News Attack - 06/29/04
 

Former Alabama state employee Vernon Blake has 207 pages that he says document his Department of Transportation boss's habit of playing solitaire on state time. The documentation led to a letter of reprimand for Blake's former boss, while the "spyware" Blake secretly put on his boss's state computer got the engineer fired. The state Department of Transportation dismissed Blake in November after 21 years of employment. The Alabama Personnel Department heard Blake's appeal on Monday. In late October 2002, Blake says, he put a free software program called WinSpy on the computer of George Dobbs. The software recorded what was on Dobbs' computer at random intervals for about seven months. More than 70 percent of WinSpy's 414 images show games of solitaire, he said, a fact he brought to the attention of the agency's senior management. The department only reprimanded Dobbs.

Wrong as it may seem:
Computer break-in is a more serious crime than playing games on state-time.

When you suspect your boss of playing games on his PC while he shouldn't do so, you should do:
1) report this to his or her boss if applicable

A boss should not be judged by what he/she does on company/government time, but by the results he/she is getting.
Everyone is accountable to someone and that someone should be notified of lessened productivity. If however that someone thinks the results are still adequate, then what's the harm?

Knowingly spying on the boss' PC is very wrong (more than just solitaire might have leaked from that office this way) and should be punished by dismissal.

Edit: regardless, I also think the boss should be investigated, because the alleged 70% loss of productivity is too much to not influence the results. (remember that screenshots do not prove that a game was actually being played.)

My $0.02

I agree..

I have no pity for someone stupid enough to put spyware on thier bosses computer. If you think your boss is useless then say something.. DOn't act on your own

I figure if the guy is getting his job done, who cares how much solitaire he playes?

I get bitched at for this kind of thing. But you know what? What else am I supposed to do when I have all of my work done? Sit around and stare into space?

I've heard looking at porn is a good thing to do in the office =)

It's possible that he just had the solitaire up, and got to it when he had down time. This guy's an ass.

hehe, I like how your list only has 1 item in it....leaves me wanting for more :p

The last time I told my boss tht she was inneffective, wasting too much time on personal calls, surfing the net all day, I was forced to have a letter of insubbordination put in my file. This was long after I made many, many attempts at letting upper management know that she was a fucktard.

Regardless, I think it was wrong to put spyware on his system. As delayedreaction put it, he could have just been playing solitare on his down time.

I think my boss is useless.

Oh, and stupid.