A costly game of solitaire

Edward Greenwood IX now has plenty of time for computer solitaire.

The former office assistant was fired from his job with the city of New York last week after Mayor Michael Bloomberg spotted the card game on Greenwood's computer. Bloomberg was visiting the city's legislative office in Albany with a photographer when he saw the offending PC.

"The workplace is not an appropriate place for games," Bloomberg told the Associated Press. "It's a place where you've got to do the job that you're getting paid for."

Bloggers had little patience for his honor's gamesmanship.

Blog community response:

"Of course, studies have suggested that a quick game of Solitaire at work can often be good for worker productivity. It gives workers much needed breaks that make them more productive when they are working and makes them happier. However, none of that matters, apparently. Why not judge employees on the actual work they do, rather than on whether or not they take an occasional break?"
--Techdirt

"Frankly, I wouldn't want to live in Mayor Bloomberg's world, where, like automatons, we are expected to punch in at 9, punch out at 5 and do nothing but solid backbreaking (or mind-breaking) work in the meantime. The human brain is not a machine - it needs inspiration, creativity and flexibility."
--GameTrain

"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?"
--Gothamist