(no subject)

[vicarz]

I've heard people complain about how pointless it is to post things like SNOW when it's snowed. Although I see the logic and point, I sometimes learn about major news items through LJ (yes I'm pathetic) and I kinda like to see everyone's varying opinions about issues. Everyone has a different take, adding their own flavor to a common experience.

I enjoy watching all the SUV drivers losing control of their wanna-be trucks in 2" of slush. Snow around DC is fucking hilarious. I'm sure I lose karma for laughing at other people suffering, but it's so deserved that I cash in just a lil private karma for giggles.

I wore combat boots to work. They keep me warm and dry, but SUCK on slick surfaces (hence good dancing). Downhill fast, uphill slow with setbacks.

9 years with da gummint and I was pretty sure we'd be open today - it takes major snow to close when it costs a bazillion dollars in tax-dollars to close us. What I don't understand is why, when it started snowing hard at like 8pm and supposedly snowed hard all night, it's only 2-4" or so.

EDIT SHIT school is closed. GAWD I hope they open later tonight. I would LOVE to miss class, but in law school they don't skip material because of some silly snow...they just pack it on in special saturday sessions, longer classes...in other words you play now you pay later. I dun wanna pay! I'd rather just sludge through it right now :(

Comments

[dissonant-etak.livejournal.com]

personally, i think it's even more pointless to complain about pointless posts.

additionally, perhaps if the goverment would stop employing everyone who applies for a job there - maybe get rid of the soap-opera-watchers and the packing-peanut-hoarders - its operating budget might be lower and it wouldn't be such a huge deal to close up.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

What government do you work for (I know you are/were fed)? We have very good employees (at least here) with the exception of the clericals. There we have to hire what we can get as the private sector pays 5-20k more per worker. We have a horrible reputation for the crackheads we hire, but the taxpayers don't think government workers should be paid.

It's a funny balance, taxpayers encounter crackhead aksitude on the phone, and complain about the workers. We aren't given the money to hire at competitive rates, so all we get are crackheads. People hear about the crackheads, and refuse to pay real wages for workers.

Then again I fire people for a living. I think more agencies need a crew like ours to seperate the crackheads from service!

[dissonant-etak.livejournal.com]

when i was working for the LoC, i saw so much wasted time, so much duplication of effort, so much needless paperwork and so many people sitting around doing nothing. i'm surprised you ever actually succeed in firing anyone, since from what i've seen it is nearly impossible to lose one's goverment job once one has it. my father once went through a three-YEAR process to try and fire a woman who worked for him, for demonstrable incompetence and mental instability. this woman showed up uninvited at our house on a snowy christmas eve in a cab with her two-year-old daughter in tow, raving and crying and insisting to speak to my father. she was acting so crazy that our visiting relatives surmised that she might have a gun. and STILL she was never actually fired, just transferred to a different floor of the building.

i'm sure YOU do a fine job - but in general my experience with government employees has been less than impressive.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

There is truth behind almost every stereotype. The problem is that, while it's not so hard to fire government employees, most agencies don't train their staff in how to do it! I know how to do it, but our department is very unsual. We have LERD perform all discipline, accommodation, and performance problem work. It's insane to ask a first-line supervisor to know the myriad of regulations that control treatment of workers. It's true you can't just fire someone, but you can take an action and fire then in 30-90 days. They can appeal, but those appeals are easy to beat if you document from day 1.

I've also had really crappy managers, so I'm still glad all those protections are in place. It's a tough balance...I think there are more protections than needed at this point, but I think most workers (particularly private of course) have far too few protections.

[djpsyche.livejournal.com]

It's not pointless to post about the snow. I would rather read LJ than weather.com to find out how my friends at home are faring in the bad weather :)

[grymnir.livejournal.com]

1) Have to agree with Psyche. Yes, weather.com or cable may tell you there is snow, but they won't tell you about the 100 year old oak that fell onto a friend's car or house because of snow-weight.

2) Feds - there are many different stripes of fed worker, to give credit where due. I work with one lady who is almost always on the job and working her butt off - but - we just had to "retirees" that tended to fall asleep at their desks.

Even that should bear the explanation that both have been fed workers for 30+ years and do things faster with a call or two than 3 days of email trails from others can accomplish.

That said - I'm a contractor and don't get paid when the government closes...though it would have been nice to stay home and read ahead for my classes.

3) Sorry GMU is closed today. I know your pain - tonight would have been my first class of my Eastern Europe class; the one that we are assigned a book a week and a 2pg precis a week for. All we've seen is the first blog of the semester...some of us are betting that he'll update the assignment in the blog and that we'll spend tonight reading the text.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

What you call retirees we call 'deadwood.'

I used to say, when I first encountered crackhead employee aksitude, that for every bad employee there was a manager that wasn't doing their job. Then I was given my own crackhead.

I still say that - it's just now I realize the direct supervisor is often not the problem. My boss' boss' boss was why I couldn't fire the employee. In most cases the knowledge isn't there, and if it were there the top managers do not allocate enough time/resources to remove the thorn. I wonder if these same lazy 'time-saving' assholes are people that choose not to change the oil in their cars to save money?

[cobwellac.livejournal.com]

It actually stopped snowing before midnight last night, which gave road crews plenty of time to clean up and everything. Hence the lack of more than 4 inches of snow and the fact that we have to come to work. I'm so depressed; I was planning to sleep in. :(