Fed-up feds: Many decry 'morale-sucking environment

Federal Times has an article "Fed-up feds: Many decry 'morale-sucking environment" published 10-8-13.

Here is a link to that article:

http://www.federaltimes.com/interactive/article/20131007/AGENCY01/310070009/Fed-up-feds-Many-decry-morale-sucking-environment-

Unfurlough.us: Website Helps Furloughed Employees Start Up Freelance Businesses

Unfurlough.us is a website that connects furloughed federal employees with freelance start-up projects.  Start-up gigs are posted that they can respond to, and freelancers can post their qualifications & resumes in case a company is looking for something specific.

Here is the link to this 10-10-13 article:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/2013/1010/Government-shutdown-Unfurlough.us-connects-federal-workers-with-start-ups

Shutdown / Furlough Humor: The siren call of the BlackBerry for furloughed federal workers

The Washington Post has a great article with some humor interjected:

"The siren call of the BlackBerry for furloughed federal workers"


A link to this article is below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-siren-call-of-the-blackberry-for-furloughed-federal-workers/2013/10/09/62dc407c-3102-11e3-8627-c5d7de0a046b_story.html

 BuzzFeed Politics has an article with humor and pictures:  "

Furloughed Government Employees Are Selling Their Possessions On Craigslist For Cash"

Below is the link to this article, which offers some humor in this furlough situation.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/furloghed-government-employees-are-selling-their-possessions

Federal Workers Get 60 Percent Check on Friday

The Statesman Journal has an article "Federal Workers Get 60 Percent Check on Friday".
Below is a link to this article:

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20131008/UPDATE/131008019/Federal-workers-get-60-percent-check-Friday

Furloughed U.S. Federal Workers Await 1/2-Sized Paycheck

Furloughed U.S. Federal Workers Await 1/2-Sized Paycheck

Click link below for article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-08/furloughed-u-s-federal-workers-await-half-sized-paycheck.html 

Good News: House Passes Retroactive Pay Legislation for Federal Employees October 5 2013

Good News:  The House passed retroactive pay legislation for furloughed federal employees:

October 5 2013

http://www.fedsmith.com/2013/10/05/house-passes-retroactive-pay-legislation

Some Thoughts on the Shutdown

Today was the first day of the federal government shutdown, and was the first day I was furloughed.
Since I've had a day to let it all sink in, here are a few of my thoughts about it.

Our office is a team.
We live in a small town, and people are a pretty close-knit team at our office.
When they let everyone go today, they all trickled out of the building and that was that.

I wish there would have been some indication of solidarity amongst us.
Some sort of encouraging words spoken by the managers, to the effect of "you are valuable to us, and I'm sorry this has to happen, and there is nothing we can do about it, but we want you to know that we care about you personally and for your families and all those affected by this".

It was more like, they told us the regs, the procedures and what to expect procedurally, but nothing else really.
And to check the news, we should keep tabs on it if the shutdown ends and report to work.
And hopefully our managers will call us to let us know we can return to work.
But it was somewhat vague, and a little disconcerting.

My manager I could tell was very tired; stressed and just wanted to get out of there.
He even told me to hurry up and leave.
I had to take a few moments to collect my personal items, to water my plants, and mentally prepare myself to exit those doors.

Several co-workers I have emails for and phone numbers, so we'll be in touch.
But in meantime, its more or less each man is on his own, you gotta fend for yourself, and there is really no support system amongst us after the shutdown.

Perhaps a suggested meeting every few days - a casual non-work meeting could have been suggested, if people just wanted to talk and get together, outside of work.
But nothing like that was suggested.
So those are my thoughts.

Images: How Furloughed Employees Might Be Feeling Like Right Now