Mayor Bloomberg cracks down on Solitaire-playing employee
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Feb 10th 2006 at 2:45PM }
A NYC legislative office worker,
ill-versed in "minimize" tactics, was fired after Mayor Michael Bloomberg spotted a game of
Solitaire on the man's computer screen. Bloomberg had just completed a photo op with Edward Greenwood IX, the
now unemployed office assistant, when he spotted the infamous time wasting application. Bloomberg later told
Greenwood's supervisor to give him the ax.When questioned about the incident, the mayor responded, "The workplace is not an appropriate place for games." In his defense, Greenwood, who had worked at the legislative office for six years and earned just $27,000, claimed that he only played Solitaire during his lunch hour or for brief bouts when he needed a break. But Bloomberg wasn't buying the excuse, commenting, "There's nothing wrong with taking a break, but during the business day, at your desk, that's not appropriate behavior."
[Thanks, Brian]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
That guy @ Feb 10th 2006 2:50PM
That mayor guy is a jerk. Plain and simple.
He's also uninformed and unfair, id say dont re-elect him.
Even though Im too young to vote.
Greg2k @ Feb 10th 2006 2:53PM
PWNED
Aaron @ Feb 10th 2006 2:56PM
Wow, that's a little harsh, don't you think?
Tazeeyore @ Feb 10th 2006 2:58PM
I can't agree with them more for firing him. This crap goes on all day long at most business offices. We've had to remove those game completely from all of the systems here at my job.
ronnie @ Feb 10th 2006 2:59PM
that is just criminal, Bloomberg is a billionaire, and $27,000 a year in NYC is living in poverty
benjamin @ Feb 10th 2006 2:59PM
How big IS that stick up his @ss?
fred @ Feb 10th 2006 2:59PM
i play battlefield 2 during my lunch breaks.
Dan S. @ Feb 10th 2006 3:01PM
Haha, right before reading joystiq on company time, I was playing solitaire on company time. Today's my last day too!
wtfunkymonkey @ Feb 10th 2006 3:01PM
worst. photoshop. ever.
Jago @ Feb 10th 2006 3:22PM
Wait...so:
"There's nothing wrong with taking a break, but during the business day, at your desk, that's not appropriate behavior."
So if he is taking a break he HAS TO leave his desk...WTF? This sounds like something out of the movie "Office Space."
I swear this is EXACTLY why I hate the usual "stuffy" business atmosphere where you HAVE TO go to work in a suit & tie or business casual clothing. A lot of the people in that atmosphere are complete a-holes.
Matthew Rader @ Feb 10th 2006 3:41PM
I love how Bloomberg only takes a $1 salary from the city for being mayor. :thumbsup:
DigitalSleep @ Feb 10th 2006 3:42PM
So let me get this right he fired this poor guy, what about the NYC public school teachers with jail records?, or when they do something wrong, Ask the mayor about NYC board of ed's Rubberoom where bad teachers are sent, to read the magizines all day. That poor guy should have gotten in trouble, but not fired.
Quicksilver @ Feb 10th 2006 3:45PM
I think he has forgotten employees are people too. I think the entire corporate world has lost touch with the regular guy. Yes i know they are paying you to work. But give people breaks sometimes. This wouldnt be a prob if they guy was told many times to stop and he insubordinate. But Bloomburg in all his mightyness sees the peons not working! I bet his day is entirely business and he never takes breaks. All hail the mighty bloomburg!
Me @ Feb 10th 2006 3:46PM
I hate republicans, thats why I didnt' vote for the *ucker!
TravistyOJ @ Feb 10th 2006 3:55PM
Man I am so glad my work isnt like that. I have walked in on my boss playing freecell several times.
Nick @ Feb 10th 2006 4:07PM
What a douche bomb.
tetujin @ Feb 10th 2006 4:14PM
i wonder how often bloomberg takes a 'break' to check on his stocks. 'cause that's *way* different.
Douggy @ Feb 10th 2006 4:19PM
#4, You're too funny. Harping on the poor guy for playing solitare at work, by posting it on a gaming site's message boards. Oh the irony!
kip @ Feb 10th 2006 4:20PM
If we were meant to play games at work it would be called play. Its not. You want to play games, do it on your own time.
Jago @ Feb 10th 2006 4:36PM
"I hate republicans, thats why I didnt' vote for the *ucker!"
This isn't a political issue...besides democrats are a-holes just like republicans.
Leave the political talk to the people who know when it is relavent.
Robert @ Feb 10th 2006 4:36PM
This would have been acceptable if they had, say, given a little warning to the guy. If they had made it explicitly clear that he could not play solitaire during work hours and that if caught he would be fired then it would be okay to fire him.
Everyone should reasonably know that playing solitaire is probably against the rules at work, but there is no reason to think you're going to be fired over it without a little heads up before hand.
Carmine @ Feb 10th 2006 4:45PM
I am surprised at how big a deal everyone is making of this story. I LOVE games and sometimes even play them at work; HOWEVER, I don't do it when my boss is around and definitely wouldn't do it if the CEO was around. Games are not to be played at work. Why shouldn't that be grounds for termination? The contract I signed upon my hire states that READING is not allowed on the job, not even the newspaper. So I could be fired for reading on the job. Should I be? Probably not, but they have every right to do so. I wonder what the contract says about posting comments on a blog during work...
choosejiff @ Feb 10th 2006 4:47PM
"I hate republicans, thats why I didnt' vote for the *ucker!"
Also, in case you didnt know. Bloomberg IS A DEMOCRAT!
He ran as a republican because the democratic field was too crowded.
Settle down with the political BS and know what the heck you are talking about before you spew shart like that where it doesn't belong.
Art Guy @ Feb 10th 2006 4:50PM
Where I work, you'll be fired for NOT playing games.
Soon Hui Vchai @ Feb 10th 2006 4:53PM
dick
Steve @ Feb 10th 2006 4:59PM
Two things:
1. I believe by law (at least in Washington State), I have breaks every once in awhile. Whether I take a coffee break, smoke break, or solitaire break should be up to me. If the company policy stated explicitly that I have to take it in the break room or away from the desk, then so be it.
2. For every job there is a certain service level agreement. If this guy was performing his job well and efficiently where he has free time to do other things, then why should he get fired? Worst case is that they give him more to do (along with a raise as he would be exceeding his expectations).
SilverSurfer @ Feb 10th 2006 5:03PM
On slow days my small team gathers for some PSP or DS action. Also I've walked in on my boss playing SNES on the emulators.
Basically it comes down to
Work + Some fun = Happier, More productive workers
Zach @ Feb 10th 2006 5:36PM
That seals it. New York is doomed to hell.
Mario @ Feb 10th 2006 5:50PM
THIS is Great!!! hopefully the U.S. will clense it self from major corporate jerks that make millions a year and do nothing. In this case its unfortunate since this guy only made 20k according to the article.
Fearless Freep @ Feb 10th 2006 6:10PM
Kneel before BloomBorg. Resistance is futile.
Bloomberg Employee @ Feb 10th 2006 6:12PM
Bloomberg needs to plug his head into a server and update his "humanity" file. What a douche bag.
Nin10dude @ Feb 10th 2006 6:13PM
What a dick...
dirtyone @ Feb 10th 2006 6:18PM
look at #4 post time, during work hours in the est time zone looks like some else needs to be fired for wasting time
troc 59 @ Feb 10th 2006 6:25PM
Good for Bloomberg. It's a boss thing.
Jago @ Feb 10th 2006 7:01PM
Bloomberg is an ass...it's an employee thing.
AX @ Feb 10th 2006 7:26PM
DONT YOU UNDERSTAND?
...he's a freecell man.
Nathan @ Feb 10th 2006 9:34PM
What happned to a happy worker is a good worker?
Seriously, that guy is a cunt.
Lonin @ Feb 11th 2006 12:12AM
I spent my workday throwing paintballs and other assorted objects at people, including my boss.
Sucks to be that guy, pretty lame for Bloomberg to do that. Principal and rules are one thing, but costing a guy his livelihood because of that is just wrong.
Zsavior @ Feb 11th 2006 11:41PM
Hmm if you live in New york you understand that this is the type of Man Michael BUMBERG Is. Since he went in office the poverty level for state has risen, and people lost more low income housing. This guy ran on the idea that If the public school system was messed up after his years in office blame him. Of course he neglected to inform the voters that albany and the Governer that douche Pataki says how much money inner city schools get.
Bloomberg doesn't want people to see the real him, he hires and fires and does what he wants cause he is rich. That guy means nothing to him, he is able to buy media and air time when he wants and all he does is look back to the simple minded and say "OH YEah I Am Rich I Don't Take a PAY CHECK!" doesn't mean he is doing a good job! You know how many School Chancelors he went through because he wanted them to be yes men, and they wouldn't. He is a horrible Mayor No if ands or buts, If we didn't have Guiliani those years before him New York would probably be a HELL HOLE!
SO the idea that he fires a guy who is playing solitare on his launch break, while he can just do a horrible job doesn't surprise me. And while I hate repubilcans to Guliani was a republican and I respected that guy, if Bloomberg was to get hit by a car tomorrow I wouldn't even cry at his funeral I would probably laugh and throw a party. Bloomberg uses the fact that he doesn't take a pay check to not serve the public doesn't surprise me that he treats his workers like crap.
Amy Joanz @ Feb 26th 2006 6:10PM
City workers are basically treated like dirt, underpaid, disrespected, overworkerd, maligned, etc...This is New York City. The salaries alone are embarassing here and these bosses actually expect you to work until you drop dead, so if you take a break to cool your head or collect your thoughts while playing a boring game like Solitaire after multi-tasking on a job with a salary for one but a workload for three or four, make sure your screen is dim or minimized, because chances are your boss is underpaid and computer illiterate.
Mrs. P @ Feb 28th 2006 11:17AM
I know that many workers play games during their work day. It's unfortunate that this guy has to suffer a major consequence when others do not. Hopefully they will learn from his mistake and stop playing games on company time.
J @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:53AM
this is messed up
Kel @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:55AM
UR A BUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM What Kinda Junkie Person are U Why would u fire a person for playing solitaire ur a bad person
Shana Lee @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:00AM
It was kind of foolish how everything happen. It was stupid and dumb of the mayor to be that harsh. Also it was the workers problem to because the worker knew that he was not suposed to be playing a game on the job. So the whole thing seems like both was not doing their job.
damel @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:02AM
I think Mayor Bloomberg was to hard on him.
Joseph @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:02AM
I think it was great thing mayor Mike Bloomberg did. I believe that a person should only do his work on the computer and not play games at his job.
David @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:06AM
i think they he was wrong too do that because maybe the employ didnt have any work to do
noe @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:06AM
not rite
kevin @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:09AM
bloomberg is messed up he has millions of dollars and he fires someone who isnt getting paid enough first the stadium and now this he only cares about himself and not about the common man like me. well im rich but i used to be poor than i got rich off my good looks im a super model. but back to the subject bloomberg needs to loosen up so what if he works too much thats his fault for bein an idiot. i think Bloomberg should be impeached for not having a heart
noe @ Mar 3rd 2006 10:14AM
not rite