Is OPM Nuts? -Rant- (how much, camp, to live)

[stpickrell]

If they want us to come into work, they shouldn't then turn around and tell us to stay off the roads.

[vermonter16]

I should have quoted meatkins in the comment about I'm only thinking about me bit.

Sigh....I know people who came in today who had a recorded 13 inches of snow. My point is that government does not have to shut down just because you have it bad or I have it bad. Teleworking isn't even an option for folks who work with classified so you aren't taking into consideration those people.

[vermonter16]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Wait--who do you think is paying for all the police/firefighters/tow-truck drivers who had to respond to all the stranded cars last night? OK, it's not federal taxes--but it still comes out of your pocket and mine.

Obviously. But - we are not talking about that. My husband is a federal government worker and also a volunteer EMT so it isn't like I am a blonde that doesn't know how things work. But - again, we are not talking about state and county and private funded workers on this thread.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

meatkins,

All of your points are valid; however, the government did open today with many of their workforce showing up. None of the things you pointed out above happened as far as crazy drivers blocking intersections or making those intersections worse. The fact is, for some areas, it was REALLY bad and for others it was not bad at all. As for people with no power, I ran into two ladies today in my office who had no power in their homes since about 6:00 p.m. yesterday and they figured it was better to come to work where there was power and heat than to stay home and sit in the dark, cold house.

I think the bottom line is that everyone wanted a day off and it didn't happen.

That's not what I said. I was referring to the fact that VDOT and MDOT were both complaining about the inability to plow certain roads because of stranded vehicles and I was also pointing out that having feds go adds to the volume of drivers in what are dangerous conditions, depending on what roads you travel. I sat there last night watched the news and the representatives for both VDOT and MDOT kept complaining about their inability to plow roads because of these vehicles. And I can certainly understand why people with no power would want to come in, but if they didn't drive, live near a main road, or have money for a cab, they probably wouldn't have had this option. The difference between this situation and other ones, is people who are feds out of the 300,000+ people without power don't have the option to telework and a lot of people don't have access to public transportation. That was my point.

[vermonter16]

But - in our building, most feds didn't go. Unscheduled leave is to encourage feds to take off and stay home and many do take advantage of that.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'll try and not continue to reply to keep this going. It is all over until next time!

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by meatkins

That's not what I said. I was referring to the fact that VDOT and MDOT were both complaining about the inability to plow certain roads because of stranded vehicles and I was also pointing out that having feds go adds to the volume of drivers in what are dangerous conditions, depending on what roads you travel. I sat there last night watched the news and the representatives for both VDOT and MDOT kept complaining about their inability to plow roads because of these vehicles. And I can certainly understand why people with no power would want to come in, but if they didn't drive, live near a main road, or have money for a cab, they probably wouldn't have had this option. The difference between this situation and other ones, is people who are feds out of the 300,000+ people without power don't have the option to telework and a lot of people don't have access to public transportation. That was my point.

And I guess I tried to say that I understand your point. I do. But looking at it from a business expense that uses taxpayers' money, it is reckless to close the government on the day AFTER the event. Last night was a whole different ball of wax and I truly believe that the 2 hour early dismissal was not enough time to get everyone home and that certainly created the disaster we saw. I'm really talking about today, this morning, approximately 8 hours after the road crews had been out cleaning. On most roads, they did a phenomenal job. Everyone was commenting on that today no matter where people lived. If OPM had closed, the reverse backlash would have been incredible. Gosh, hearing the brunt of it last year when we had those 4+ days off was annoying.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by vermonter16

I should have quoted meatkins in the comment about I'm only thinking about me bit.

Sigh....I know people who came in today who had a recorded 13 inches of snow. My point is that government does not have to shut down just because you have it bad or I have it bad. Teleworking isn't even an option for folks who work with classified so you aren't taking into consideration those people.

I'm actually a person who works on classified data.

My point wasn't relative to me. I don't have that issue. I live 6 miles from my job and I have a front wheel drive vehicle in case it got ruff. I was referring to the people who aren't as fortunate as us, who had to deal with these problems. I mean if not for power outages, what about the limited public transportation? Usually the government shuts down if Metro is unable to run, well what about MARC? Do people who ride that not matter? You talking about people who may not be able to get to work that also is likely to be without power. I just don't see why you would expect people to work in conditions like that. I understand everyone isn't that bad off, but it's like people are being punished for relying on public transportation. I work in MD, by the way, and I have co-workers who could not make it into work because they rely on the MARC to get to work, which from Baltimore (where they live) is a long way, so they were forced to use leave. But if Metro shuts down then that's okay to shut the government down?

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by meatkins

I'm actually a person who works on classified data.

My point wasn't relative to me. I don't have that issue. I live 6 miles from my job and I have a front wheel drive vehicle in case it got ruff. I was referring to the people who aren't as fortunate as us, who had to deal with these problems. I mean if not for power outages, what about the limited public transportation? Usually the government shuts down if Metro is unable to run, well what about MARC? Do people who ride that not matter? You talking about people who may not be able to get to work that also is likely to be without power. I just don't see why you would expect people to work in conditions like that. I understand everyone isn't that bad off, but it's like people are being punished for relying on public transportation. I work in MD, by the way, and I have co-workers who could not make it into work because they rely on the MARC to get to work, which from Baltimore (where they live) is a long way, so they were forced to use leave. But if Metro shuts down then that's okay to shut the government down?

They look at what affects the most people, not smaller segments. Metro shutting down impacts far more than MARC or VRE. If VRE was shutdown and not Metro, same issue. And I guess I'll use the line my boss always "jokingly" uses--since when did "fair" ever come into play after 1st grade? It doesn't. Businesses and the federal government rarely make money decisions bases on fairness--because you can't be fair to everyone. When you move out to Frederick or Woodbridge or Fredericksburg, that's one of the tradeoffs.

Now, I do know people who routinely use VRE or MARC and on days where they aren't operating, they get into their cars and drive down and usually park in a paid near their building. Yes, it could be $10-$20 a day for that space but it sure beats using 8 hours of annual leave.

Again, no one is out to be fair. It just is the cost of doing business and living far away from work.

[nancy707]

OMG..Whine..Whine Whine...about not getting a day off with pay because it snows...not getting to leave early cause it snows...

My staff arrived for work yesterday at 7AM ,,and yes they have children who had no school or had daycare canceled and they not only did not get to go home they stayed and worked for 12-16 hrs ..slept a few hours at work and than went back to work....so I am not feeling your pain

[SteelCityRising]

I'm sorry, but as a former Federal employee in Northern Virginia for a year-and-a-half I must side FULLY with ChristineVA here. Everyone always wanted a "free" day off. I lived in Reston, which always seemed to be hit relatively hard with snow (and judging by last February didn't do a great job at clearing secondary roads). Nevertheless I'd rather use my own A/L on an unscheduled basis and take responsibility for my OWN actions if Reston was whacked while everyone inside the Beltway would be able to make it to work.