. . . will be government employees, even after white males become respectable again. But with crap like this to drag us down, it’s easy to understand why one typical response is “Government is the final resting (literally) place for those who cannot make it in the private sector.” (I’m not naming the author of that comment, because I don’t want that person to feel I’m calling them out. Yet, anyway. :/ ) Which I’ve addressed this issue before. Somehow everyone keeps missing the part where the arbitrator pointed out (emphasis mine) :

But an arbitrator has ruled that Department of Corrections policy mandated light discipline for a first time offense, not firing. . . The arbitrator said there were 10 similar cases with corrections employees and none was terminated.

If you don’t like the goddamn policy, get the rule changed. I don’t see where breaking a second rule to punish the first broken rule is particularly effective. And another thing… would anyone give a rat’s ass if the original infraction hadn’t involved porn? What if he’d just “misused company property” by taking a city vehicle on personal business?

But it’s porn. Oooooooh. Cue the outraged feminists.

What bothers me most is that I’m not sure why LST is interested in the story, considering it happened in Madison, Wis., not in Texas. I guess government employees (and porn!) are just fair game anytime. I had to stop and think of the number of times I’ve seen a similar story about anyone in the private sector. Well, one where the supervisor and an assistant were caught on camera having sex. I don’t think they got their jobs back, but I have no idea what the company policy is on shagging in the mail room. (Dallas doesn’t allow it in the library.) Then there was the employee who copied her ass. I don’t remember if she her job back either, but the company was terribly embarassed. I guess public workers have better unions or something. Something like a firm knowledge that if we break the rules, we know exactly what we’re gonna get.

Of course the fact that we work on the taxpayer’s dime might have something to do with some folks’ double standard. I bet if anyone (currently cracking jokes about government employees) got six months jail time and their license taken away the very first time they got a speeding ticket for 10mph over the limit, they’d feel a little gypped too. Hey, that’s not what the law says, but why can’t the judge busting your ass make up his own rules?

Because it’s wrong. And two wrongs, even in this day and age, still do not make a right.

Let me tell you something. . . . This afternoon, I had to sit in a meeting between my supervisor and a citizen whom nothing would make happy. He didn’t pay his bills. He didn’t think we should bill him the standard amount everyone gets charged. It was wrong that we did that. He was angered that we charged him the standard fee for being late. We shouldn’t be able to “arbitrarily” add such charges. He was absolutely incensed that we had tracked him down and dunned him for the unpaid amount by attaching it to another bill — that he’d also paid late. He didn’t care that every one of these actions are standard procedure and dictated by law.

They. Should. Not. Apply. To. Him. And he wasn’t going to accept it. As if by saying “no” and putting his fingers in his ears, we would (or could) just go away.

My supervisor went around the bend to reduce the amount he owed; arguably he violated city ordinance to do it. It is also arguable that the customer could (not should, could) be exempted despite failing to meet a simple requirement that was known to him. My supervisor chose to extend that exemption, which cut the amount he owed in half, even though the customer really didn’t deserve it. And he was still a jerk about it.

Not an hour later, I listened to a conversation between another citizen and a fellow employee, in which the citizen plainly stated that he pulled a gun on a city contractor, and felt entitled to shoot him for tresspassing. For the record, that contractor was in the yard as a part of his job–and was doing his job–nothing out of the ordinary. (I’m just being rectinent with details as usual, to keep my exact workplace from being easily identified.) The citizen was upset that he’d not been notified that someone would be in his front yard.

Did he serve one minute behind bars? Hell, no. We can’t even call the cops based on his statement, because we’re not the legal complaintant. (And forget the Legal Department.) The whole thing wouldn’t even have been news-worthy to our local media, unless it were a slow day. But let one mediator make a perfectly reasonable decision involving a government employee (whom I am NOT defending), and we’re all lazy, illiterate, hyphenated bums again.

Do you remember I’ve mentioned being sick recently? Well, I went back to work too early because I had work that needed to be done, and the super was getting a little antsy over my being out so long. So I’ve near worked myself into a relapse; I’m now spending my own vacation time in order to finish recovering.

I normally try to write these “pro-employee” posts with an eye towards educating the public and improving understanding. But this time, I’m tired, I’m sick, and frankly, I’m sick and tired, if you know what I mean. So I’m going to toss that aside for once.

IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ARE SOMETIMES RUDE, GO LOOK IN THE FUCKING MIRROR.

We try, we really do. But day in and day out, the assholes just get on our nerves. You know who you are. We have to serve you anyway.

Update: I’ve emailed Jeremy Weidenhof over at LST in an effort to start a dialog over this article. I’m interested in what he will have to say about the reasons for posting that piece. Also, i’ve been tinking about my ending above. I’m not sure I’m clear with it. I plead my current condition, I guess. Two wrongs do not make a right, and that means of course, that I’m not supporting employees acting rude. Even though, arguably, thats exactly what I’m doing in the above message. I’m just very tired and a bit aggravated at the kinds of abuse we have to endure at the hands of the public every day. Some of it’s in person, and some is secondhand through things like comments under Jeremy’s post.

So I apologize in advance for stating my case offensivel*, but could we get just a little lovin’ for once? Geez, the weekend’s coming and I think I need a hug or something.

*(Note that’s not the conditional “I apologize if you find it offensive” or such weasel-words.)