Never could figure out why most folks go into PUBLIC SERVICE just for the perks and the bucks; it’s a good job and if you do it honestly and right, the satisfaction should be enough.
Like I said, never did get promoted further up the line; but when I retired even the folks who out ranked me and hated my guts had to admit my department ran efficiently and without the deficiencies and losses other departments had to suffer with.
Went back for a visit a couple of times and most of my guys were pleased to see me, the people at the remote sites (and some of my own people) were begging me to come back and unscrew what my replacement was doing.
He was hired by my last boss (who preferred yes men) rather than someone who would do the job without kissing ass.
Fortunately for my old hands, he was fired 2 years after I retired, the new Director was also fired.
I was asked to come back and do the professional qualifications evaluations for a new Director and a new Supervisor.
They got a New Director and a new Supervisor that according to my old employees are both doing a great job.
I am pleased to say the new Supervisor is the man I recommended a week before I retired, he’s a former Army Paramedic and is doing an outstanding job in my opinion, my old crewmen also think he is doing great.
I only ever had four rules;
1: Don’t ever lie to me.
2: Don’t ever cheat the organization (or yourself).
3: Don’t ever steal from the organization.
4: Do your damn job to the best of your ability at all times.
Well you appear to be a product of the old school.
I was a Rickover selectee. trained in his schools as an engineer, and when discharged I went to work for a spell for Hughes, assigned at Caltech/JPL which was an amazing experience, amazing group of people.
I worked daily with a GM-15, as we were contracted to support his office. In his younger years he had worked alongside Werner Von Braun and would tell me about his genius for things and how it rubbed off on people.
I worked alongside other federal engineers who were top of the line. They were just plain sharp, no words could adequately express how they saw things so clearly and had their priorities so well mapped out.
After a few years the GM-15 wanted to bring me in to replace him at a GS-14 level and groom me to take over for him as he was going to retire from federal service and move on the work for Teledyne-Ryan.
But he showed me the reality (he was old-fashioned honest) that had set in. So much deadwood had accumulated around his office, so many non-performing employees that could not be fired outright. If these employees were to be evaluated for termination, there was a long drawn out process of remedial actions and hearings that always gave a chance for these employees to hang around a lot longer than they deserved. He told me he’d like to fire them but couldn’t without spending all his time on it. So after awhile he just ignored them.
I turned the offer down as I couldn’t see myself as a caretaker for what some called a geriatric farm.
Pretty damn pathetic.
The federal workforce built in so many protections for their jobs and then stood by as Congress hiked their pay and benefits each and every year that eventually they surpassed the private sector in salary and benefits on the average.
The federal workforce is so large now that any attempt to reduce the force to appropriate levels is a political action that can result in members losing their seats in Congress.
And most of them hate Trump.
The last season’s football game had the DC stadium crowd cheering the President while the federal employees booed him.
Something’s got to give.
Some say we need a real war to clear out the crap. But then we don’t want wars. Maybe we are screweed.