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It's been so long that I'd almost forgotten, but, heck, I was a GS civilian in my first high school job in 1969, in the Ft Sill photo hobby shop.
I was drafted in 1968... I vaguely recall Fort Sill, Oklahoma and their giant prairie dog farm... I think I was there for some type of missile training.
Well...at least some are. I'm having a rough time dealing with a civilian at work and was hoping someone could inflect some insight.
I'm active duty, but we have civilians in our office. They were able to finagle the schedule to where they work half the time for about twice the pay.
The one civilian is pretty cool about it. He just comes in, does his job, goes home and is real quiet about it. No muss, no fuss. Conversely, I have to listen to this other civilian loudly brag about how great his hours are. (that is...when he's not bragging about his VA disability benefits or how great he is at his job) Our caseload is such (as in low) that he'll explode angrily if anything interrupts his Netflix/Joe Rogan sessions. I'm of the mindset that if you're truly a master and really love your job, there's no reason to growl like DMX and scream, "I WORK WITH A BUNCH OF &*(#$&!" when something minuscule was botched that can easily be corrected. I'd like to think this type of behavior would not be tolerated at literally any other duty station in the military. But...I still have to find a way to put up with it for at least two more years, because guess what? As he also reminds me on a daily basis, you practically cannot fire GS civilians.
I joined the military and picked my particular job to help people...but it's pretty evident that the schedule is tantamount...at least where I'm stationed. Putting in for leave is dependent upon our personnel rotation and is more often than not unavailable throughout most of the year without it negatively affecting my co-workers.
What would you do in this situation?
Don't take it personally, just do your job and smile. If you have to put up with him for another two years and you cannot transfer, What else can you do? It is a job and there will always be annoying coworkers you cannot stand, do your job and move on. What is the second option?
Last edited by Oldhag1; 11-03-2018 at 04:41 AM..
Reason: Edited quote
I was drafted in 1968... I vaguely recall Fort Sill, Oklahoma and their giant prairie dog farm... I think I was there for some type of missile training.
They had an anti-aircraft missile (Hawkeye? Three missiles on a launcher ) unit there at the time.
I took my kids to see the prairie dog town back around 1988. We went out among the holes and I told the kids, "If you're very still and very quiet, you might see some come out."
Well, as soon as we got out in the middle of them, little furry heads started popping out all around us, and they began streaming toward us in a big, scary mob.
You see, they'd been fed treats so much over the years that they'd lost their fear of humans and saw us as an alternate source of food. One actually came close and tapped my foot.
That prairie dog town got so huge it was undermining streets several blocks beyond the museum. They eventually had to start exterminating them.
Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 11-02-2018 at 01:37 PM..
I was military overseeing civilian employees, then civilian overseeing civilian employees.
Yes, you can fire sub-par performers. I did it more than once. Yes, it's time consuming, because all of the paperwork has to be perfect.
But your XO will have to decide to do it, then make sure the process steps are complete before he transfers out, because a new supervisor will mean the process starts all over.
They had an anti-aircraft missile (Hawkeye? Three missiles on a launcher ) unit there at the time.
I was officially in HAWK Missiles for a little over 3 years. But I was stationed in South Florida and most of my training was at Fort Bliss. Texas area or Redstone Arsenal, near Huntsville, Alabama. I had TDY at a few other places...
I have the next two years to think about what it is I'd really like to do. I've wanted this position since the early 2000's, and went through two different boot camps to get here, so getting out is not an easy decision.
I did enroll in TAP early next year, so that may offer up some other opportunities beyond the military. Signing up for TAP does not necessarily equate to discharge, however, and some service members actually end up extending/re-upping when they discover the civilian sector is bleaker than they originally thought.
A few implied termination, but it's nigh impossible to fire a bully IF they're actually "good" at their job. (i.e. sans gross negligence)
Seeing as you can't really fire somebody for acting too much like a haughty used car salesman, here are a few more options I considered:
A. Ask for deployment somewhere where there aren't any civilians. (Wife would love that, I'm sure)
B. Go reserve and get a non-GS equivalent job to what I'm doing now.
B2. Go reserve, then if I like the office, request Title 10 or reservist on AD orders.
B3. Go reserve, and if I can't get a better job, try sliding back into AD.
B4. Go reserve and wait for a GS position to become available.
C. Get out and become a GS myself! (If it doesn't happen, then it wasn't meant to be?)
D. See if the Ft. Sill photo hobby shop position is still open.
Last edited by is_it_hip; 11-02-2018 at 06:07 PM..
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