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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

Depends on which government workers we're talking about. It's been a mixed bag from my experience. Some are great. A lot are useless.

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Lawyers Guns & Money's avatar

Let's call it 50-50. Half of government employees are friendly and productive, half are worthless. It's the same ratio in the private sector--think of any job you ever had. It's human nature.

Obviously the government needs people to do work. The normal government employee who processes visa applications, or handle Medicare issues don't need to go. It's the ones who are in appointed, senior positions that end up staying there forever. And when those deep state people happen to be in FBI, DOJ, ATF, DEA, CIA, Pentagon, Homeland Security, etc., they also inhabit the Security State.

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BookWench's avatar

Nah. I worked at a public library. I think the ratio of slackers to actual hard workers is much higher in government work. It's too hard to fire people.

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Jordan Lee Canter's avatar

The library is not the deep state lmao. But to your point, there are sooooo many bums at every job IтАЩve worked and it seems like they are catered to.

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BookWench's avatar

Jordan, I was not saying that public libraries were part of the Deep State -- although the thought is intriguing. . . Trust me, we'd have nothing to worry about if that were the case (one of our administrators compared managing library staffers to herding cats). I just think there are a lot of slackers in any government job, really.

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Jordan Lee Canter's avatar

Oh yeah! There are an extreme amount of slackers at every job I've been in, and none of them were important, but I imagine the same type of people are federal workers and their actually are important, mostly, I imagine the same bums that I work with, doing an important job and it's terrifying. Not to mention that for some reason, it seems like those bums get promoted faster than those who actually care what they are doing and trying to make things better no matter what it is they are doing, god if it continues like this further up the line we are in trouble, and I believe it does. Sorry, I didn't mean to come at you like that, if I'd read what you said more carefully I wouldn't have said that. I'm just shooting at the hip.

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BookWench's avatar

Dude! I'm just messing with you!

It is annoying when incompetent boobs just keep moving right on up the ladder.

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Jordan Lee Canter's avatar

Yea, true that. My transgressions run DEEP on that, lol.

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Jordan Lee Canter's avatar

And itтАЩs mostly the cell phone ones lol. IтАЩm a cell phone one, but I donтАЩt look at my phone at work, I wear one ear bud and listen to podcasts and audiobooks.

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Janet's avatar

So did I for 14 years. We had our share of slackers but it was the younger cell phone addicts who were actually idiots and untrustworthy. Almost all. I questioned their ability to know the alphabet in order. DonтАЩt they teach that little ditty in school anymore? . Forget the Dewey system. Useless.

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

Even on the bottom end of the totem pole, government (local, state, federal) is a haven for people who wouldn't survive anywhere else. The stereotype of the officious, lazy bureaucrat has its basis in reality.

But having said that, yes, I've come across plenty of friendly and productive government employees.

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Noam Deplume, Jr. (look,at,me)'s avatar

I enjoyed this discussion. Soon after I was hired at a university and went across the street to the Post Office to get a PO box, the lady said to me, "I can tell you're a business man and not like those lazy university people." I didn't let on that I was university, but I later learned that there were hard workers and total frauds. It's a 90/10 deal. What's weirdest is that the main parasites are faculty members taking jobs as top administrators, without any training as administrators!

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Janet's avatar

Yup. Gotta be some at the bottom of their classes in every occupation. Maybe more in customer service?

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Ann22's avatar

Like the world.

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wrknight's avatar

Then please don't condemn all of them.

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

Where did I condemn all of them? That's your reading.

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wrknight's avatar

"No, sweet cheeks, the people in government are teaching us to expect the worst..."

You don't say some people, you say "the people". A noun preceded by the definite article "the" implies the entirety of the object; e.g., the table, the apple, etc..

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

As I said, it was your interpretation. And if you'll notice, the examples of objects you use are singular nouns. "People" is a plural noun. So it could mean "all"; it could mean "some." You're reading it is "all."

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you are one of "the people in government" that more disparaging comments might be applied to and that I've hit a personal sore spot.

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Jordan Lee Canter's avatar

This is crazy! The deep state is people doing drone strikes, and overthrowing governments to continue perpetual war, not librarians, Jesus!

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

Yes, it is. It's also an entrenched bureaucracy that runs the country in ways that often go against the wishes and best interests of the population at large.

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Jordan Lee Canter's avatar

Okay, I agree with that. It's definitely not people stopping asteroids or saving kids from sweatshops or getting lead out of water though.

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Lillia Gajewski's avatar

That was the point of mocking the video. The NYT is pretending that they are the "deep state" that Republicans talk about.

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