Woman Fired Over SpongeBob Squarepants Balloon

[Janice]

Woman Fired Over SpongeBob Squarepants Balloon

Former Burger King Employee Sold Item in Internet Auction

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) - A Burger King employee was fired after she refused to return a 10-foot-tall SpongeBob Squarepants balloon that she sold for $1,025 in an Internet auction.

Viney Richards, 36, said a manager gave her the 50-pound balloon after it was taken down from the restaurant's roof.

But when she asked permission to be photographed by The Tampa Tribune, which was writing a story about the balloon's listing on the Internet auction house eBay, she was told to stop talking to the media and return the balloon.

''I really like my job at Burger King,'' Richards said. ''But I just couldn't give back the SpongeBob.''

She said she was fired from her $6.15-an-hour job on Wednesday.

The balloon was one of several listed on eBay. Dozens of the balloons have been stolen from the roofs of Burger Kings from Florida to Utah since the release of ''The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie,'' authorities said.


Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.