Government employee thread! (Being a government employee is sweet) (3 Viewers)

[Orange&Blue]

I remember the good ole days when eggs and toilet paper were cheap and plentiful to such a degree we could decorate houses with them.

 

[BassNBrew]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.

Agreed.

Consider Elon in his DOGE role a politician.

 

[Buckna]

One of favorite times of year is when the guidance was to spend at will to get ledger to zero so that funding isn't taken for the following year. That's when each federal supply closet has enough staples to supply the planet and every office has a new chair. Ha ha

It was about 7 or 8 year ago now, but we spent our last 40k on "anti fatigue" mats, so employees could stand at their desks and work if they wanted to. We purchased like 200 of these things. People never really used them because they weren't easy to move and you couldn't put your chair on top of them either. It was a case of either stand all day or sit all day. Now all of them are lining a hallway we never use. Much success!

FWIW: I work for a Fortune 500 company and they wasted just as much money if not more on stand-up desks, "huddle rooms", and a bunch of the other dumb office trends that people hated or didn't utilize.

 

[fatness]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.

Agreed.

Consider Elon in his DOGE role a politician.

Not sure how that can happen when Elon is in (real) charge of DOGE, and DOGE is the group recommending taking away jobs of federal workers. Federal workers have been in this topic for years and are now getting hit with haphazard policy changes that in some cases are affecting their lives on a level that matters.

 

[FBG Moderator]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.

Agreed.

Consider Elon in his DOGE role a politician.

Thank you.

Everyone please stop to making this the new PSF. If it doesn't stop the thread will close.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.

Agreed.

Consider Elon in his DOGE role a politician.

Thank you.

Everyone please stop to making this the new PSF. If it doesn't stop the thread will close.

Please don’t punish the whole “class” because one kid sitting in the back of class is acting out.

 

[BassNBrew]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.

Agreed.

Consider Elon in his DOGE role a politician.

Not sure how that can happen when Elon is in (real) charge of DOGE, and DOGE is the group recommending taking away jobs of federal workers. Federal workers have been in this topic for years and are now getting hit with haphazard policy changes that in some cases are affecting their lives on a level that matters.

Pretty easy.

1. Don't mention his name is the easist.
2. Stick to facts like X number let go or hearing today on this issue or personal anecdotes like my sister is concerned about her job.
3. Don't add you opinion in a way that will rile the other side....ie: gimmicky plan, might be able to buy a McDonald's burger.
4. Before you hit the post button ask yourself if yourself if there's anything the other side might not like about your post, if YES, don't post.

If you (general you, not you specifically) can't follow the hosts rules, please just avoid the thread rather than ruin it for the rest of us because you don't like the host's rules.

Things like Democrats filing a lawsuit in court (with a link) or Musk reporting his findings here (with a link) will probably fly. Things like Democrats taking up the fight for the middle class against the ruthless Musk or Musk weeding out millions of dollars Democrats have wasted on reverse swirling toilets won't fly.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.

Agreed.

Consider Elon in his DOGE role a politician.

Not sure how that can happen when Elon is in (real) charge of DOGE, and DOGE is the group recommending taking away jobs of federal workers. Federal workers have been in this topic for years and are now getting hit with haphazard policy changes that in some cases are affecting their lives on a level that matters.

Pretty easy.

1. Don't mention his name is the easist.
2. Stick to facts like X number let go or hearing today on this issue or personal anecdotes like my sister is concerned about her job.
3. Don't add you opinion in a way that will rile the other side....ie: gimmicky plan, might be able to buy a McDonald's burger.
4. Before you hit the post button ask yourself if yourself if there's anything the other side might not like about your post, if YES, don't post.

If you (general you, not you specifically) can't follow the hosts rules, please just avoid the thread rather than ruin it for the rest of us because you don't like the host's rules.

Things like Democrats filing a lawsuit in court (with a link) or Musk reporting his findings here (with a link) will probably fly. Things like Democrats taking up the fight for the middle class against the ruthless Musk or Musk weeding out millions of dollars Democrats have wasted on reverse swirling toilets won't fly.

Thank you GB.

 

[Don Quixote]

Judge denied union’s request for a TRO to pause the firings. So, things are going to keep moving ahead.

Good luck to FBGs and their families in the federal government. My wife fearing she will get caught in Phase 2 over the next few days. But I guess will see. Not really much can do about it.

https://wapo.st/4gSa9ZW

 

[fatness]

Pretty easy.

1. Don't mention his name is the easist.
2. Stick to facts like X number let go or hearing today on this issue or personal anecdotes like my sister is concerned about her job.
3. Don't add you opinion in a way that will rile the other side....ie: gimmicky plan, might be able to buy a McDonald's burger.
4. Before you hit the post button ask yourself if yourself if there's anything the other side might not like about your post, if YES, don't post.

If you (general you, not you specifically) can't follow the hosts rules, please just avoid the thread rather than ruin it for the rest of us because you don't like the host's rules.

Things like Democrats filing a lawsuit in court (with a link) or Musk reporting his findings here (with a link) will probably fly. Things like Democrats taking up the fight for the middle class against the ruthless Musk or Musk weeding out millions of dollars Democrats have wasted on reverse swirling toilets won't fly.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. I don't fully agree with all of it (#4 specifically) but I don't want to see the topic shut.
The reason #4 is tough for me at agree with is that, when I'm posting information with a link, I often have a good idea of when someone won't like it and is likely to call it political because they consider it bad news for "their side". When it's just an informational post not intended to take a side. I don't intend to start making inflammatory political posts. And I don't intend to stop posting topical information.
But again, most of all, thanks for the decent reply.

 

[fatness]

For decades now, the federal government has marketed itself as the employer of choice for military spouses, who are unemployed at five times the national rate despite being more educated than their civilian spouse counterparts.

Military spouses and their families move involuntarily every two to three years, on average. As a result, it’s not unusual for those who work in the federal government to frequently change positions or even organizations within their agencies. Many are perpetually probationary employees — the category of worker the Trump administration targeted in its recent first round of firings. They can be probationary employees even when they have spent years and years in federal service.

The article goes on about specific military families who have been hit with a spousal layoff which you can read if you like. I'm sad that veterans and their families are not off-limits for these layoffs/firings, due to the service they've done for the country while often near the bottom of the economic scale.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/20/politics/military-families-federal-government-cuts/index.html

 

[fatness]

IRS starts mass layoffs, with 7,000 expected to lose their jobs

"The agency is set to lay off at least 6,000 people from its roughly 100,000-strong workforce. Already, the IRS was struggling with recruitment and retention. The layoffs, which are mostly in the compliance division, mean some collections and audits are likely to be paused, and one-on-one personal service is set to be more limited."

That's 2 separate articles there, one from WaPo and one from WSJ. Sorry to see those people are losing their jobs.

 

[BassNBrew]

Pretty easy.

1. Don't mention his name is the easist.
2. Stick to facts like X number let go or hearing today on this issue or personal anecdotes like my sister is concerned about her job.
3. Don't add you opinion in a way that will rile the other side....ie: gimmicky plan, might be able to buy a McDonald's burger.
4. Before you hit the post button ask yourself if yourself if there's anything the other side might not like about your post, if YES, don't post.

If you (general you, not you specifically) can't follow the hosts rules, please just avoid the thread rather than ruin it for the rest of us because you don't like the host's rules.

Things like Democrats filing a lawsuit in court (with a link) or Musk reporting his findings here (with a link) will probably fly. Things like Democrats taking up the fight for the middle class against the ruthless Musk or Musk weeding out millions of dollars Democrats have wasted on reverse swirling toilets won't fly.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. I don't fully agree with all of it (#4 specifically) but I don't want to see the topic shut.
The reason #4 is tough for me at agree with is that, when I'm posting information with a link, I often have a good idea of when someone won't like it and is likely to call it political because they consider it bad news for "their side". When it's just an informational post not intended to take a side. I don't intend to start making inflammatory political posts. And I don't intend to stop posting topical information.
But again, most of all, thanks for the decent reply.

Based on how the Ukraine/Russia thread has survived for about 3 years, links that are mostly information and not editorials. Actually the editorials are allowed if the don't focus on Trump/Biden/Rs/Ds. Not a mod here, but if you see a link that your think will be educational and references Musk, post it but keep your Musk out of your additional comments you post here. You'll probably be fine if you're not spamming the board with 50 anti-Musk articles/links. If someone doesn't like it and they take it political by posting a contrary opinion here, just ignore it and don't turn it into a flame war. What I meant by #4 wasn't so much about linking a topical article that someone might disagree with, but adding you editorial in support of it in addition. If think we're OK if we treat this like the AP and just post related news. If some disagrees, they can link a dissenting article and hopefully not feel the need to call you out personally while doing this.

Say we're invited to Joe's house for dinner party of 20 and he asks us to not talk about Alabama football. If I start talking about how Saban is the greatest coach ever, just walk away and don't engage me. He'll be much more likely to ask me to leave than tell all 20 guests to get out of his house. There have been some great threads that are political topics (economy, electric cars, war, plane crash, healthcare, etc) in the FFA over the last few years that have survived when most of us ignore the posters baiting us and we don't create work for the mods here. I've seen several stock posts where the poster says "I'll stop here because I don't want to turn this political". Technically the post (such as discussing the impact or tariffs on specific stocks) probably already was political, but they are basically saying I'm trying to share a perspective without upsetting anyone and I'm not going to engage in an argument over it.

 

[Ridgeback]

IRS starts mass layoffs, with 7,000 expected to lose their jobs

"The agency is set to lay off at least 6,000 people from its roughly 100,000-strong workforce. Already, the IRS was struggling with recruitment and retention. The layoffs, which are mostly in the compliance division, mean some collections and audits are likely to be paused, and one-on-one personal service is set to be more limited."

That's 2 separate articles there, one from WaPo and one from WSJ. Sorry to see those people are losing their jobs.

That's amazing timing considering tax season is right now. Those hold times are going to grow substantially. Did they really think each rep was a net loss for what they could bring in with audits and customer service?

 

[fatness]

Based on how the Ukraine/Russia thread has survived for about 3 years, links that are mostly information and not editorials. Actually the editorials are allowed if the don't focus on Trump/Biden/Rs/Ds. Not a mod here, but if you see a link that your think will be educational and references Musk, post it but keep your Musk out of your additional comments you post here. You'll probably be fine if you're not spamming the board with 50 anti-Musk articles/links. If someone doesn't like it and they take it political by posting a contrary opinion here, just ignore it and don't turn it into a flame war. What I meant by #4 wasn't so much about linking a topical article that someone might disagree with, but adding you editorial in support of it in addition. If think we're OK if we treat this like the AP and just post related news. If some disagrees, they can link a dissenting article and hopefully not feel the need to call you out personally while doing this.

Thank you, but that doesn't really apply to how I try to post here, and I've been here a long time. Information is 90% of what I'm interested in; opinion 10%.

There have been some great threads that are political topics (economy, electric cars, war, plane crash, healthcare, etc) in the FFA over the last few years that have survived when most of us ignore the posters baiting us and we don't create work for the mods here. I've seen several stock posts where the poster says "I'll stop here because I don't want to turn this political". Technically the post (such as discussing the impact or tariffs on specific stocks) probably already was political, but they are basically saying I'm trying to share a perspective without upsetting anyone and I'm not going to engage in an argument over it.

Thank you but there's no need to talk down to me. How about we conclude this with
I asked a question.
You provided a thoughtful answer.
I thanked you for it and disagreed with only 1 point.
That seems like a good conclusion to this increasingly-offtopic discussion.

 

[Instinctive]

Based on how the Ukraine/Russia thread has survived for about 3 years, links that are mostly information and not editorials. Actually the editorials are allowed if the don't focus on Trump/Biden/Rs/Ds. Not a mod here, but if you see a link that your think will be educational and references Musk, post it but keep your Musk out of your additional comments you post here. You'll probably be fine if you're not spamming the board with 50 anti-Musk articles/links. If someone doesn't like it and they take it political by posting a contrary opinion here, just ignore it and don't turn it into a flame war. What I meant by #4 wasn't so much about linking a topical article that someone might disagree with, but adding you editorial in support of it in addition. If think we're OK if we treat this like the AP and just post related news. If some disagrees, they can link a dissenting article and hopefully not feel the need to call you out personally while doing this.

Thank you, but that doesn't really apply to how I try to post here, and I've been here a long time. Information is 90% of what I'm interested in; opinion 10%.

There have been some great threads that are political topics (economy, electric cars, war, plane crash, healthcare, etc) in the FFA over the last few years that have survived when most of us ignore the posters baiting us and we don't create work for the mods here. I've seen several stock posts where the poster says "I'll stop here because I don't want to turn this political". Technically the post (such as discussing the impact or tariffs on specific stocks) probably already was political, but they are basically saying I'm trying to share a perspective without upsetting anyone and I'm not going to engage in an argument over it.

Thank you but there's no need to talk down to me. How about we conclude this with
I asked a question.
You provided a thoughtful answer.
I thanked you for it and disagreed with only 1 point.
That seems like a good conclusion to this increasingly-offtopic discussion.

I dont think he did talk down to you. This is a great example of his point - if you feel baited/offended, no need to reply. A good example for the problem posters (which nobody said or implied you are).

 

[-OZ-]

the other side

for "their side".

Maybe I’m off base and I know I haven’t always maintained this, but imo if your post clearly has an “other side”, think twice about posting it. There certainly are differing perspectives, which is good. Maybe that’s a fine line or massive gray area.

 

[BassNBrew]

Based on how the Ukraine/Russia thread has survived for about 3 years, links that are mostly information and not editorials. Actually the editorials are allowed if the don't focus on Trump/Biden/Rs/Ds. Not a mod here, but if you see a link that your think will be educational and references Musk, post it but keep your Musk out of your additional comments you post here. You'll probably be fine if you're not spamming the board with 50 anti-Musk articles/links. If someone doesn't like it and they take it political by posting a contrary opinion here, just ignore it and don't turn it into a flame war. What I meant by #4 wasn't so much about linking a topical article that someone might disagree with, but adding you editorial in support of it in addition. If think we're OK if we treat this like the AP and just post related news. If some disagrees, they can link a dissenting article and hopefully not feel the need to call you out personally while doing this.

Thank you, but that doesn't really apply to how I try to post here, and I've been here a long time. Information is 90% of what I'm interested in; opinion 10%.

There have been some great threads that are political topics (economy, electric cars, war, plane crash, healthcare, etc) in the FFA over the last few years that have survived when most of us ignore the posters baiting us and we don't create work for the mods here. I've seen several stock posts where the poster says "I'll stop here because I don't want to turn this political". Technically the post (such as discussing the impact or tariffs on specific stocks) probably already was political, but they are basically saying I'm trying to share a perspective without upsetting anyone and I'm not going to engage in an argument over it.

Thank you but there's no need to talk down to me. How about we conclude this with
I asked a question.
You provided a thoughtful answer.
I thanked you for it and disagreed with only 1 point.
That seems like a good conclusion to this increasingly-offtopic discussion.

My apologies if it came off that way. The "you" in the example was a collective "you". I should have been more specific about that. My second long winded reply was basically saying that I didn't think we had a disagreement on that one point based on your reply. Consider it concluded and thanks for your reply.

 

[Gally]

if your post clearly has an “other side”, think twice about posting it. There certainly are differing perspectives, which is good. Maybe that’s a fine line or massive gray area.

I think by definition anything posted about these type things will always have an "other/my side". The problem arises when opinions devolve into pissing matches between posters that get personal.

 

[ChicoCat]

Got a number of friends who work for the USPS. They aren't happy this morning.

 

[Sammy3469]

I feel sorry for all y’all. There’s no good use for this besides to be fed into an AI machine.

x.com

x.com

 

[Stoneworker]

The National Park Service said in a new memo that it will hire up to 7,700 seasonal positions this year, up from about 5,000 promised earlier this week and higher than the three-year average of 6,350 seasonal workers. The park service has about 20,000 employees.

[In addition], at least 50 jobs are being restored to help maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and collect admission fees, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Source: AP

 

[bigbottom]

I feel sorry for all y’all. There’s no good use for this besides to be fed into an AI machine.

x.com

x.com

Will this apply to enlisted military?

 

[the moops]

The National Park Service said in a new memo that it will hire up to 7,700 seasonal positions this year, up from about 5,000 promised earlier this week and higher than the three-year average of 6,350 seasonal workers. The park service has about 20,000 employees.

[In addition], at least 50 jobs are being restored to help maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and collect admission fees, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Source: AP

Are they hiring more seasonal because of full time layoffs?

 

[Sparky Polastri]

"A lot"

 

[Stoneworker]

The National Park Service said in a new memo that it will hire up to 7,700 seasonal positions this year, up from about 5,000 promised earlier this week and higher than the three-year average of 6,350 seasonal workers. The park service has about 20,000 employees.

[In addition], at least 50 jobs are being restored to help maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and collect admission fees, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Source: AP

Are they hiring more seasonal because of full time layoffs?

About 1,400 net additional seasonal hired vs. 1,000 laid off so can draw your own conclusions

 

[Orange&Blue]

The email doesn't mention anything about resignation in it.....fyi

you got it???

 

[3C's]

"What have you done for me lately?"

 

[BlackCrowes]

I feel sorry for all y’all. There’s no good use for this besides to be fed into an AI machine.

x.com

x.com

Will this apply to enlisted military?

It doesn’t apply to anybody. A resignation is not a forced matter. Has to be voluntary. Everybody should do what their senior leadership says to do but this is the dumbest thing yet.

Just wait

 

[Max Power]

I just checked and did not receive that email.

 

[SayWhat?]

What in the actual Office Space is going on? I truly feel for all anyone in here with a USG job, and for everyone I work with in that realm. How demoralizing. Hang tough and hope you make it through this.

 

[Sleestak]

What in the actual Office Space is going on? I truly feel for all anyone in here with a USG job, and for everyone I work with in that realm. How demoralizing. Hang tough and hope you make it through this.

"You have no need to know"

 

[dgreen]

How fast will this be before a judge?

 

[AAABatteries]

The email doesn't mention anything about resignation in it.....fyi

you got it???

Yep

Will you please include:

• Messaged with code name AAABatteries about a classified project

 

[AAABatteries]

What in the actual Office Space is going on? I truly feel for all anyone in here with a USG job, and for everyone I work with in that realm. How demoralizing. Hang tough and hope you make it through this.

I was extremely upset, demoralized. To make myself feel like in control I updated my resume, got some extremely positive feedback from outside people..... you just never know....

I'm now over it, I'll show up do what they ask and just keep working and doing my job. take my planned days off, vacation etc. that's all Ill say currently......

Thinking of you GB - message me for real if you start looking

 

[Joe Schmo]

“Spent 100 hrs doing the work of six people. Wife divorced me when I didn’t come home. Learned how to sleep standing up”

 

[Stoneworker]

The layoffs (even as messy as they've been) could at least be theoretically justified from a cost savings standpoint.

But the e-mail is WAY over the line by any professional/human-level standard.

Best of luck, all. Hopefully the collective pushback will be strong

 

[djmich]

The layoffs (even as messy as they've been) could at least be theoretically justified from a cost savings standpoint.

But this is WAY over the line by any professional/human-level standard.

Best of luck, all. Hopefully the collective pushback will be strong

Yah, just dumb.

 

[uwillbsoon]

The layoffs (even as messy as they've been) could at least be theoretically justified from a cost savings standpoint.

But this is WAY over the line by any professional/human-level standard.

Best of luck, all. Hopefully the collective pushback will be strong

Yah, just dumb.

This is the Twitter playbook. Although at one point I believe he told them to print out their last sixty days worth of code and bring it to a meeting room. But they couldn't for some reason (office didn't have enough printers or paper or they changed their mind about having their proprietary code lying around).

So maybe at some point you'll have to print out fifty pages proving you did what you said you did.

 

[Capella]

How fast will this be before a judge?

Monday morning

 

[need2know]

Wild

 

[djmich]

The layoffs (even as messy as they've been) could at least be theoretically justified from a cost savings standpoint.

But this is WAY over the line by any professional/human-level standard.

Best of luck, all. Hopefully the collective pushback will be strong

Yah, just dumb.

This is the Twitter playbook. Although at one point I believe he told them to print out their last sixty days worth of code and bring it to a meeting room. But they couldn't for some reason (office didn't have enough printers or paper or they changed their mind about having their proprietary code lying around).

So maybe at some point you'll have to print out fifty pages proving you did what you said you did.

Yah. Well I actually like going hard, but the aggregate of all this is just a tad too much.

 

[fruity pebbles]

The layoffs (even as messy as they've been) could at least be theoretically justified from a cost savings standpoint.

But this is WAY over the line by any professional/human-level standard.

Best of luck, all. Hopefully the collective pushback will be strong

Yeah. Although similar layoffs are happening in the private sector as well, particularly tech. Meta laid off thousands, called it performance related even though it wasn’t and increased executive bonuses. You would hope the government would be more humane about it but apparently not.

 

[McBokonon]

“Your mom.”

 

[Max Power]

Our senior civilian got the email, but I haven't. We have an emergency meeting Monday morning to figure this out.

Deadline in the email was 11:59pm Monday Night. So this is beyond stupid.

 

[Max Power]

Just got a notification from our command messaging system.

They are in contact with the dept of the Army and OPM and no one should reply to the OPM email until further notice. More guidance will be issued Monday.

 

[the moops]

The email doesn't mention anything about resignation in it.....fyi

Still dumb. I filled out progress reports for years. This is not that

Can you copy/paste the text of this email?

 

[Don Quixote]

The email doesn't mention anything about resignation in it.....fyi

Still dumb. I filled out progress reports for years. This is not that

Can you copy/paste the text of this email?

Can see it here.

Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social)

BREAKING: As Elon Musk said on X would be happening, I can now report that all federal employees are receiving an email directing them to provide “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week.” It directs them not to send any classified information and is due by 11:59p Monday.

bsky.app

 

[CGRdrJoe]

good lord, took a vacation that started 2/14 and am currently flying home from hawaii and have no idea what has been going on for the past week. I’ll check email tomorrow to catch up a little so that monday doesn’t suck more than normal with 300 new emails. I’m very interested to see if we got this email.

Friday we were told that there is a good chance our CAC log ins are being monitored and that our amount of work hours are now being tracked. We have no idea what this means because over a 9 hour day we have PT, lunch and tons of meetings where we aren’t “logged in.” I don’t recognize my Coast Guard anymore which is bonkers

 

[Instinctive]

Well I officially have clients who have been removed, and it's weird. VCNO in acting role now too. People a little unsettled.

Personally feels weird too. I more or less agree with everything said in the statements about refocusing on core mission(s), but it's feels so sudden still.

I imagine, just like any client transformation in a turnaround situation I've done, that this already feels and will continue to feel traumatic. Professionally, watching them make mistakes doing it is very painful. Wish they'd hired us to run it instead of the haphazard approach they're taking. Very unpredictable.