I remember a time when government jobs were for people who couldn’t perform in the private sector. “Bless his heart, he needs to find a town job” was a common saying when referring to a person with few life skills, low motivation and/or basic, all-around unemployability.
I grew up when it was understood that people who worked for civil service were just a step or two above being non-functioning human beings. Not quite retarded, but not quite smart enough to do for themselves on the job market. We had government jobs so people like this wouldn’t go on welfare, but could do some sort of work where performance really wasn’t a big deal, and the pay was accordingly low.
Then the Unions took over and a few decades later, civil service workers are some of the highest paid people around, even though the people didn’t get any smarter or start working any harder.
I worked for a public employee union (finance, not an advocate). Your description fits most of the members I met. They believe that the work they do is so above the taxpayers that they deserve the cadilac healthcare and fat pensions and everything else. And I’m talking janitors, cafeteria workers, etc.