City Hall Card Game Ends in Firing
Public works linemen are caught playing cards on the clock in a city hall office, prompting a crackdown on workplace loitering.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Four city employees engaged as linemen have been discharged by the commissioner of public works for playing cards at the City Hall during working hours. Although the discharge took place last Thursday, the matter was suppressed by officials until today, when the story leaked out. Last Thursday afternoon, Mr. Welsh caught the men red-handed; they were playing pinochle in the police squad room on the first floor of the City Hall. When the commissioner stepped inside the room, the faces of the men flushed and the game stopped. The law was then laid down by the commissioner and their discharge followed. A number of the city linemen have lately been reported for 'soldiering' during working hours. City Electrician Thorne has already secured the names of several guilty ones, and a wholesale discharging may result.
“When the commissioner stepped inside the room the faces of the men flushed and the game stopped.”
Public sector accountability remains a recurring theme in local governance. While the punishment seems harsh by today's HR standards, the tension between municipal labor efficiency and management oversight in City Hall persists in modern Tacoma politics.
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