Government Shutdown

A number of blog ideas were flowing through my head the last couple of days—getting to know new people, backtracking with an ex… Not so unusual for me, I decided to go in a totally different direction. This doggone government shutdown is weighing heavily on my mind. I’m usually not a political minded person, but this stuff right here is getting on my nerves. I work for the part of the federal government that some people love and some hate—IRS—and as you know THE DAY is fast approaching. This year we have until April 18 to file and/or pay our taxes. As an employee, this date as well as the last day of this month, are crucial times for getting work completed.

The shutdown could also affect the issuing of refund checks (I'm glad I filed in February).



If we are shut down for a couple days to a couple of weeks, we may or may not get paid once the budget is passed. That’s what’s bothering me. I appreciate my good government job which is why I’ve been there for 14 years. As crazy as things get around there, I would love to have a few days off but being off without pay is not something I look forward to.

I was 19 years old and had no idea I’d be working for the government back in 1995 and 1996, the last time the government shut down. The politicians say that was the reason why former President Clinton was elected to a second term. I don’t know how that had anything to do with the cost of tea in China but instead of the senators fighting over whether the shutdown will benefit the Democrats or the Republicans they need to come to my service center and talk with the so-called non-essential people who don’t make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Then they would see that what’s important is the fact that we could miss one or more pay checks. Depending on a person’s financial situation, that could cause a major problem when it comes to paying the bills for however long we are off.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) reps passed out fliers at work giving us information on how to send our congressional representatives a message: “Just say ‘NO’ to a government shutdown and severe budget cuts.” I’m not sure if this will have any effect on Congress’s or President Obama’s decision, but I would like to think that it would.

When we didn’t get our yearly raise and were told that we probably wouldn’t get one for another two or three years, I just shrugged and said, “Oh well”. I couldn’t miss any money that I never had. But I go to work every working day other than three vacation weeks out of the year, so I expect to get my regular paycheck.

When the Democrats and the Republicans finish playing this game of chicken, we’ll see if the government will be shut down Friday evening. 

If I get furloughed, can y'all let a sister hold something?  LOL just kidding, I'm good.

Snow Days

I believe if the schools are closed due to inclement weather, all government buildings should be closed and employees of other businesses should be able to take off without penalty.

The reason why I say this is because on Monday morning, Memphis, TN had 4 inches of snow on the ground and parts of neighboring state, Mississippi, had as much as 10 inches. Now I know that's small change to cities that get 12 inches or more but if you lived in Memphis, you would see why it was a big deal. We don't have the equipment needed to remove the snow from the streets. Fancy duds like that are reserved for the airport. The trucks that go around town sprinkling salt and sand on the ground do not have the money or manpower to cover every street. What makes traveling on the snow even worse is that most people in Memphis have no idea how to drive on the snow. Which means there ends up being a lot of smashed up cars before the snow melts.

I had to make the trek across town to my job and just when I was no more than two blocks away, I started to slide on the ice. Apparently, I had encountered one of those spots that the Public Works department hadn't gotten to yet. Now I had called my job several times hoping that the building was closed but only after the third time did it say that the building wouldn't open for business until 10 am. I saw no point in going back home for another hour after I had already dropped my son off so I just took my time. I used the scenic route because hey, I wasn't about to get on the overcrowded interstate and end up taking almost twice as long getting to work, plus running the risk of sliding off the road. Not cool.

The streets were pretty drivable and there was a small number of cars on the road, but every once in a while I ended up having a motorist trailing very close behind me as if there wasn't one or two other lanes to drive in. I hate tailgaters, especially in that kind of weather. I found myself pulling over at least three times to keep from suffering a rear-end collision because some fool wanted to see how fast they could drive in the snow. I'm a chance taker in most aspects but putting my life in jeopardy is not appealing to me in the least.

When I finally made it through the security gate at my job, guess what? I saw maybe 20 cars as I drove around the building to my entrance. Now this is a huge building, the size of a medium sized college campus. The parking lot has never been completely full but cars usually fill at least 90% of the available spaces, but Monday, it must have been less than 9%.

I was surprised to see someone sitting in my area when I walked down my aisle. He said that there was one other person there that was assigned to our department. Over the next hour, three other people showed up. I kept getting phone calls from my manager, who was at home with the grandkids, asking about reports and once I had finally gotten over the shock of being in a virtual ghost town, I sat down and attempted to complete what I came to do. It didn't take long to realize that I wasn't going to be able to complete my reports because part of the information I needed was not available because the lady that did it was still at home in her cozy bed. I called my manager and told her that I had nothing to report and she told me I could go home when I got ready. I left 20 minutes later, after fussing at the few people that were there about all matters of foolishness.

I've said all of that to say this--heads of city, county, state and federal government as well as other business owners, IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE YOUR KIDS TO SCHOOL--GIVE YOUR EMPLOYEES THE DAY OFF.

Please and thank you.