De Blasio social media director quits after less than 2 months on the job

A social media director for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio quit after less than two months on the job, later writing in a Facebook post that he did so “for the sake of [his] health” and “sanity.”

Scott Kleinberg, a former social media editor at the Chicago Tribune, published the post on Tuesday evening. The message is now no longer publicly available, though it’s not clear whether Kleinberg deleted or simply restricted the privacy settings of the post.

“Well, that was fast,” the post read. “I moved to NYC for a dream job and that’s not what I got.”

“I tried to stick it out, but it was impossible. I don’t even know the word quit, but for the sake of my health and my sanity, I decided I needed to do just that. Now, for the first time in my life, I’m unemployed … I’ve learned a lot in the past several weeks, including something I’ve ignored in many a fortune cookie: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Responding to other posters in the comments, Kleinberg said he was only sleeping three to four hours a night because of work-related stress.

“No one should have to go to bed every day with pains in their chest and no one should have to work 13 hours a day week after week plus weekends,” Kleinberg wrote in the replies. “And when someone offers you a job and then takes pieces of it away so it’s no longer the job that you were offered, it’s time to pack it in and find something else. “

In another message, Kleinberg wrote, “I ended up with political hacks plus a boss who just couldn’t get it. It was a bad combination for sure.”

According to a press release issued by the mayor’s office on May 3, Kleinberg’s was expected to “infuse personality and engagement into the social media channels for the Office of the Mayor and City government as a whole.”

“New York City government is a tough, fast-paced job that is not for everyone,” Andrea Hagelgans, head of de Blasio’s communications team, told DNAInfo in a statement. “We wish him well.