Fired for Solitare At Work

schlick writes "The Associated Press is carrying a story about a NYC employee fired after Mayor Michael Bloomberg noticed a game of solitare on the employee's desktop at work." From the article: "Greenwood, who earned $27,000 a year and had worked in the office for six years, said in a telephone interview that he limited his play time to his one-hour lunch or during quick breaks when he needed a moment of distraction. 'It wasn't like I spent hours and hours a day playing, because I had plenty to do,' Greenwood said. 'If I had been working at something exhaustively for two hours, I might get a cup of coffee and play for a minute but then go right back to my work.'"

Comments

It wasn't in Manhattan

[PCM2]

The guy didn't work in New York, he worked at the Albany city legislative office. The median income for a male living in Albany is ~$31,000.

Re:Paid for 8 hours work or to be present for 8?

[Gyorg_Lavode]

People need breaks. I know when I was working hourly I legally had half an hour for lunch and a few 15min breaks reguardless of what the company said.

Now as a salaried employee, I constantly have slashdot, fark, etc open. On the other hand, I will read it, then do a bit of this, then read. In all honesty my productivity improves because to answer tough questions many times you have to distract yourself from them for a bit. (I am one of the most productive people in my group.) If the person wasn't playing solitare he'd be over in the other cube talking to a friend, getting some water, just roaming around, etc. That kind of thing has happened for AGES. To fire someone for playing a game for 5min is rediculious though it would be justifiable if the guy was always playing.

Re:Bloomberg thus joins the ranks

[zorander]

Bloomberg build one of the largest privately held companies from the world from the ground up. His coworkers, some of whom I know, testify whenever possible as to the sweat and intensity he put into the business and how wonderful he was to work for. The benefits offered at his company are among the best in the industry. It's hard to accuse him of not understanding how work gets done or how to/not to treat employees in light of what he's accomplished in his life, in particular from a management perspective.

Also, if the employee were so indispensible, I assume his manager would have defended him and done whatever possible to give him another chance. Honestly, if the man got fired by a chance remark, even coming out of Bloomberg's mouth, he probably was on the line already for other reasons.