Dec

24

My Last Furlough Day. Citizens of Columbus, Your Welcome

Posted on December 24, 2009 at 1:16 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under Local | Print This Post | Email This Post |  


Even though it’s Christmas Eve, I would normally be working at this time of day. But I am being forced to take a furlough. Which is a nice way to say I am sitting at home writing this post while losing a days pay of work.

My city decided I should take five days off without pay to balance the budget.

I have conflicting thoughts.

One. Citizen needs are going unmet. As a social worker I am concerned about the needs of my clients and today I am not available.

Two. I get four days off in a row!

Three. For the first 23 years of my working career, I worked in the private sector. For the last eleven I have been a public servant. I must tell you, being a public servant has been more rewarding, but more challenging. Public servants are not valued by many even though we create value.

I have seen the incredible work that public servants have provided. I have also watched some of these same people clean out their desks as funding for helping has gone away.

Just once, I would like to hear someone answer this call.

Public: Thank You.

Public Servant: Your welcome.

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3 Responses to “My Last Furlough Day. Citizens of Columbus, Your Welcome”

  1. Brian on December 25th, 2009 8:59 am

    Because of the title, I read this expecting to receive my welcome. Instead, I was preached at.

    How about we thank you by paying you with our tax increase and giving you fantastic benefits, despite your inability to distinguish a personal possessive pronoun from a contraction. Think any social workers in the private sector who were laid off are sympathetic to your lost 2% of income, which was given to you with days off instead of a pay cut?

    Merry Christmas, enjoy your 4 days off, and Many Self-congratulations for 2010.

  2. Madrigal Maniac on December 29th, 2009 11:44 pm

    Brian,

    Thanks for posting, I appreciate your input. Sorry if you felt preached at. It was not my intention.

    The tax increase did not save the jobs of 4 of our 10 full-time employees.

    I doubt that many Social Workers in the private or public sector lost their jobs. Even in a bad economy, there are still jobs to be had even though some are embarrassingly low paying. The four from my department that lost their jobs were actually Chemical Dependency Counselors.

    Currently, if a citizen of Columbus calls asking for help with addiction, we will tell them we are not even taking appointments until February.

    If you read my number one concern, it had nothing to do with me, but that my client’s needs would not be met.

    You mention my 2% pay cut. We as a department were willing to give up our 3% negotiated raise if it saved even one counselors job. In addition, it would still allow us to be at work on those five days to help our clients. Moreover, guess how many of us just worked the 32 hours required the week of the furlough? Answer, probably zero. Most worked OT. Own time.

    I posted earlier here about a survey that said Social Work was the #1 lowest paid high stress job.

    Most of the people in my profession are not in it for the money. We are in it because we are passionate about helping people.

    Hope you had a nice Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year.

    P.S. Your right. I have an inability to distinguish a personal possessive pronoun from a contraction. It keeps me awake at nights.

  3. Brian on December 30th, 2009 10:58 pm

    Many social workers are underpaid, no question.

    Many social workers are passionate about helping, no question.

    Money that goes to cops for fighting drugs would probably be much better spent going to rehabilitation, no question.

    Whether we should feel sorry for you for being underpaid and having to take unpaid days off without being thanked for it?

    Holiday wishes back at you. If you continue to lose sleep, you might use a spell checker.

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