Why do some private sector workers hate Fed workers so much?

[Anonymous]

Have you ever sent anything out via the United States Post Office that needs extra service.

The slowness (every time) is hard to deal with.

Then contrast sending something out at the UPS store or at the Fedex Office. You get fast competent workers at the UPS store and the Fedex Office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I see the feds have rushed in to defend themselves - all the best performers I'm sure. I ask you though, if you're doing such a great job it must really piss you off seeing all those co-workers coasting along right? I was a DOD contractor for 5 years in the DC area and it was egregious how little some people did. They also didn't have to answer to anyone and had so many early releases/"trainings" etc they barely even had to show up.

Are you telling me you don't know anyone in the private sector who get paid for doing nothing lol?

This would be exceptionally rare and unusual in the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever sent anything out via the United States Post Office that needs extra service.

The slowness (every time) is hard to deal with.

Then contrast sending something out at the UPS store or at the Fedex Office. You get fast competent workers at the UPS store and the Fedex Office.

This is hard to understand from the outside looking in, but I got the nuance better once I started working as a Fed myself. Generally speaking, it's not that Feds are lazy, it's that Feds are wildly understaffed. DOGE firings were a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.

[Anonymous]

When I was in the private sector, I worked over 100 hours per week.

As a fed, I now work around 20.

So 20% of the work for 50% of the pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever sent anything out via the United States Post Office that needs extra service.

The slowness (every time) is hard to deal with.

Then contrast sending something out at the UPS store or at the Fedex Office. You get fast competent workers at the UPS store and the Fedex Office.

USPS is legally mandated to serve addresses and places the private services don't. Their pricing is hamstrung by Congress. The list goes on and on why they aren't able to compete against private companies that can cherry pick the profitable services to provide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in the private sector, I worked over 100 hours per week.

As a fed, I now work around 20.

So 20% of the work for 50% of the pay.

Where do you work that you can only work 20 hours? We have to be I think office 40 hours a week; I guess maybe you aren't working while in the office, but many private sector jobs have idle time to when you are still on the clock. I remember I worked at a tech company and would watch movies while waiting for builds to finish, because starting anything else was pretty fruitless because it was impossible to predict when it would either complete or fail the build.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have less a problem with fed workers and more a problem with the beaurocracy that allows many who are unproductive to hang around while hardworking contractors get laid off when funding cuts happen.

There doesn't seem to be a better way for lazy, unmotivated people to park themselves fot decades and for financial security than the fed government beaurocracy. With that said there are some great workers among them as well.

It would be the rare person who "hates" a Fed employee but there's a reason why many aren't sympathetic to the concept of Fed employees. The bureaucracy does protect and enable many low performers for decades on end. And many bureaucratic jobs are busywork jobs, essentially shuffling paper from one end of the desk to the other. At least the print shop people actually produce something. And I will also throw this in too, the Fed hiring process is byzantine. It clearly favors people already in the system, gives huge weight to veterans even if they never went anywhere outside the US or only a office on a secure base, and has frustrated many actually qualified people.

1. Have you tried applying to private sector jobs with a million AI filters? People now need to apply to hundreds of jobs. Does not seem any better as a system than USAJOBS.
2. Have you never worked with a low performer in the private sector? Someone who is all sizzle and no steak? They are there.
3. There are plenty of contractors who are good, and plenty who are not amazing. Further, all contractors are much more expensive to the taxpayer than a fed.

It is a myth that the private sector is so much better. It's not. People know this, and that's why federal jobs are such an appealing punching bag.

Private sector promotions and awards are all about personal relationships, especially in the "mini-me" phenomena where people promote people that remind them of themselves (often tall white men who are former athletes looking out for each other).

Govt is much more difficult to promote your buddies, so ends up being slightly more egalitarian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have less a problem with fed workers and more a problem with the beaurocracy that allows many who are unproductive to hang around while hardworking contractors get laid off when funding cuts happen.

There doesn't seem to be a better way for lazy, unmotivated people to park themselves fot decades and for financial security than the fed government beaurocracy. With that said there are some great workers among them as well.

It would be the rare person who "hates" a Fed employee but there's a reason why many aren't sympathetic to the concept of Fed employees. The bureaucracy does protect and enable many low performers for decades on end. And many bureaucratic jobs are busywork jobs, essentially shuffling paper from one end of the desk to the other. At least the print shop people actually produce something. And I will also throw this in too, the Fed hiring process is byzantine. It clearly favors people already in the system, gives huge weight to veterans even if they never went anywhere outside the US or only a office on a secure base, and has frustrated many actually qualified people.

1. Have you tried applying to private sector jobs with a million AI filters? People now need to apply to hundreds of jobs. Does not seem any better as a system than USAJOBS.
2. Have you never worked with a low performer in the private sector? Someone who is all sizzle and no steak? They are there.
3. There are plenty of contractors who are good, and plenty who are not amazing. Further, all contractors are much more expensive to the taxpayer than a fed.

It is a myth that the private sector is so much better. It's not. People know this, and that's why federal jobs are such an appealing punching bag.

Private sector promotions and awards are all about personal relationships, especially in the "mini-me" phenomena where people promote people that remind them of themselves (often tall white men who are former athletes looking out for each other).

Govt is much more difficult to promote your buddies, so ends up being slightly more egalitarian.

::facepalm:: - the amount of promotions because someone did the absolute bare minimum to check off some boxes is absurd. Also seen on the hiring side.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think anyone hates federal workers per se - except far right lunatics. But for most people - both in their personal and professional lives - they have come to the conclusion that the federal government is full of extremely mediocre people who push paper and count paper clips as they glide toward a very lucrative pension.

And since the rest of us are paying for these mediocre people, it leads to resentment. Especially since almost no one gets a pension outside of government these days. It feels like federal employees are grifting off the rest of us who tend to work much harder than the bureaucratic class. And have to perform without recourse to federal unions that entrench bad performers.

Obviously there are very talented people in the higher levels of government. But for the most part, the federal government operates like an old timey Soviet bureaucracy with dead eyed functionaries that are completely disconnected from the real world. So there isn’t a lot of sympathy. It’s more like welcome to our world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think anyone hates federal workers per se - except far right lunatics. But for most people - both in their personal and professional lives - they have come to the conclusion that the federal government is full of extremely mediocre people who push paper and count paper clips as they glide toward a very lucrative pension.

And since the rest of us are paying for these mediocre people, it leads to resentment. Especially since almost no one gets a pension outside of government these days. It feels like federal employees are grifting off the rest of us who tend to work much harder than the bureaucratic class. And have to perform without recourse to federal unions that entrench bad performers.

Obviously there are very talented people in the higher levels of government. But for the most part, the federal government operates like an old timey Soviet bureaucracy with dead eyed functionaries that are completely disconnected from the real world. So there isn’t a lot of sympathy. It’s more like welcome to our world.

How do you know any of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I see the feds have rushed in to defend themselves - all the best performers I'm sure. I ask you though, if you're doing such a great job it must really piss you off seeing all those co-workers coasting along right? I was a DOD contractor for 5 years in the DC area and it was egregious how little some people did. They also didn't have to answer to anyone and had so many early releases/"trainings" etc they barely even had to show up.

Are you telling me you don't know anyone in the private sector who get paid for doing nothing lol?

This would be exceptionally rare and unusual in the private sector.

This is laughable. Have you ever worked in a law firm? I am a fed and I spent 10+ years in the private sector. Incompetence is plenty everywhere. I’ve seen (and still see from across the table) attorneys who bill hundreds of hours for complete shit work. People get paid for doing nothing all the time and people get paid for doing a lot of crappy work all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think anyone hates federal workers per se - except far right lunatics. But for most people - both in their personal and professional lives - they have come to the conclusion that the federal government is full of extremely mediocre people who push paper and count paper clips as they glide toward a very lucrative pension.

And since the rest of us are paying for these mediocre people, it leads to resentment. Especially since almost no one gets a pension outside of government these days. It feels like federal employees are grifting off the rest of us who tend to work much harder than the bureaucratic class. And have to perform without recourse to federal unions that entrench bad performers.

Obviously there are very talented people in the higher levels of government. But for the most part, the federal government operates like an old timey Soviet bureaucracy with dead eyed functionaries that are completely disconnected from the real world. So there isn’t a lot of sympathy. It’s more like welcome to our world.

Bruh, the reason it takes a month to get back to your email inquiry is because we have 1 person manning an inbox that gets 400-500 emails per day. Not because we are gliding around ignoring you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When private sector people get let go, downsized or fired, there is no sympathy, and it is just another day. When federal employees, who get paid back, or for a load there is a lot of woah is me and hand wringing. They will be OK. It’s more of a well now it’s your turn to feel what we’ve all felt before.

Thai is completely false.

The rules of the game is that fed roles are supposed to be more reliable. So one of the primary pros of being a fed is taken away and typically without the same safety net of being a private sector employee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever sent anything out via the United States Post Office that needs extra service.

The slowness (every time) is hard to deal with.

Then contrast sending something out at the UPS store or at the Fedex Office. You get fast competent workers at the UPS store and the Fedex Office.

This is hard to understand from the outside looking in, but I got the nuance better once I started working as a Fed myself. Generally speaking, it's not that Feds are lazy, it's that Feds are wildly understaffed. DOGE firings were a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem.

Congress required many things of USPS that are not required of FedEx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I see the feds have rushed in to defend themselves - all the best performers I'm sure. I ask you though, if you're doing such a great job it must really piss you off seeing all those co-workers coasting along right? I was a DOD contractor for 5 years in the DC area and it was egregious how little some people did. They also didn't have to answer to anyone and had so many early releases/"trainings" etc they barely even had to show up.

Are you telling me you don't know anyone in the private sector who get paid for doing nothing lol?

This would be exceptionally rare and unusual in the private sector.

This is laughable. Have you ever worked in a law firm? I am a fed and I spent 10+ years in the private sector. Incompetence is plenty everywhere. I’ve seen (and still see from across the table) attorneys who bill hundreds of hours for complete shit work. People get paid for doing nothing all the time and people get paid for doing a lot of crappy work all the time.

+1. I spent 10 years in the private sector in giant corporations that are every bit as bureaucratic as the government. They also have people who barely work and skate by. There was one woman who spent 1 hour a week updating a spreadsheet and just hung out the rest of the week. But her spreadsheet was the only record of an entire P&L for the company and was so illegible only she could decipher it, so her job was secure.