DOGE'd Feds and impending shutdown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your husband was traumatized and you want to divorce him.

+1

This has been a horrible year for feds. His career is likely ending sooner than planned and under toxic circumstances.

And even more so, there isn’t anything he can do. Go read the fed employee Reddit threads. OPM is a cluster. The shutdown will make this worse. There isn’t anything your DH can do to fix the situation. All he can do is file and wait.

[Anonymous]

Not offering any help or guidance, just an observation: This thread reminds me of how weak most people are. Many families and individuals are suffering with real issues that would devastate almost all of us.

OP, you and your husband need to get a better perspective regarding your minor problem.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry, OP. It’s tough for feds AND their families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are these people who have no skills and can't get re-hired at 50 and must retire? What have you been doing your entire life that doesn't translate into marketable skills?

Many federal jobs are very niche and don’t have private sector counterparts.

And while there may be parts of what they’ve done that could be applied to a new job with some training and ramp up period, most private employers don’t want a 52 year old who spent the past 2 years attaining specialized knowledge that isn’t relevant to that employer. Especially when they can train and ramp up a cheaper younger employee or downsize departments or implement more AI solutions.

Not to mention the economy, particularly the white collar economy in the DC area, is being decimated with entire fields suddenly eradicated or greatly reduced. I recently spoke with a fairly high level recruiter who said employers are getting not just more resumes than ever, but very high quality resumes. There are more highly skilled people than there are jobs so a lot of people are going to fall on the unlucky side of recruitment).

[Anonymous]

*past 2 decades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and I had zero communication as well. No HR HELP. nothing.

All the HR people got fired too. What do you expect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are these people who have no skills and can't get re-hired at 50 and must retire? What have you been doing your entire life that doesn't translate into marketable skills?

You sound uneducated. Ever heard of niche jobs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not offering any help or guidance, just an observation: This thread reminds me of how weak most people are. Many families and individuals are suffering with real issues that would devastate almost all of us.

OP, you and your husband need to get a better perspective regarding your minor problem.

Continuing:

I will offer a constructive suggestion:

OP, both you and your spouse should consider volunteering at a homeless shelter, food bank, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, and similar charities in order to put your minor bump in the road in perspective. Visit kids in a cancer ward at a hospital or just volunteer at local school.

Both of you are weak and making your situation worse by obsessing over the timing of retirement money. This is a minor issue.

Give a bit of your time & talent and life will look a lot better.

[Anonymous]

Also, consider volunteering as a dog walker at a dog shelter. They will see you as the greatest person in the world.

[Anonymous]

Additionally - though there may be real issues with your spouse shutting down when you need him not to. . .the black hole of information isn't his fault. So be careful to hold him accountable for what he is actually accountable for.

My DH has ADHD and often struggles with processes - and I helped with all the VERA paperwork - and I can tell you that it's really not clear if we did it all and correctly either. And there's no way to check.

Be kind, to him and you. This is hard all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who are these people who have no skills and can't get re-hired at 50 and must retire? What have you been doing your entire life that doesn't translate into marketable skills?

You sound uneducated. Ever heard of niche jobs?

Doesn’t even matter anymore if it’s niche. It’s really difficult to get hired over (or close to) 50.

[Anonymous]

I bet he never kept copies of his SF50s, performance evaluations, job descriptions ever, did he, even before Donald got reelected. I hope I am wrong but so many former colleagues were so passive and complacent trusting Big Brother HR to take care of them.

So he doubtless has no copy of what he filed.

He has screwed the family if he did it wrong or didn't file, especially with no way of checking and correcting.

Even if fixed right, it takes months. They do pay what's owed as back payments but it's a gap.

My second agency had mass layoffs.

My first was entirely defunded. I know trauma but fortunately in the first agency we had good advice about personal job record keeping.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet he never kept copies of his SF50s, performance evaluations, job descriptions ever, did he, even before Donald got reelected. I hope I am wrong but so many former colleagues were so passive and complacent trusting Big Brother HR to take care of them.

So he doubtless has no copy of what he filed.

He has screwed the family if he did it wrong or didn't file, especially with no way of checking and correcting.

Even if fixed right, it takes months. They do pay what's owed as back payments but it's a gap.

My second agency had mass layoffs.

My first was entirely defunded. I know trauma but fortunately in the first agency we had good advice about personal job record keeping.

Good luck.

I have no idea why people say things like this other than they enjoy being a jerk. Be kind PP. it’s free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your husband was traumatized and you want to divorce him.

This. Reading my thoughts. I’m in tears. These poor people have no idea what to do. Please don’t divorce him. My God!

[Anonymous]

OP, most HR staff were also riffed. There is no one to ask.