"It's basically like headless chickens, on fire, in a train, also on fire, careening towards a cliff, on fire," wrote one TPM reader who works in the "executive offices of a significant government agency."
The reader said "stress levels this week have been off the chart" and that preparations for shutdown "have almost totally derailed any possibility of doing real business and nobody seems able to talk about anything else anyway."
"Quite honestly the whole thing has been a bit chaotic," one government contractor wrote. "Because of the uncertainty around whether there would actually be a shutdown or what would happen if there was, no one knew what to do other than to just keep doing their jobs."
"It pisses me off because I will be burning my leave/vacation time while the GOP plays games trying to score points with its constituencies," they added.
Another contractor spoke of similar "madness" at their workplace.
"They are just telling everyone to prepare not to be here on Monday. But it's crazy because no one can use government computers or Blackberries to send out communications, so how are people supposed to know?" they wrote.
A contract worker at a federal research agency wrote that none of the contract employees who work in their animal labs have been notified of their "essential" status, leading to concern for the creatures in their care.
"There have also been rumors that only 1/3 of the labor requested by vets and facility managers will be permitted to work, and that only 'essential' tasks will be permitted," they wrote. "I'm trying my best not to be cynical, but it's starting to feel like a lot of animals will be put at risk by this shutdown as well."
It's gotten so bad for the GOP at this point on the optics that even the Tea Party nutjobs are saying "You know, this makes us look like total douchebags. Let's not do this. Instead we'll pick a bigger fight over the debt ceiling and really get the Dems to cave!"
I still expect a deal, folks. We'll see.
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