One career tip: Workers should know what the CEO looks like. Especially if he or she is notoriously prickly.
That is what Fiordaliza Hernandez, a security guard at Madison Square Garden, learned when James Dolan, the Garden's head honcho and owner of the Knicks, reportedly fired her for failing to recognize him.
"Do you know who I am?" Dolan allegedly demanded on Sunday, when Hernandez asked to see his ID before allowing him to enter a private club—open to seasons' tickets holders and VIPs - during the Knicks' game against the Boston Celtics.
The security guard admitted she didn't know him, and he reportedly demanded, "How long have you worked here?" Three years, she replied. "I'm your boss! I pay your salary!" he barked, before firing her on the spot. "I have to get new security in this building! I have idiots working here!" he said, according to the New York Post.
Dolan, who reportedly never carries an ID, however, decided to reinstate Hernandez the following day. She was back on the job, working security on Monday while the New York Rangers hosted the Winnipeg Jets, the Post reported. Hernandez has made no comment to the media.
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New York Magazine has called Dolan "famously prickly," and in an apparent attempt to avoid a repeat of the incident, the Garden has handed out pictures of Dolan to all arena staff members, the New York Post noted. Also included in the handout are photos of Garden CEO Hank Ratner and Executive VP of Communications Barry Watkins.
"Security personnel in those areas need to know who executives are from the company and, in an effort to assist them, we provide photos and bios," a Garden spokesman told the newspaper.
Dolan is not the first New York executive to fire an employee on an impulse. Back in 2006, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg famously fired Edward Greenwood IX when the Mayor walked by his staffer's computer and saw him playing solitaire. Greenwood, then an assistant in the city's lobbying office in Albany, had a salary of $27,000 a year, as was reported by Joystiq. He wasn't rehired by Bloomberg, either.
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It's not uncommon for workers to find themselves in a situation where they are losing their job on the spot. In an at-will states, it's perfectly legal for employers to fire workers to do so. AOL Jobs' employment law blogger Donna Ballman advises workers to never agree to a forced resignation. While you may think saying you've been resigned will be more appealing to future employers than saying you were fired, you'll lose unemployment benefits, Ballman notes. And you also won't be fooling future employers. "In this economy, almost nobody resigns without having another job lined up," she says.
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