Monday I went back to work for the first time since December 21. The first two weeks of being a furloughed federal employee were not too bad. I had planned on taking off the week of Christmas anyway so that CP and I could get some house projects done while the kids were at school. We did some touch-up painting, hung some shelves, hung a coat rack, cleaned the house after the holidays, etc.
The following week also was not too bad with New Years Eve falling during the work week. CP and the kids were home for two days so I kept busy with them.
However, once the holidays were over the stark reality of being furloughed-banned from working and not getting a paycheck- set in. I deep cleaned the house. I made Weight Watcher-friendly meals to freeze (but not too many because we didn’t want to spend too much on groceries). I worked out almost every day (21 Day Fix). I took the kids sledding a few times. I did a purge of the kid toys and clothes. I listened to 10 million podcasts and read a few books. I texted with my employees and friends, venting and commiserating with them. I kept checking in with the news to see if there were any talks between the two sides, but no, there seemed to be no sense of urgency to end what became the longest shutdown in government history.
It was near impossible to find a part time job that didn't require any training, didn't violate any ethics rules, and one that I could drop on a day's notice. I thought about doing Uber or Lyft but didn't want to take out the car seats every day just to put them back in again before morning dropoff. My parents offered me a job at their law office and so I spent two weeks working for them, helping to clean out their files. It was humbling to say the least.
I know this sounds like a nice, relaxing way to spend 5 weeks off from work but I can assure you it was anything but. The uncertainty of when I would be back to work and the uncertainty of when I would next have a paycheck hitting my bank account was super stressful. Not to mention all of the big meetings and events I had planned that needed to be cancelled. Five weeks lost of time I could have been working, making a difference with my job. I was stressed for not only myself, but for fellow employees, contractors, the small businesses that rely on federal employees, and the people that we serve.
And of course we have had terrible weather this week. Monday we had a two hour delay due to snow. Yesterday and today it was -50 outside with the wind chill so we had to close the office and work from home (except my kids were also home so it made doing work more challenging). Not to mention it's hard to get back up and running knowing that all of this could happen again on February 15th. *sigh*
7 comments:
I’m so sorry you and all the other federal workers had to suffer due to the actions of our nation’s leaders. This never should have been an option for negotiating political motives and the impact is only starting to be realized.
I sincerely hope there isn’t another shut down. I hope the bill to end government shutdowns is passed. And I hope that all of you are able to dig yourselves out of the mess others created as quickly and smoothly as possible.
UGH. I'm so, so sorry you and your family has had to go through this, all for nothing. It's disgraceful at best. And this could happen again in a couple weeks!
One of our best friends is in the Coast Guard and had to go to work every day, but without pay. He makes decent money and had a small cushion of savings that he was able to dip into, but he still felt this. Even though he still had to work in January, he volunteered at locally organized food/clothing/etc drives to help out his fellow Coasties, and other Federal workers who were affected. I've loved seeing the way people have gathered to help out their friends, family, and community, but I hate that it's just all so senseless.
Sending love your way and hoping that in a couple weeks this administration comes to their senses.
I’m so sorry your family had to go through this. I’m glad you had the help of your family at least, as I know of people who tried to find another job and couldn’t because places wouldn’t even bother looking at government workers’ applications because it wouldn’t benefit them to train them have them quit, since it’s such a temporary thing.
On the plus side you got some house stuff done you wouldn’t have otherwise, but I know the stress of it all just doesn’t make up for that.
And I have a friend in Chicago (who works on Empire) and she said they even shut down production because it was too cold. I can’t even imagine temperatures that cold...does your house even stay warm, like can the heat even keep up? A friend in MN said they got -73 with the wind chill, and another friend in Michigan said they were asked by their utility to lower their house heat to conserve gas. I can’t wrap my brain around that cold, we only got to -20 here and that was bad.
I am so sorry your family was affected by the shutdown. I am with you in hoping that this doesn't happen again - ever - but especially not this month. Thank you for all you do! <3
I am so sorry you and your family were affected by the shutdown. It all seems rather unbelievable from north of the border and I sincerely hope it doesn't occur again.
Ugh I am so sorry you guys were affected. :( Our country is so ridiculous
5 weeks is a long time to live in uncertainty. I'm sorry you (and all the others) had to go through that, and I sincerely hope it doesn't happen again. Not knowing when you would have a paycheck is very stressful.
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