Your tax dollars at work ... and play

I'm not sure which group of government workers below is dumber or committed the most flagrant breach of work rules.

If you picked up The Mercury on Friday, here's the top story on Page 1: "Supervisor at Montco 911 call center fire"

The story details an investigation into a holiday party where 911 dispatchers exchanged gifts of liquor and sex toys while on the job. The party took place in December, but the incident came to light this week when photos of dispatchers posing with bottles of liquor and sex toys found their way onto MySpace.com

If you picked up a copy of The Reading Eagle Friday, here's the top story: "Berks County sheriff fires seven deputies for violating Internet policy" The story says that seven sheriff's deputies were fired after they were caught watching online porn or playing computer games during work hours.

One question immediately comes to mind: How dumb do you have to be to get hired for government jobs?

We've all done stupid things on the job. But when you work for government and your paycheck comes from taxpayers, you're going to be held to a higher standard.

In the 911 center story, why would anyone in their right minds pose for a photo when they knew they were violating county policy, which says you can't bring liquor onto county property. It didn't matter that the bottles were never opened. The policy is clear.

"What is certainly clear is that this behavior was unbelievably stupid," Montgomery County Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel III told the newspaper.

"And doing it in front of a camera multiplies the stupidity," added Commissioners' Chairman James Matthews. "Public safety was not compromised; it's public confidence that is damaged here."

In the case of the sheriff's deputies, the county had a policy that prohibited workers from personal use of e-mail or the Internet during work hours. I'm guessing the same policy also prohibited watching porn or playing online games.

Beth K. Schiepan, director of county human resources, told the Reading Eagle that department heads are able to monitor an employee's use of the Internet and e-mail.

"Most of our employees know that they are being watched," Schiepan told the newspaper. "They agree every day that they sign into their computer, that they are not using the county computer for personal use. We are talking about taxpayers' money here. Employees can do their personal business at home."

Which brings me back to my original question: How dumb do you have to be to get hired for a government job ... and how dumb do you have to be to get fired from that job?