OP, I really, really do not like my job. It is the nature of the work and the stress. My cowokers are fine, management is fine. If I was doing the same job someplace else I would despise it equally. I realize that in this current market, I can't easily get another job that will support my family in the near future. I don't drink, but have been prescribed Xanax to deal with the stress. I take one in the morning and one in the afternoon on workdays. It makes me feel better.

... and p.s. thanks for the kind thoughts re DW's job loss... it's kind of sad after so many years but OTOH it had become tedious for her and she wasn't enjoying it. And with her other part-time business (independent garden maintenance and small scale design) she thinks she can make up a fair amount of the loss, though she works really hard at it (long days of physical labor in DC summer isn't easy as you get older).

She wants to stay a 1-person shop so that's her call ... but thanks.

Anonymous wrote:I couldn't believe it when I read that Obama is trying to recruit volunteers to work for the Feds. I usually like him, but not today. He's already getting volunteer labor with tons of unpaid OT.

One of my bosses got a little certificate from HR this week for 35 years service. I joked with him, asking, don't you get a new leave category for making it to 35? He started whining about how he deserves some time off after all his hours recently and I'm thinking but you can take 80 hours a pay period off. What is wrong with these people who don't want to work but won't retire?

Sorry to the pp whose wife lost a job. I lost a job once, it was awful at the time but later the best thing that could have happened. I hope it works out for her, I'd like to be my own boss for a while.

17:05 here ... not sure how he can do that, it's a violation of appropriations law in most cases for a Federal agency or Dept. to accept voluntary work, it is an illegal augmentation of its appropriated funds. Same reason why supervisors should not ask for, allow, or "suffer and permit" unpaid overtime, it's a significant legal issue under appropriations law, not to mention an issue with treating people who work for you the right way (it is generally illegal to volunteer your services).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm with you. I'm a fed lawyer. very, very, very low morale where I work. It's awful. And it doesn't have to be. I just wish we could work smarter and not harder like trying to squeeze every bit of blood and life juice and penny out of every lawyer here and offering OT every week and people doing unpaid allniters and weekends etc.

My DH is in the exact same situation, especially due to budget squeezes, no bonuses and furloughs, although hours are still sane. Federal lawyers are very unhappy with the punishment they're getting from the budget battles. It also creates hostile dynamics in the workplace, especially as people leave and are not replaced. Everybody still left has to cover for the lost employees, although temp attorneys occasionally fill in during crunch times. My sympathies, for you and everybody else on this thread.

Interesting, I thought maybe it was just my agency where people were behaving like rats in a cage. We don't even have furloughs this year and still our workplace is completely toxic. I actually used to enjoy my job and now the thought of having to take the metro down there and talk to my boss every day makes me want to start bawling. Sometimes I do, right there on the metro. My boss is well past retirement eligibility. I can't understand why he doesn't pull the trigger and retire, given the toxic environment, but I think it's going to take a nuclear blast to dislodge him. If I didn't have the health insurance for my family to worry about I'd get out. There doesn't seem to be much mobility these days so finding a job with another agency isn't going to happen very quickly.

Another fed. Same here. It's a crappy environment right now.

Anonymous wrote:

My boss is well past retirement eligibility. I can't understand why he doesn't pull the trigger and retire, given the toxic environment, but I think it's going to take a nuclear blast to dislodge him.

I have never understood, for the life of me, what the fuck these old buggers, vested in the old retirement system, are doing in their jobs for even an instant beyond retirement eligibility. Eighty-five percent of salary and they can't find something else to do? Losers. Yea and I love my job too. Right.

Because there is no place for an old man. Usually his fault though for not developing and maintaining outside relationships.

I couldn't believe it when I read that Obama is trying to recruit volunteers to work for the Feds. I usually like him, but not today. He's already getting volunteer labor with tons of unpaid OT.

One of my bosses got a little certificate from HR this week for 35 years service. I joked with him, asking, don't you get a new leave category for making it to 35? He started whining about how he deserves some time off after all his hours recently and I'm thinking but you can take 80 hours a pay period off. What is wrong with these people who don't want to work but won't retire?

Sorry to the pp whose wife lost a job. I lost a job once, it was awful at the time but later the best thing that could have happened. I hope it works out for her, I'd like to be my own boss for a while.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm with you. I'm a fed lawyer. very, very, very low morale where I work. It's awful. And it doesn't have to be. I just wish we could work smarter and not harder like trying to squeeze every bit of blood and life juice and penny out of every lawyer here and offering OT every week and people doing unpaid allniters and weekends etc.

My DH is in the exact same situation, especially due to budget squeezes, no bonuses and furloughs, although hours are still sane. Federal lawyers are very unhappy with the punishment they're getting from the budget battles. It also creates hostile dynamics in the workplace, especially as people leave and are not replaced. Everybody still left has to cover for the lost employees, although temp attorneys occasionally fill in during crunch times. My sympathies, for you and everybody else on this thread.

True (that take on low morale, etc.).

I'm one of the ones who left. The environment in my office got more and more toxic and dysfunctional over the past 5-6 years to the point where we had 2 new top managers with less than 3 yrs. combined experience in our office ignoring the input (or not seeking it) of several (including me) with 20+ years each. We watched them make mistake after mistake and tried not to say "we told you so" (because we didn't, they never asked) and offered insight but they appear to know it all.

So when sequestration forced a hefty chunk of furlough time and our office came up with more than 20 buyouts, I took one and left 4 years early. I wish the atmosphere was such that I would want to stay but everyone I know wants out, it is a toxic and unhealthy situation, with little or no support from those who are supposedly in our corner.

Anyway, I retired. I'm done. I'm happier, more relaxed, and because we saved like hell for 30+ yrs., financially secure (contrary to popular belief, a Fed retirement alone won't quite get you all the way there).

Sympathies and condolences to all struggling, DW lost her job of 20+ yrs. effective today so will be ramping up her part time business to help offset that.

OP -- it actually helped me to know others are out there with the same beefs. Wish that weren't the case for anyone. I HATE my job and I've been trying to find another one for over 1 year. I keep telling myself to not be so invested and to ignore folks and do what I can at my job. It gets worse everyday. Hang in there and I plan to do the same. I like that my DH and I don't have to live on a budget with my job and also that DH doesn't bug me about money. I try to stay focused ont he bottom line knowing that my big boss hates me and the feeling is mutual.

My boss is well past retirement eligibility. I can't understand why he doesn't pull the trigger and retire, given the toxic environment, but I think it's going to take a nuclear blast to dislodge him.

I have never understood, for the life of me, what the fuck these old buggers, vested in the old retirement system, are doing in their jobs for even an instant beyond retirement eligibility. Eighty-five percent of salary and they can't find something else to do? Losers. Yea and I love my job too. Right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm with you. I'm a fed lawyer. very, very, very low morale where I work. It's awful. And it doesn't have to be. I just wish we could work smarter and not harder like trying to squeeze every bit of blood and life juice and penny out of every lawyer here and offering OT every week and people doing unpaid allniters and weekends etc.

My DH is in the exact same situation, especially due to budget squeezes, no bonuses and furloughs, although hours are still sane. Federal lawyers are very unhappy with the punishment they're getting from the budget battles. It also creates hostile dynamics in the workplace, especially as people leave and are not replaced. Everybody still left has to cover for the lost employees, although temp attorneys occasionally fill in during crunch times. My sympathies, for you and everybody else on this thread.

Interesting, I thought maybe it was just my agency where people were behaving like rats in a cage. We don't even have furloughs this year and still our workplace is completely toxic. I actually used to enjoy my job and now the thought of having to take the metro down there and talk to my boss every day makes me want to start bawling. Sometimes I do, right there on the metro. My boss is well past retirement eligibility. I can't understand why he doesn't pull the trigger and retire, given the toxic environment, but I think it's going to take a nuclear blast to dislodge him. If I didn't have the health insurance for my family to worry about I'd get out. There doesn't seem to be much mobility these days so finding a job with another agency isn't going to happen very quickly.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm with you. I'm a fed lawyer. very, very, very low morale where I work. It's awful. And it doesn't have to be. I just wish we could work smarter and not harder like trying to squeeze every bit of blood and life juice and penny out of every lawyer here and offering OT every week and people doing unpaid allniters and weekends etc.

My DH is in the exact same situation, especially due to budget squeezes, no bonuses and furloughs, although hours are still sane. Federal lawyers are very unhappy with the punishment they're getting from the budget battles. It also creates hostile dynamics in the workplace, especially as people leave and are not replaced. Everybody still left has to cover for the lost employees, although temp attorneys occasionally fill in during crunch times. My sympathies, for you and everybody else on this thread.

I can relate to all the posts. I'm lucky that my direct boss is cool, and the hours and benefits are good. It's all the extraneous shit that I can't stand. I have some pretty big responsibilities but CEO and VPs spend all their time second-guessing me and everyone else. My boss can only have my back so much. Morale is in the shitter here. Half our systems don't work and some of our staff is so inept it stuns me.

OP, I'm with you. I'm a fed lawyer. very, very, very low morale where I work. It's awful. And it doesn't have to be. I just wish we could work smarter and not harder like trying to squeeze every bit of blood and life juice and penny out of every lawyer here and offering OT every week and people doing unpaid allniters and weekends etc.

I agree, OP. I actually was looking for exactly this thread today and was gonna start it myself. Thank you.

OP here. All this sharing means so much to me. A community of fellow sufferers, taking one for the family. thank you. I also don't drink any more, but if I did, I would be drinking so heavily to deal with this shit that I'd surely drink myself out of the job.