references that people provide. This particular person looked amazing on paper, but that is where it ended. Anyone else have to hire your own assistants for research? What stories do you have?