Fed on Friday 2/12: open or closed?

[Anonymous]

Maybe the commute won't be that bad considering

the number of parents who can't come in due to school and daycare closures;

teleworkers and Fed employees on AWS (it is a Friday afterall);

a delayed/staggared opening.

Also I am sure there are pleanty of people who just want to head right in to the 3 day weekend and not bother, regardless of their circumstances ( I am almost, but not quite, in this camp).

those factors should cut the number of commuters in half, right?

[Anonymous]

Ok all you Feds, stop your whining and get ready for work just like the rest of us (who not only are working tomorrow, but were also not fortunate enough to have our offices closed the past 4 days).

[Anonymous]

20:05 - if you aren't a fed, why so obsessed with what the feds are doing?

[Anonymous]

Maybe she's paying taxes and cares where her money goes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:05 - if you aren't a fed, why so obsessed with what the feds are doing?

Because I'm a contractor for the Feds, and if they aren't working, I don't have work, which means I can't bill my time.

[Anonymous]

Some of you may need to repeat kindergarten. Remember how your kindergarten teacher would say "Don't worry about what Stevie is doing. Worry about yourself."

Stop worrying about what everyone else is and isn't doing. If you are a fed, pay attention to OPM guidance. If you aren't, MYOB.

[Anonymous]

Maybe she's paying taxes and cares where her money goes?

Explain to me how the allocation of her tax dollars changes based on the federal government's operating status tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Because I'm a contractor for the Feds, and if they aren't working, I don't have work, which means I can't bill my time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because I'm a contractor for the Feds, and if they aren't working, I don't have work, which means I can't bill my time.

Rightly so but don't you have vacation time or will they let you make up the hrs over a period of time?

[Anonymous]

20:05 - if you aren't a fed, why so obsessed with what the feds are doing?

Maybe she's the same lady that looks out the window at her neighbors shoveling snow and then writes posts on DCUM complaining about what they are doing. Always concerned with what other people are doing. Boring, boring lives.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a fed but we follow the federal government's snow day schedule so I've been off. I was planning on returning to work tomorrow anyway if the red line was open above ground - it is, yay!

I've enjoyed the time off tremendously but am ready to get back in, especially since it's one day. But, I think it would have been irresponsible to open the government any earlier than tomorrow and I'm so sick of people bitching about their tax dollars being wasted. Public transportation was not operating even half-assed and NEWSFLASH - not everyone has the option of driving to work. Plus, the roads were bad, there is no parking, traffic would have been terrible, and people were being urged to stay off the roads this morning. You can't urge people to stay off the roads and then ask them to come to work.

It's 2010. Most people were able to get important work done remotely anyway. My office certainly got a lot of stuff done. Luckily I had a slow week planned anyway but did get some stuff done in between sleeping in (grandparents were stuck with us and covered the morning shift!) and enjoying the snow days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

20:05 - if you aren't a fed, why so obsessed with what the feds are doing?

Maybe she's the same lady that looks out the window at her neighbors shoveling snow and then writes posts on DCUM complaining about what they are doing. Always concerned with what other people are doing. Boring, boring lives.

Um, no not me. And certainly not obsessed. I'm just making the point that there is no reason people should not be able to get back to work tomorrow. Just because the streets are not "perfect" is no excuse to close the government again. For those of you who still think the conditions are bad out there, where do you live? Because I was out and about today, and it was business as usual. All stores were open, I went to the grocery store, the post office, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, out to dinner with the family. There were tons of people out, and I saw nothing but bare pavement for the most part.

[Anonymous]

Um, no not me. And certainly not obsessed. I'm just making the point that there is no reason people should not be able to get back to work tomorrow. Just because the streets are not "perfect" is no excuse to close the government again. For those of you who still think the conditions are bad out there, where do you live? Because I was out and about today, and it was business as usual. All stores were open, I went to the grocery store, the post office, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, out to dinner with the family. There were tons of people out, and I saw nothing but bare pavement for the most part.

What wasn't "business as usual" today was the metro. Metro did not operate above ground stations for most of the day, and most still aren't open. There are about 200K federal government workers who take metro into DC every day. These agencies have extremely, extremely limited on-site parking, and could not possibly accommodate all the workers if the government opened without metro being up and running. Where would they park? The streets are filled with snow, and there just isn't that much public parking downtown.

Metro is HOPING to have most above line trains running by tomorrow morning - most, but not all. Trains will be running at 25 minute intervals. This is not "business as usual."

Glad you were able to get your shopping done, but people that need to get in to work are going to have a very different day tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Many will not be going in though because the schools are off -- plus there's a delayed opening and unscheduled leave. There are thousands of non-federal workers who also rely on public transportation (some from my office in fact) who did not have any days off this week and just had to either get in, take vacation time, or work from home if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the commute won't be that bad considering

the number of parents who can't come in due to school and daycare closures;

teleworkers and Fed employees on AWS (it is a Friday afterall);

a delayed/staggared opening.

Also I am sure there are pleanty of people who just want to head right in to the 3 day weekend and not bother, regardless of their circumstances ( I am almost, but not quite, in this camp).

those factors should cut the number of commuters in half, right?

I'm a pessimist:

heaps of snow that cause lanes to disappear

huge snow mounds at the intersections (and median strips) that make it impossible to see cars turning

bottle necked on/off ramps

pot holes large enough to cause flat tires

heaps of snow still piled on car roofs that make for dangerous driving

I'm dreading the commute for the next few weeks until the residual snow mounds melt away