The New York Times reports President Trump has used a series of executive orders to ease the firing of federal workers. This action is, to my personal knowledge, some 40 years overdue.
In the mid-1970s my university loaned me to the Feds for two years, the civil service was then littered with what the wags of the day called “dud fireworks.” That is, they don’t work and you can’t fire them.
The cynical CW at the time was every federal supervisor attempts to fire one loser, no federal supervisor ever tries to fire a second loser. What supervisors learned in the first attempt was the effort took most of their time for nearly 3 years while their other work was neglected.
Thus the supervisors’ own performance appraisals suffered as their managers “knew better” than to waste time trying to fire someone with civil service protections. While theoretically possible, it was purpose-designed to be impractical and onerous.
In my small federal office of five professionals, including the boss, one was a total loser, another had both OCD and a savant’s knowledge of the multi-volume, constantly evolving Federal Personnel Manual. It was an odd group that included two ex-Roman Catholic priests.
In nearby units I saw losers who spent their days reading novels or newspapers, doing no federal work, required only to be present to be paid. I shared an office with a guy who treated us as his “day job” while his heart was in his real gig which occupied much of his at-work time and attention. Our boss knew and ignored his non-performance - shrugged it off with “the system is screwed-up.”
This is the FUBAR culture the President is trying to change, the swamp he’s attempting to drain. It needs doing.
