Posted on 02/09/2018 7:43:30 PM PST by ducttape45
I am writing this partially because I really want to know where the Freeper community stands on a whole on the issue of government workers and partially because of my disgust for certain members of the Freeper community.
There is a member on a another post who I won't mention (but who I'm sure will make his/her presence known here) who thinks that just because I work for the federal government that I should be forced from my job and unto the streets begging for money. This person apparently has a very low opinion of anyone who works for the US government. Over the past several years I've encountered many more like this person.
Yes, I work for Uncle Sam, but I am also a military veteran of 10 years (United States Air Force), and I've been in the employ of the US Government at a local military base supporting first a civil engineering squadron and now an air refueling squadron.
I do not make a whole of lot money. I am a GS-05 and I barely scrape in $24,000 a year. I'm paying on bills that I racked up helping to put my kids through college. I do not regret ever doing that because they are all very successful now in their adult lives, yet, as a single father I barely have two nickels to rub together most of the time. So to hear Freepers wish me "out on the streets or working at McDonalds and Walmart" just because they hate the government so much, I feel like I'm being lumped in with the crooks on Capital Hill. The vitriol that has been spewed at me by members of the Free Republic community has been nothing less than totally disgusting, yet at the same time I give credit to the many who have been very supportive.
Now don't get me wrong, yes, I know there ARE crooks on Capital Hill. I will be the first person to agree with you. I've seen folks here locally take advantage of the system. They have two retirements going and are still working part time racking in the dough. Yes, it's wrong, and I'll be the first person to stand up and say so. That's also part of the reason why I'm still a GS-05 because many years ago I dared to stand up to the system and have been kept from promoting ever since. I see the cronyism and nepotism that takes places on a government installation and it sickens me to the core of my being. Yet, I'm being lumped in with them. I see the wasteful spending going on, yet I'm being lumped in with them. I see people working in positions they have no business working in, while people (like myself) are being kept from being in positions they are more than qualified for because we don't suck up to higher management, yet I'm being lumped in with them. I see the evil in people like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Obama and his boyfriend Michael, yet I'm being lumped in with them when I'm nothing like them nor will I never be!
So it's reckoning time, members of Free Republic. Do you honestly feel that every single person who works for the federal government is evil? Is this "guilt by association?" Are folks like myself to be branded as "less than human" because we work in an office or in a capacity that many of you find reprehensible? If so, and if people like me are not welcome here, then I'll leave Free Republic. There are many great people here, to be sure, and if I am forced to leave because of the bad apples then I will be the less for it, but I will not tolerate the hateful attitudes and insults of those bad applies any longer if those feelings are representative of Free Republic on a whole.
It's time to make your positions known. Are you anti-government to the point where you could care less for the good people who work within government, or do you have the capacity to realize not everyone who works for the US Government is out to scam and steal from the tax payer and is just trying to make an honest living?
Leftist gubmint workers are like gubmint cheese.....except gubmint cheese is smarter.
In the Canadian military, if you can pass a basic physical test, you can get in, then they’ll go full beast on you (depending on trade). I saw a few guys in the infantry that had gotten beat into shape quick. After basic, once you get to battle school, there is not much room for the extra weight. It tends to shed very quickly. Mind you, of the 30 or so guys who would start, not many would finish. We ended with 12 out of 40.
I tend to have a hard stance on some things, and it’s partly the army’s fault. I may have gotten a little too hard by the time I got out heh, so my ways of coming across to folks can often be abrasive. It’s just how I am.
I agree... it is disappointing that leftists get so many government jobs, and don’t always do them well. One example is the IRS.
Government needs better workers, who are less politically motivated, and will do their jobs to the best of their ability. Too many workers hired to do the work of less people due to those who misuse, and abuse their positions. Trump Administration has shown that by the amount of people removed from certain agencies.
As a state government worker it’s the other way around here.
Right, I just hope Trump can stay in long enough to get his plans into action as it can not happen over night.
Be a American Dreamer - not a Snowflake....
bttt
True. We pray it be so. Be blessed.
years ago I worked as a police dispatcher at Bay Pines V.A. Medical Center in Saint Pete Florida.
2 guys worked to paint the office.
They came and patched and plastered one day then came back the next to paint.
One guy did great work, the other I would let paint my dog’s house.
I spoke to the good worker who was mad.
These two were hired at the same time. Every time raises were given out they both got the same.
Whee is the incentive to do good work if it goes un noticed?
One guy does great work and is proud, the other is watching the clock waiting for retirement in 18 more years.
You’re in very statistically rare place then.
We still need to knock govenrment down by about 90%. There’s far too much waste.
I will say those numbers didn’t apply to the infantry. Nobody joined the reg force infantry for a free ride. That was all the wog (without guts) trades.
...and I submit Federal workers should not even be delivering the mail. FedEx, DHL, UPS and many others could do it better.
JoMa
There are government EMPLOYEES. But there is no such thing as a government WORKER.
(jk)
When you tally up the fed, state, local gov employees, you find that about 1 in 14 people is a gov employee.
Do we really need that many?
Even though not all gov salaries are great, adding in the cost of their benefits puts them a far cry above most people.
FWIW most citizens common exposure to Federal employees is the USPS followed by the IRS. Veterans Affairs, medicare and Social Security are runners up. Around here not your best PR tool.
My son started working for the Dept of Labor almost two years ago, working in a smaller local office. He is a navy veteran, and most of the people he works with are veterans. He is very conservative and is happy that most of the people he works with are also conservative. He is thankful to have gotten the job, and he takes it seriously. I realize the same cannot be said for many government workers.
There are too many government workers at all levels of government. They work at a snail’s pace, and are never disciplined or fired for misconduct. They receive golden benefits and retirement pay way above what anyone gets in the private sector. Too many government workers view the taxpaying public as the enemy.
I have minimal to zero respect for government workers.
When Rage metastisizes it turns to Hate. Hate is brainless.
I congratulate you on your service to this country. I’m sure there are many more Federal workers just like you. But for every story like yours, there are others like this:
Years ago I shared a hotel room with a hydrologist working with the Corp. of Engineers. Not knowing much about hydrology, I asked him what specifically he did. He replied that most days he read a book to pass the time, as recommended by his boss. There was nothing for the hydrologist to do most of the time.
The overall problem with the Federal government it is way too big, involving itself in matters better left to the states. The Feds need to get out of Health, Education, & Welfare. The ATFE (alcohol, tobacco, firearms, & explosives) needs to go. Navigable Waters should be capable of navigation by a boat. There is so much duplication of effort & just plain waste.
Along with gutting the Feds, Federal employee unions should be banned & employment rules changed to allow firings & layoffs. This alone would do much to regain public respect.
I'll be the first to tell you that YES I'm overpaid, if my job was properly graded it would only be a WG5, and my current job is Illegal. Not authorized by Congress. I transport EMPLOYEES from an off site parking lot to the Agency, Congress has not authorized the VA to provide transportation for Employees. The VA cannot use Government resources for Employees unless approved by Congress, and they have never authorized the use of Shuttle Buses to transport Employees to and from off-site parking. But I just shut up and draw my paycheck anyway.
We have at least a hundred positions that are graded to high or are redundant, but the more people you manage the higher your pay, That's way I am a WG7 doing WG5 work. They even tried to get it upgraded to WG8.
I have seen so many illegal practices at the VA in my 19 years, it would amaze you. We have a large number of Employees that were hired Illegally. It would surprise you how many people are related to each other where I work. Brother-in-laws, Son-in-laws, all hired because they knew someone that was in a hirer position at the VA and got them the job. It helps to have a Family member on the inside.
For example we had a Plumber and a Carpenter qualify a Welder to be a Mechanic!!!
Let me repeat that “we had a Plumber and a Carpenter qualify a Welder to be a Mechanic!!!”
YEP neither of these people had EVER worked as a mechanic, yet they qualified this person.
The Plumber was a GS12 and the selecting Official!!! A GS employee CANNOT qualify anyone for a Wage Grade position, and the Selecting official CANNOT qualify and then select ANY employee!!! And furthermore this “Welder” had been fired twice from the Government and was given a “re-employement preference” selection!!! NOT one part of this selection was legal, but yet the VA got away with it. Also the GS12 was NEVER qualify for his position either, his job was rewritten until his was just barely qualified. It helps to have friends at HR. (He's gone not, forced to take an early retirement,) How does a Plumber Qualify as a GS12 without a College Degree???? Easy just have FRIENDS in the right places!!!!!
Don't get started on the Part-time WG2 Food Service Worker that went from washing dishes in the Kitchen to a GS12 Safety Manager is ONE jump!!! Again with NO College Degree!!! Again you have to have friends in the right places!!!
As far as Unions, I am a member of a Government Union AFGE. Federal Government Unions are Right to Work. AFGE is worthless as a Union, they basically have NO or very limited Bargaining rights with the VA. They cannot Bargain for better wages or benefits, these are set by Congress. They tried to bargain recently about the parking situation where I work because it is Illegal, and they lost in arbitration. (Most AFGE officers work more for management instead of the Bargaining Unit.) I have never seen AFGE ever save anybody from being fired, they may be able to delay it, but in the end the Employee gets fired. We even had a Local Union President steal over $50,000 for the Local Union.
The problem with firing employees is the whole system. It took 5 1/2 to fire ONE employee that decided she couldn't do her job anymore and wanted a desk job. She was a Black female and management was full of White males, so you know where this was going. EEO after EEO after EEO, finally time ran out and she was fired. The Union did not help her, they wanted her gone as well. And there are many more just like her.
I'm not saying all Government Employees are bad, but most of upper Management is bad, they didn't get there Jobs because they are Qualified, they got there jobs because of having Friends in the right places.
Most of the people I work with are good people, but there are a bunch of them that are entitled little brats, they these people had to get out in the real world, they wouldn't make it.
I'm sorry but 20 yeas Military and 19 years Government Employee, I am pretty disgusted with the whole Government system.
If you want my Opinion of the VA waiting List Sandal and the abuses of the Choice Program those will have to wait.
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