The Unpaid Nonessential Employee

So unless you live under a rock, (and to be honest, sometimes I wish I did,) then you know by now that our Government "shut-down" effective Midnight, October 1st.  Now to the rest of the world, this might be highly entertaining. To me, it's incredibly aggravating.

"Why are you aggravated?" you ask --  and I'm glad you did--- Allow me to tell you:

It's not that I planned on visiting a National Park today or that I'm in need of a Federal Firearms Permit.  Nope.  I'm also not shedding any tears over the thought that the IRS is unlikely to  audit me anytime soon. But, (and this is where the name of my blog comes into play) there are hundreds of thousands of people on unpaid leave. 

Thousands of veterans and soldiers aren't getting any money either. 

You may wonder, "Are you out of work as a result of the shutdown?"

No, I don't work for the federal government. "So then why do you care?" you may ask. (You ask very good questions!) Because I do! And I am curious as to why Congress isn't. 

In the clash between the good politician versus the bad politician, very few people have made an attempt to even appear concerned about those nonessential employees who seem to be forgotten about.

The term 'nonessential employee' is a complete insult. We all know that some jobs are more visible than others, and establishments such as hospitals obviously can't run without doctors and nurses... Of course everybody understands that! But the same applies to the support staff: You can't run a hospital without an army of office clerks, janitors, lab technicians, gift shop cashiers, computer programmers.... the list goes on and on.  The same goes for a courthouse, a restaurant  a gas station, a chiropractor's office, a beauty salon, an automobile dealership and yes.... The Federal Government. Every single person has value, and if you take away any one of them, you can't run a business or a government effectively -  if at all. 

To degrade someone's status and call it nonessential is ignominious. These types of elitist terms are how class warfare's begin. It's really no different than the nobleman versus the peasant farmer. It's declaring that one person is more significant than another. It pisses me off! 

Some officials have recognized the disrespect of the term and are replacing it with phrases such as "expected" and "non-expected." That pisses me off too. It's like calling a turd a piece of crap. It's the same thing.

A quick side note here:

I used to work for a Veterinary Clinic: My co-workers and I routinely worked 12 to 16 hours a day, on our feet without breaks. It's the nature of the job and we accepted that. When an animal came in, either for routine care, or due to an emergency, every single person played a critical role to that pet's well being. All the while, we made sure that all the other animals who were in the clinic, received the same dedicated attention. The phones continued to get answered, products  continued to be promoted and sales were being made. Everything flowed. And quite often a satisfied customer would send a Thank You card or a token of appreciation. Without exception however, the card was either addressed to the Veterinarian only, or to "Dr So-and-So and staff". While the thought was always appreciated, there was also a bit of a sting to it. The pet's owner only recognized the doctor's contribution and didn't appreciate the work we all individually performed. I'm not saying that each person should have been addressed separately  but it would have been nice if everyone's role was understood and acknowledged. And honestly, a doctor spends a fraction of his or her attention on a pet, when compared to the rest of "the staff". A doctor reviews the symptoms but the Veterinary Technicians and Assistants are the ones who hold the animal down, give the vaccines or medicines, dress bandages and administer I.V.'s along with practically everything else outside of surgery. But, such is life and I, along with the rest of my co-workers just accepted it. After all  it's not like we had a choice. We were the non-essentials.

Ok, Where was I? Oh Yeah....

For years now, we've been hearing about  "Job Creation" and "Help for Small Businesses!" But suddenly, there are thousands without an income and small businesses can't get help or resources because the SBA is part of the shut-down. We've been listening to them say that we need to spend more wisely, yet for the last several days, our government has been spending a lot of money on everything from printing thousands of little signs that say "Closed until further notice, due to Government shut down" to paying webmasters to put up notices on government sites that says:

That's only a little bit of money right? That little bit of money could go to WIC. Or the thousands of nonessential workers who were dedicated employees: Women and men who have often gone to work sick, scrambled for back up day care, taken the bus when their cars broke down, dealt with the public, (that's always fun!) and missed important moments in the lives, because the business of government is how they earn their livings. But, no.... They were just sent home. The business that they work for, isn't working for them.

Talk about a thankless job!

There's a host of costs that were spent to just prepare for this event. And even more money  is being spent and subsequently lost for every day the situation continues. By some estimates, $12.5 million dollars each and every hour. Yes, hour! That pays for a lot of essential things like rent, baby formula, food, electricity, and so on.

Meanwhile, the ass-hats who put us this mess, are using the American budget as a game of keep-a-way, And they are getting paid. A lot! 

Some of those same highly paid, essential politicians are thrilled that our country is in the mess that it's in. Out of principle, (and because it's like shooting fish in a barrel) I generally don't like referring to Michelle Bachmann because.... Well, because she's Michelle Bachmann, but in this case she summed it up perfectly, as told by The Washington Post:

"We're very excited," stated Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn). It's exactly what we wanted and we got it. She followed up with, "People will be very grateful." 
 She later told Sean Hannity on Fox news, "This is about the happiest she has seen Republicans

What does one say to that? I'm at a loss for words, which is bad, because I'm trying to write this blog.....

It never ceases to amaze me how people can have such little empathy and be so out of touch. I'm 42 years old. You'd think by now, I'd learn that people really are that self-absorbed and inconsiderate. 

And this leads me to another thing I've got to get off my chest:

I am on Facebook a lot lately. I seem to have phases, in which I'm either on all of the time, or go months without logging in at all. But, as stated, I'm on a roll right now. I've noticed a particular picture that's been posted several times. It appears to be a letter from an employer who has decided that he/she needs to cut back staff because of the perceived costs of  Barack Obama's Presidency. Now, I have no doubt (or at least I hope) this letter is fake and meant to be satire, but the sad thing is people aren't getting the joke. They think it's real and leave responses like "Hell yeah, they deserve it" and "That's awesome" along with three our four "likes." 

In fact, I got this picture off of a Facebook page that belongs to a sweet woman that I attended high school with. On her page, she has some Republican themes, like "Defund Obamacare' and quotes of Donald Trump trying to sound important. The rest of her page is filled pleas to end animal cruelty and recipes for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, or something like that. I've ran into her several times at the grocery store, and she is still, a very sweet and likable lady. So what gives? I'm having a hard time merging the soft spoken, kind person that she seems to be, with this mindset. Is she really that hard-hearted, to find justification in firing somebody over their voting record? Even if she does understand that this is a joke, I would think that she'd have to be insensitive to find it funny. Does she not realize that if this were real then, someday the shoe could be on her foot? Is she a representation of the average Republican?

I've always thought that the goobers on freeway overpasses, with "Don't Tread on Me" flags and teabags hanging from their hats, are only a few out-of-touch, old white men, but maybe I'm wrong. Could it be that roughly, half of the American public just don't give a damn?  That their lives are all that matters, and to hell with everybody else? Are they sheep who only repeat what the shepherd is saying? Are they just simply incapable of understanding the complexities of someone's life, other than their own?

I'm perplexed.

I've always thought that Republican's feel that government should be very small and as unobtrusive as possible. I agree with that! I do. But reality sucks people! We must look after are own, and that means making sure that our food is safe to eat, taking care of the needy, and paying our veterans. All these things are not happening right now because essential people were sent home. 

One more annotation:

I was once let go of a job, (not the one described above) in large part due to my political beliefs. I didn't come to work waving a  flag with a donkey on it or anything like that. I had an Obama election sticker on my car. True story. So, for those who think that it's funny to fire an employee because of who they voted for.... Be careful. Next time it could be your job. Remember, in the U.S. the rules apply to everybody. It might not be so fair then, huh?  

Even those nonessential employees who only seem to matter after the boss gets the lion's share of the pie at the company picnic or if there's filing that needs to be done.

Finally, it's this type of disregard for your fellow human beings that create a culture where nonessential employees are categorized and undervalued. For those of us who don't have the degree's hanging on our walls or the keys to the kingdom, we need to stop thinking about others and ultimately ourselves, in this way. You teach people how to treat you.

As for my friend on Facebook with the posting of that letter... I doubt you'll read this. It's not really your cup of "tea", but if you do -- know this: I like you. I really really like you! But I hate that damn picture of the letter.

-v-