Thoughts on the shutdown

In almost every Government office, there's one person who is essential.  It's not the one with the big office with the windows, although they are usually allowed to think they're the one.  No, it's the survivor in the corner, the one who has been there forever (usually), who has seen everything and knows how to navigate around it.  They know how to fix the latest computer mess-up (generally because they schmoozed the ones who installed it, and paid attention).  They know who to call when the copier throws another fit.  They know who to talk to in Finance to get the needed supplies approved sometime before the next ice age.  How do you find them?  Look for the person with the best chair - the chair that's ergonomic perfection, that's like sitting on a cloud. 

Ok, you might say - why is this important, and what does it have to do with the shutdown? In general (and for very limited periods of time), you can actually keep an office running with just these people.  Not for long, and not at top efficiency, but at least the lights will stay on and basic functions will continue.  In previous shutdowns, these were considered "essential employees" - they were designated as such, and came in and worked without a paycheck.  Mostly because they were invested in their jobs - it meant something to them that the job get done, as well as it could.  Civic duty, and all that.  But also because they were fairly confident, under the Clinton and Obama administrations, that at some point they'd be made whole. 

As for this shutdown - I'm not as sanguine.  For one thing, this administration has been leaking these employees like a sieve.  They've been reassigning them to worthless positions, or canning them with no notice, or just making life miserable enough by preventing them from doing the job they signed up to do that they go ahead and put in their retirement papers.  They've also been installing management idiots that wouldn't recognize genuine skills if they were whacked over the head with them.  Then there's Mic Mulvaney - have you listened to this guy?  Good luck getting paid back for that unpaid overtime from this schlub...

I'm just saying - I think this one is going to be painful.  More painful than previous shutdowns, for both federal employees and for the general public. 

Sincerely,

She who used to have a chair with a higher IQ than some congressmen