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Forget city policy for a moment - people want to know if playing solitaire while being paid on the city's dime is a fire-able offense. And yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg admitted that the city employee up in the Albany office was really fired because the Mayor saw solitaire up on his computer. Edward Greenwood, victim of the Mayor's "all work, no play" ethic and Microsoft, told the Times he has no "real animosity towards the guy. He's the boss, so if this is the way he wants it handled, there's nothing I can do about it. But am I happy about it? No."
The Mayor claimed that he barely knows how to use the computer, thus doesn't partake in solitaire, so we imagine Bill Gates has already put in a call to send him a Microsoft employee to tutor him. At the press conference, he said:
"I expect all city workers — including myself — to work hard. There's nothing wrong with taking a break but during the business day at your desk, that's not appropriate behavior."Okay, so, if an employee, say, went outside to smoke, that'd be okay (though unhealthy). Or if an employee were to linger at the water cooler a little longer, gossiping, that'd be okay. But playing solitaire or stretching at your desk 'cause you're penned in like a veal, that's not okay? If anyone knows what the rules of conduct are in city office, let us know! One reader commented yesterday that they seemed to be chatting on the phone
And what makes this story even more ouchy is that the Mayor only saw the computer after Greenwood asked if he could take a picture with him! D'oh! Too bad for Greenwood that the Mayor isn't like Mr. Burns, who forgets who his employees are after each run-in. Now, back to your TPS memo cover sheets, people.
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I used to work at Bloomberg's company... no joke, there really was a report called "The TPS Report"... and I used to work with a guy who really looked like Milton.... life imitating art? And his company has a HUGE room now (lounge) that has employees "hangin 'round the water cooler" for long periods of time.
The guy deserved to be fired for being stupid enough to leave it on the screen while Bloomberg was even in town. Idiot. Minimize damnit!
Man I could never work for Bloomberg. Although I'm all about playing Collapse myself. :)
I think, especially under Bloomberg, there's been a focus on increased efficiency and productivity (which may seem (a) like lip-service and (b) impossible when dealing with the bureaucracy that is NYC civil service). However, I am 90% sure that it's not the act itself that's a firing offense, but the mannner in which it's engaged in. A few years ago, the Post or Daily News ran a cover story on a few City employees spied in front of a building taking, oh, regular 45-minute smoke-breaks throughout thhe day or some such. To the best of my knowledge, Mayor Mike saw the article and asked they be, er, let go. I think it's not the smoking or the Solitaire; it's the apparent disregard for the parameters of the civil service workday.
alt tab!!
we had a printer at work that had the "pc load letter" message.
Here's a multibillionaire firing a $27,000 a year office drone. There is nothing wrong with taking a break with solitaire once in awhile. I thought we were all done with Taylorism and time and motion studies.
I hope Bloomy is proud of himself.
www.forgotten-ny.com
I'm currently in my last couple of weeks working in a city agency. I actually submitted my notice because, since no one around me works, I, as a dedicated professional, actually have assumed their loads. I welcome a surprise "drop by" from the Mayor, so all of those nonchalantly flipping through the Post, playing Minesweeper, or watching Seinfeld (true story!), can be summarily dismissed. [though reading Gothamist is okay]
Not that I'm bitter.
>>>>I welcome a surprise "drop by" from the Mayor, so all of those nonchalantly flipping through the Post, playing Minesweeper, or watching Seinfeld (true story!), can be summarily dismissed.
People need a break now and then. If you can maintain productivity while knocking off here and there that's fine. What do you want it to be like, Cool Hand Luke?
Shakin' the tree, boss...
www.forgotten-ny.com
ha! my hubby used to work for the city and there were people who read the paper all day, took 3 hour lunches, and made origami at their desks! city workers are a joke. they think that they can never be fired so they take all types of liberties. a little solitaire is nothing. the guy should have been given a reprimand not his walking papers.
Forgotten-NY (love the site, by the way):
I'm all for the occasional break. Believe me, I've taken my fair share. But as Steph points out--work usually gets done when people decide to "take a break" from goofing off.
Regarding Cool Hand Luke, any place where employees are challenged to egg eating contests is the place for me. Surely the Mayor can get behind that policy!
>>>>I'm all for the occasional break. Believe me, I've taken my fair share. But as Steph points out--work usually gets done when people decide to "take a break" from goofing off.
Thanks for enjoying FNY!
But: Bloomy here is coming across as one of those "what's his dirt doing in my ditch" kind of guys. If you want to take 5 minutes an hour, that's 5 minutes of knock-off time a $5 billion dollar man can afford.
Of course, when it comes to FNY, I can knock off all I want. I've tried firing myself, but then the multidozen dollar Forgotten NY economy would collapse.
www.forgotten-ny.com
>If you want to take 5 minutes an hour, that's 5 minutes of knock-off time a $5 billion dollar man can afford.
But it's not the $5 billion man that's paying for that knock off time. It's me.
Perhaps FNY could explore the basements of various city agency buildings to produce a photo-series of NYC's "forgotten" employees, surrounded by cardboard boxes and sweatily grasping their red staplers.
Sorry for the Office Space reference. Hacky as it is, Gothamist brought it up first.
Apologies for the anonymity, but folks get fired for these sorts of things around here.
Garrett and his like are hypocrites--you are ALL reading Gothamist during business hours! GET BACK TO WORK!
Well, when you fuck up in front of the mayor, you should expect to be fired. That's genuine stupidity.
But no notice or severance after six years? Just because Bloomberg walked in, knowing nothing of what the guy actually did, and decided that he wasn't working?
What a dickhole.
A lot of you kids are too young to remember the "Boss Key" feature in most computer games in the '80s and early '90s. You would hit a single key, and a fake spreadsheet would instantly appear on the screen, to make it look like you were working the whole time.
LSL: Ah yes... those good ol' Sierra games!
Well, usually good, I mean -- in one of the Space Quest games, all the Boss Key did was bring up a text box (while still in the game, mind you) ragging on you for being lazy at work. ;)
Is it "appropriate" for a NYC courthouse bag screener to play solitaire on the monitor near the x-ray machine? That's what I saw when I left jury duty for lunch last month. This same police-like substance told me I couldn't wait for my lunch date in the lobby (on a cold, windy, and rainy day) due to "security" reasons.
As an aside, has anyone else found it odd that the fired employee's name is "Edward Greenwood IX"???
Mike has either gone nuts, or he's forgotten to keep up the facade of not being nuts. Mike protests too much. His over-reaction makes you wonder what he's up to on his own computer.
If Solitaire was prohibited, why wasn't it removed from the PC?
I suspect that Bloomberg decided to make an example of this individual. Of course, he's never had to worry about being evicted or being in debt for the rest of his life due to an illness while uninsured.
And, of course, for every work hour saved by fear inspired by this "example" there will be a work-week lost as other NY employees make a point to waste some time in more discreet fashions... and it's just one more straw on the backs of the 10% of workers (like "c" above) that are doing 90% of the work.
I worked for the City, and someone who just wastes time playing solitaire should be given the key to the City. Many people I work with spend their day on gmail, online shopping, undertaking massive home renovations, smoking outside, getting IVF, or looking for other jobs. The rest just engage in make-work projects while sucking on the teet of the New York City taxpayer.
I used to work for the Parks Department and the Civilian Complaint Review Board and in both places I was impressed with the professionalism and hard-working mentality of the employees. Granted most of the employees there were younger people in their 20s and 30s, wet behind the ears, but it was still the City.
The guy deserved to be fired, what kind of fool leaves the screen on while the Mayor is there, the man that holds sway over your job?!?!?! Now he can get a real job, working, like the rest of us. The bureaucracy in this city blows, try getting something done that involoves city workers, time stands still...The Mayor is only looking out for himself and the rich, but at least he got that right.