Tell me what I need to know about working in the Federal Government

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Can we have a moratorium on use of quotation marks for emphasis? It's not proper English and makes you look poorly educated. (What GS level did you say you were?) Use bold for emphasis.

it's not for emphasis, it's a direct quote.

I love how the grammar police are all over these threads, and challenge thus as a work issue.....as if I ever use quotes in a work-related document.

this is a message board. I didn't capitalize the first letter of that last sentence. Let's discuss that and question my college education over it because it's extremely relevant to the current topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider personal liability insurance (I forget exactly what it's called), Especially if a supervisor or in a regulatory agency. I didn't have it when I was a fed (just a 12) and was in a couple of situations where I may have been sued. The government will not represent you if you personally are sued.

I work on litigation and it's very pricey to get liability insurance. Last I looked it was $900 a year. DH also works for the feds and his agency pays for liability insurance for him. I'm just hoping I never get sued. I agree that the government won't represent you if you're sued. If anything, they'll push you under the bus so fast you'll have tread marks on your ass.

Didn't know you could be sued personally as Fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider personal liability insurance (I forget exactly what it's called), Especially if a supervisor or in a regulatory agency. I didn't have it when I was a fed (just a 12) and was in a couple of situations where I may have been sued. The government will not represent you if you personally are sued.

I work on litigation and it's very pricey to get liability insurance. Last I looked it was $900 a year. DH also works for the feds and his agency pays for liability insurance for him. I'm just hoping I never get sued. I agree that the government won't represent you if you're sued. If anything, they'll push you under the bus so fast you'll have tread marks on your ass.

Didn't know you could be sued personally as Fed.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/697/2448499/How-feds-can-avoid-getting-sued-by-the-public

Yep it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider personal liability insurance (I forget exactly what it's called), Especially if a supervisor or in a regulatory agency. I didn't have it when I was a fed (just a 12) and was in a couple of situations where I may have been sued. The government will not represent you if you personally are sued.

I work on litigation and it's very pricey to get liability insurance. Last I looked it was $900 a year. DH also works for the feds and his agency pays for liability insurance for him. I'm just hoping I never get sued. I agree that the government won't represent you if you're sued. If anything, they'll push you under the bus so fast you'll have tread marks on your ass.

Didn't know you could be sued personally as Fed.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/697/2448499/How-feds-can-avoid-getting-sued-by-the-public

Yep it happens.

You can be sued, but the case should be dismissed unless what you did was outside the scope of your job duties. In other words, just following legal orders will not result in you getting sued in your individual capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider personal liability insurance (I forget exactly what it's called), Especially if a supervisor or in a regulatory agency. I didn't have it when I was a fed (just a 12) and was in a couple of situations where I may have been sued. The government will not represent you if you personally are sued.

I work on litigation and it's very pricey to get liability insurance. Last I looked it was $900 a year. DH also works for the feds and his agency pays for liability insurance for him. I'm just hoping I never get sued. I agree that the government won't represent you if you're sued. If anything, they'll push you under the bus so fast you'll have tread marks on your ass.

Didn't know you could be sued personally as Fed.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/697/2448499/How-feds-can-avoid-getting-sued-by-the-public

Yep it happens.

You can be sued, but the case should be dismissed unless what you did was outside the scope of your job duties. In other words, just following legal orders will not result in you getting sued in your individual capacity.

True but you are going to want your own counsel until you get dismissed. The government will not necessarily be working in your best interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The admin thing is ridiculous. At our agency, all the bosses are still old boomers and they love a billion hard copies of everything. They won't offer up their admin to help you make those copies because those admins can only copy output that came directly from the big cheese. So you will stand in front of the xerox all day while the admin spends the whole day on facebook in plain view. Get used to this abuse of taxpayer dollars and learn to like it.

this hasn't happened anywhere I've worked. We don't have a secretary. There's one for the Division or so, but the bosses make their own copies. Secretaries where I've been just don't do that sort of thing, but they're not lazy. They just do other tasks.

here's a tip "don't be a princess". Work in your team and make your own copies.

also, don't all large workplaces have upper management people tip toe around? That's really dependent on the attitude of the higher level person. Some like the feeling that they're high level and some are just doing the work and are totally in it with the team. That's just luck of the draw.

GS 15s should do the work we pay them for, and GS 9s should do the work we pay them for. That's not a princess issue, it's about being a steward over spending.

[Anonymous]

And part of the problem is that copy making takes very little time, but whiningtajes time and it filters to the employees and decreases morale. If you're making a lot of copies, the secretary will do that for you, or someone else, but these jobs just aren't the same as they were and GS 15s are not spending much time on them. Many organizations have groups that do copying and binding for large projects, as well as create presentations. It's upper level management that fails to provide funding for these services.

[Anonymous]

Sorry "whining takes".

the fact is, these jobs are part of being a GS-15. Maybe that's wrong, but it's how it is, so my original advice to just suck it up stands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry "whining takes".

the fact is, these jobs are part of being a GS-15. Maybe that's wrong, but it's how it is, so my original advice to just suck it up stands.

You sound like the condescending lawyer from the other thread. My guess is you don't do much copying.

[Anonymous]

In my agency I see deference given to policy makers (politicals) but people don't really tip toe around senior civil servants very much.

Our admins don't get paid much GS 7, maybe 9 at the most. They will do big copying projects, but it's pretty rare we need that and you get used to doing your own stuff mostly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my agency I see deference given to policy makers (politicals) but people don't really tip toe around senior civil servants very much.

Our admins don't get paid much GS 7, maybe 9 at the most. They will do big copying projects, but it's pretty rare we need that and you get used to doing your own stuff mostly.

I'm the one who made the original point about copying, and just be be clear, I'm not talking about doing my own copying. Everybody does that. I'm talking about large jobs with many hundreds of copies on a frequent basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry "whining takes".

the fact is, these jobs are part of being a GS-15. Maybe that's wrong, but it's how it is, so my original advice to just suck it up stands.

You sound like the condescending lawyer from the other thread. My guess is you don't do much copying.

I am not a lawyer, I am in a technical field, and I do all of my own copying, and shredding, for that matter.and I certainly don't tell administrative staff that they're paid to do it and I am not, simply because I have a higher grade level than they have. I realize they have other things to do also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my agency I see deference given to policy makers (politicals) but people don't really tip toe around senior civil servants very much.

Our admins don't get paid much GS 7, maybe 9 at the most. They will do big copying projects, but it's pretty rare we need that and you get used to doing your own stuff mostly.

I'm the one who made the original point about copying, and just be be clear, I'm not talking about doing my own copying. Everybody does that. I'm talking about large jobs with many hundreds of copies on a frequent basis.

your agency should have people to do this. There aren't any codes that handle it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my agency I see deference given to policy makers (politicals) but people don't really tip toe around senior civil servants very much.

Our admins don't get paid much GS 7, maybe 9 at the most. They will do big copying projects, but it's pretty rare we need that and you get used to doing your own stuff mostly.

I'm the one who made the original point about copying, and just be be clear, I'm not talking about doing my own copying. Everybody does that. I'm talking about large jobs with many hundreds of copies on a frequent basis.

your agency should have people to do this. There aren't any codes that handle it?

In my agency, normally the youngest female gets stuck with the burden of all the copying/filing and the purchasing credit card for that division. Even if she happens to be a lawyer... Who the hell has admin staff to do things like that? I do all of my own correspondence and mailing as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry "whining takes".

the fact is, these jobs are part of being a GS-15. Maybe that's wrong, but it's how it is, so my original advice to just suck it up stands.

You sound like the condescending lawyer from the other thread. My guess is you don't do much copying.

I am not a lawyer, I am in a technical field, and I do all of my own copying, and shredding, for that matter.and I certainly don't tell administrative staff that they're paid to do it and I am not, simply because I have a higher grade level than they have. I realize they have other things to do also.

You are making way too many assumptions. You need to get back on your Prozac.