Today I am thinking about all the people whose hard work makes my life much better.
The people who process my timesheets (I work for the State of California); the people who get up early as hell to sweep the streets, and also garbage collectors even though technically it’s a separate company; the people at the animal shelters; the people downtown in City Hall whose jobs are not as glamorous as Mayor or Councilmember but who are every bit as important; police dispatchers; the people in all the agencies who try to help kids and battered women and poor folks; the list is endless.
I know your jobs often seem thankless, and maybe sometimes people even disrespect what you do, or undervalue its importance. But I want you to know that you are appreciated, and you are making a big difference in so many peoples’ lives, and thank you all very much.
Wow. As a former long-term civil servant of the type you describe, thank you. Your post means a lot.
First, it’s one of the few really positive posts I’ve ever seen on this board. That alone makes it very special.
Second, it does get so tedious hearing people complain about “cushy” civil service jobs. Mine was anything but. I never worked so hard in my life, and the work is remarkable for being among the most rewarding I’ve done. I did it for the love of the job and took pride in my tasks. Virtually all the folks I worked with felt the same.
Anyway, your kind words are a balm to read. It’s nice to learn at least one person notices. My best to you.
Yesterday I went to my local Treasury to ask a question about income tax. My question was answered quickly, clearly, concisely and using everyday language (the last didn’t use to be expectable). In another desk, one of the workers was patiently going over paperwork involving a string of deaths and inheritances with a middle-aged couple.
My withdrawal for this quarter has been painful*, but the experience of finding out exactly how to treat that unusual bit it includes wasn’t. And the people involved really are doing a lot to make the experience as painless as possible.
Apparently I don’t spend enough money. Or at least, not on deductibles.
I am an “onsite contractor” for many civil servants. I work side-by-side with them all day.
I would estimate 40% are good employees; these folks are dedicated, hard-working, honest, etc. The remaining 60% are pretty much worthless. It’s not that all of them are lazy (though many are). It’s that they’re very, very political, to the point of being corrupt. They also have an incredible sense of entitlement. I often hear them lamenting, “I could make so much more money in the private sector.” This is laughable for a couple reasons: a) When you include the entire compensation package, they make a lot more than me, and b) most wouldn’t last a week in the private sector due to incompetence. They live in a fantasy world where they’re protected and pampered, and have no idea how difficult it is to survive in the real world.
You are welcome - and your appreciation is appreciated. I think folk often simply do not understand the many conveniences/services they enjoy provided by gov’t employees. And I think it is pretty apparent that many folk do not appreciate the staffing hit many local/state/federal components have taken over the past decade or more, expected to “do more w/ less/fewer.”
Crafter Man, I don’t disagree with your observation that some civil servants are worthless, and that it should be easier to fire (and replace) them. I’m not sure I have ever encountered ANY organization of any substantial size - public or private - which does not have SOME share of incompetence. You also seem to eliminate the middle - what I perceive to be the majority of folk who are just slogging away, doing a decent job at what is asked of them. Similar to what you experience in most workplaces. Based on my 30+ years of government employ, I’d probably estimate that 20% do a really excellent job, 50% are just fully satisfactory workers, maybe 20% could do a heck of a lot better or have some significant shortcoming, and 10% are entirely worthless and are stealing their paychecks.
It is funny how the wheel turns. When I started my career, my wife in private industry got far better pay and benefits than I. But eventually I had pretty decent job security, and my salary gradually increased. Back in the 80s-90s, many folk were happy to pursue bigger bucks in private business - gov’t work was not as appealing. Then, when they started getting laid off, the idea of security looked pretty good to them. Just saying, there are plusses and minuses to just about any job, and folk make their own choices.
Here’s another issue - governments encourage and enforce private employment of the impaired, and veterans and, as such, do much such employment themselves. In my 60 person shop, the 5 worst employees are all vets, who were hired specifically because they were vets. So realize that that surly DMV employee you may be cussing out for incompetence, might be the same veteran being lauded on other occasions.
I kind of agree with a lot of this. Their pension packages are awesome (in Australia at least) and that, included with time off work, and other benefits make it a pretty good deal compared to how hard you have to work in the private sector to get the same outcome. A brother-in-law of mine is in the civil service. He was basically never at work or available to his underlings for 4 years, so much so, that they filed official complaints against him. It was true, he wasn’t there, he was actually out fucking another staff member (not my sister, his wife). He wasn’t fired but he moved to another department and has since claimed some kind of stress disorder, which means he stays home most of the time.
Nice anecdote. I’m sure none could be presented for the private sector. :rolleyes:
Sure, some public pensions impress me as excessive, and should be addressed. I also would support some limit on the “double-dipping” of public pensions. But if it is such a great deal that you are envious of, why didn’t YOU pursue that path? Hell, I think many teachers are overpaid and over-pensioned, but you couldn’t pay me enough to deal with other peoples’ brats… :smack:
Well that was more a rant about the brother in law and I know there are some good civil servants. Still, it’s an easier gig in the civil service these days. edit - I did pursue it and was rejected. haha
I was denied an interview with DFAT (Department of Trade and Commerce), as a fresh graduate back when I was considering getting in to overseas missions, despite scoring 10/10 on their qualifications test (5 points out of 5 for the test and 5 points out of 5 for the academic qualifications). Later I was also rejected from an operative role with ASIO after the fifth interview in what I was told was a nine stage interview.
I (or my colleagues) will be there when you call 24/7/365. From the OMG someone-is-dying-send-help-now to a it’s-not-really-an-emergency-but-I-didn’t-know-who-to-call, we’ll listen to try to understand and see what we can do to help you. That’s what we’re there for. That’s 9-1-1.
As to cushy… it can be, at times. If the night is calm and calls aren’t coming in then the calls aren’t coming in. We aren’t going to go out in the streets and create a bit of mayhem to make work for ourselves. But when the shit hits the fan the public turns to us. We are experienced, trained, ready, and we can handle it.
Funnily enough despite how often we are told that the caller could do our job better than us we have a hard time filling vacancies. The pay is ok. The benefits are great, but the pension only so-so. The hours are lousy. When it’s Christmas morning and you want to be home with family watching the kids open presents you can’t because it’s your turn to work Christmas. What you can do on your days off is limited by the fact you might called in to work on short notice.
OMG Iggy, do people actually say that to you? – that they could do your job better?! Except in a genuine and egregious case (probably as rare as hen teeth), that is appalling. The nerve!
I have thought that about two people; one was a doctor, one a lawyer. Even then I knew that obviously I would still have to be trained at their jobs for all those years to actually show them how it’s done.
I have only ever said it to one person. Our president. On facebook. Not sure that counts.
Isamu: I may be way off base here; but it’s possible the people interviewing you happened to know that the job you would end up in would kill your soul by inches. Or that your boss would be a jerk of a type you weren’t equipped to deal with. You don’t get to a ninth-stage interview without impressing the socks off of more than one person. That you didn’t get hired might be for different reasons than you think.
My last several points of contact with my local govt were the ladies at the tax/dmv office, and they have been sweet and knowledgeable and most importantly PROFESSIONAL.
Being on unemployment was never a good thing, but I must say the clerks at the IDES were always extraordinarily nice, knowledgeable, and helpful. I was always amazed by this because of the government worker stereotype.
Their prerecorded phone system for reconfirming your benefits, on the other hand, was insufferably rude, even for a robotic system.
Alas, yes they do. And they tend to overlap with the people who berate me for not having dispatched a call despite the fact that they haven’t told me what is happening or where to send help. :smack: No, it doesn’t work like you saw in the movies. And even if we had the ability to automatically locate their cell phone (we don’t) we still need to verify where help is going.
The overwhelming majority of the time I’m going to do what the caller wants because most of the time it is common sense. But the guy who told me, “Someone has been shot. DON’T send the police. Just send and ambulance.” was disappointed in my response. Ultimately I am the one who decides what kind of help gets sent.
And then rarely there is something oddball where the caller is mistaken about who has the authority to help. I live and work in the Cayman Islands. One caller at 3am wanted me to connect her to Cayman Immigration to get an emergency travel passport. She was a citizen of an Eastern European country (and not a dual citizen of Cayman) and had recently mailed her passport away to be renewed. She had just been informed that her family member had a heart attack and was on his deathbed and she should come home now. She didn’t believe me when I told her Cayman Immigration could not help and she was getting very mad. I made the call to the emergency contact at the nearest embassy for her home country got her embassy to give her a call and discuss how to sort things out.
It’s those weird calls where we prove our worth. Yes, I know how to get the Egyptian Navy to launch a rescue boat to a Caymanian flagged ship on fire off Alexandria. Yes, I can calculate the fuel range of our helicopter and determine if the landing pad and refueling equipment on a US Coast Guard cutter is compatible with our equipment. And yes, I can track down an emergency contact number for a Japanese shipping company that manages a Norwegian owned cargo ship to get them to notify the family of an injured member of the ship’s crew (and get the shipping company to guarantee funds to cover the port charges :smack: ).
Iggy: Wow. Any one of those things qualifies you as hero. But since you weren’t the Ambassador or the physician or the pilot, probably nobody said so. Three cheers for Iggy!
