I'm hearing plenty of anecdotes, even beyond the beltway, of people affected--but I've not seen many of those stories told in the news.

I know people are hurting and humiliated.

All these service providers, like barbershops, salons, retail employees and restaurant workers, who depend upon the workforce tied to paused federal work are suffering the most. They don't qualify for many of those programs individual creditors set up to assist those affected.

My Homegirl just explained, in a group message, that her neighbor rents two floors of their brownstone out, one to a consultant on a gov project and the other to family employed by TSA. Neither has paid rent since November...affecting their mortgage payments and with the threat of the foreclosure process looming.

>My Homegirl just explained, in a group message, that her
>neighbor rents two floors of their brownstone out, one to a
>consultant on a gov project and the other to family employed
>by TSA. Neither has paid rent since November...affecting
>their mortgage payments and with the threat of the foreclosure
>process looming.
>

Not cool that they haven't paid her at all. I'd have thought the first payment that February's rent/mortgage would have been the one where missing payments would have begun.

Is in a federal building that’s closed so that means daycare is closed....but we have to go to work....
We fortunately had MiL here past two weeks....she’s going back home tomorrow.

Next week we are going to have to either take leave, which technically we aren’t supposed to do, or seek and pay for alternative childcare....

Our childcare still expects us to pay for ALL of the time that the government has been shutdown.... so we will basically be paying double....

If we skip mortgage in February we’ll be straight on all the necessities through at least April. That’s essentials like food and gas and utilities and childcare....

This shit sucks...and the media isn’t doing a good job conveying the severity of it. A LOT of folks will go deep under water despite the promise of back pay.

The mental tole is rough too. Folks want to work, not be used as pawns



"Get ready....for your blessing....."

Are still being paid.
On that topic of childcare, how long did it take on the waiting list to get your youngest in? These two year waits I’m finding are ridiculous.

Without saying too much...
It's not a standard daycare facility, it's a full fledged infant - Kindergarten program that's staffed by teachers with full credentials and degrees in early childhood development, education, etc. They don't make big bucks, but they also aren't min. wage positions at all.

The way they are set up, our enrollment tuition is a yearly cost spread over 12 months, so that's how they've justified back charging us once the government reopens.

I'd imagine that they are not paying staff either...but they'll most certainly be paid once reopens and we back pay tuition.

I don't have too much beef with the policy honestly.

>Are still being paid.
>On that topic of childcare, how long did it take on the
>waiting list to get your youngest in? These two year waits
>I’m finding are ridiculous.

It's a lotto system and employees have 1st dibs/preference. Fall enrollment so we had to wait about 9months to enter lotto for both our oldest and youngest just because they have October birthdays.... The average wait time for infants in the DMV region is crazy though.. In Arlington most of the centers were on a 14-16 month min. wait list.

We got call backs for our oldest at a few daycares we'd completely forgotten about...they called talking bout spots were open now....I oldest daughter was like 3 by then lol...

To have to tap into a stash that you just started building just because of someone else's stupidity.

We won't recoupe stress and lost sleep...

Won't recoupe taking our frustrations out by being short tempered with our precious kids because of the stress and unknown...

Won't recoupe the damper that was draped over an entire holiday season that should have been joyous times with aging family, dying family, family that could have used our normally positive and encouraging energy...

Won't recoupe the 2nd guessing of career choices that weren't taken lightly....

Won't recoupe the inevitable beliefs that folks will develop about federal workforce being largely unimportant...

I could go on, but maybe later



"Get ready....for your blessing....."

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Current Favorite Song: https://youtu.be/8v_KFHnPImY

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Through the course of the shutdown I hear plenty of people calling in to complain that Fed Workers are getting paid eventually and that they don't feel sorry for those affected directly. or that they get paid too much anyway. Or, "any responsible person with values has 6 months of savings" and if not it's their own fault.

I'm amazed at the callousness. But also...https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/18/upshot/black-white-wealth-gap-perceptions.html

People that are not suffering are the only ones that have an opinion that doesn't matter. But if they were in the place of some of those TSA agents that can't even afford to go into work and not get paid their position would change in a heartbeat.


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Current Favorite Song: https://youtu.be/8v_KFHnPImY

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

I heard a loaded gun was discovered to have made it through a checkpoint.

I canceled a travel plan for this specific holiday weekend, partially out of fear of a opportunist terrorist.

The Devil is cunning.




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Current Favorite Song: https://youtu.be/8v_KFHnPImY

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

And I had another four scheduled in the weeks ahead
I dropped that down to two.
No connections. Barely even want to be in the air.
Also with the food not being inspected I’m mad I didn’t have as much in the freezer as I thought we had.

.

know someone that would be directly and i would definitely be helping out if so.

Husband hasn't been to work. I work from home, he's home and we're getting on each other's nerves. I'm trying not to "Honey-do" him to death.

No paycheck obviously, but we're doing better than others. We already had savings, but he started putting aside a lil extra last summer because he thought the shutdown would happen sooner. I just pray an unexpected major expense doesn't come up.

Surprisingly, the kids are asking about the shutdown a lot. Just when you think they're not paying attention...

and my wife needs to get one.

There's not a huge direct impact otherwise, but the longer people are out of work, the more indirectly impacted everyone's going to be.

The shutdown started. He was looking for five IEs and they were gonna pass us to IBM to do some work tied to government.
Didn’t seem like work I wanted. But I’d be able to get a security clearance and that’s definitely a bonus to have these days
We talked, he asked me to send him my resume on a Friday
Government shut down that weekend? I never followed up once I heard contractors weren’t getting paid or back paid
He hasn’t followed up either. I think we both know where we stand.

Fortunately, the two big agencies in Baltimore were funded before this shutdown. So, neither the wife nor I are touched.

A few years ago though, she went three or four weeks where she had to be there but not get paid for it. Eventually, she was retroactively paid. Luckily, we made it through that unscathed.

which don't get me wrong, would fuck my family (by extension, me) and damn near the whole country tremendously, but after a few days, it would never even be considered an option again.