Wah indeed

Here's a good article with which to mark the end of my Post subscription. It's been fun, but I have to move on and read other things with my time. I'll still check the website.

Anyway, let's talk about the article: it's a piece of crap. It's pointless. This is one of those subjects for which the Post has a natural advantage over the Times, and yet they run this bull$hit? I mean, this is a fluff piece, but it's not far in quality from some of the world news stories they file--I read the headline and blurb and think, this should be interesting. And then it's not. They find interesting topics and turn them into boring articles.

Back to this one. One line struck me:

And if it's true that people covet the specific rather than the abstract, then it's one thing to hear generally about government perks... and quite another to watch your spouse telework in her pajamas during a week's worth of government snow days, watching Bravo, eating Oreos. Not that you're bitter.

Let's start with the facts: there is no such thing as teleworking and watching Bravo. Teleworking rules preclude engaging in other activities while teleworking. As for eating Oreos, one can do that at the office, too. As for teleworking, non-government employees do that, too. As for snow days, how the f* are people supposed to get to their offices if the metro's not running and the roads aren't passable?

Now for the facts that the article got right: yes, government employees have sick days. We accrue vacation days. Nothing above the standard in most of the rest of the world. Instead of trying to bring down government benefits, why not see if the private sector will match what's really not that much vacation time?

And yes, we do work long hours. It's not uncommon. There's a lot of $hit to do, and you'd miss it if it didn't get done.