Furlough Madness

As the end of the furlough approaches and the debt ceiling raised to only postpone the inevitable collapse of the united states dollar, people are breathing a sigh of relief as they welcome going back to work.  But the silent minority that has been working in government, keeping us safe from foreign and domestic threats, preparing us for natural disasters, and ensuring the lights stay on.  Us few have been labeled as the 'essential' employees, who were deemed necessary to be on staff during these dire situations.  Normally I would see this as an honor, but I am rapidly loosing faith in this role.

Our government has made a debacle out of the system, with Zero achievement.  The House and Senate both are to blame for their lack of negotiation and representation of the great people of this country.  At no point did they really care for the 800,000 furloughed workers or the countless cascading effects this 'shutdown' incurred.  From the silliness of National Park rangers closing parks while working to keep out the very people who pay their salaries to the loss of massive amounts of livestock lost to the storms in North Dakota that will likely never receive any farm aid support and never recover as a business.

But us silent few that worked the ghostly halls of the federal government in good faith, covering the work that needed to be done, were not getting paid.  Work with No pay.  My heart goes out to all those that were not working and not getting paid as well, but something just doesn't sit right with me about the end of the furlough.

The Federal workers furloughed will receive back pay for their time out of the office.  This can be misconstrued as a reward, a paid vacation, or just coverage for the federal government should have been covering all along.  But what about those who worked and didn't get paid?  Sure eventually we will receive our pay and everything will slowly return to its chaotic state, but shouldn't those who worked be compensated in some manner?  Why didn't we get the time off, the paid vacation?  I am not trying to pit those who worked against those who didn't, because they can't be blamed.  But Congress and the rest of government needs to show praise and reward, to those who continued to serve our country, with the same stress of an empty pay check as those who were furloughed.  Life is not fair, but lets not rub it in the faces of those who care.

Ear Pulling Episode

I recently had a very interesting experience that left me a little confused and humiliated.

I have been dating a mother of 4. things are complicated and new, but there are some interesting and entertaining behaviors i am learning about. I sometimes recognize that she speaks to me as if she has to employe a lesson on 5 year old in order to get a point across.  In my opinion she does it in a very juvenile style, but I do have to understand the social order and why she does it.  Every time I identify this tactic, I try to stop it, but I sense she knows no different, so I smirk inside and learn to deal with it.

But this was a slightly different scenario  this go around. We decided to drive into work due to a scheduled meeting, which she was late too. We parked and walked to the entrance of the Federal building. I was going to enter, but due to badging requirements to enter, she couldn't wait for me and had to rush to her meeting.  I am not a big PDA person especially in the entrance of a professional work environment with Security and and other ViPs entering, but she goes for the full French goodbye kiss that I indulge with a shallow approach, but as she goes for it, i sort of end up pulling away from!  She finds this annoying, which I can understand, because being rejected on any level is not something a lover wants especially in public in front others.  

Her retaliation which was the point of this story and the icing on the cake, was Interesting, funny, and humiliating.  In public, in a professional environment, she reaches out, like a mother, and pinches my ear, twists it as if I need to bow to my 3rd grade knees, and announces a verbal frustration grunting noise for everyone to hear.  All I could do like a child, was to quickly survey the scene and determine who had witnessed this act.  My initial assessment determined no obvious witnesses, so I finished her off with a goodbye hug and sent her on her way.  As I made my way through the strict security process, there was one female security guard that was from Russia that had do extra security on me due to my watch setting off the metal detector asked me to spread my legs and arms with intention of wanding me down, asked and in front of her male counterparts, "How's your ear young man?"

At that point I knew female empowerment and male emasculation had crossed paths and my ego had been humiliated.  I bounced back quickly and I did let her know, but for the rest of the day my inner punished child lingered on, a very reminiscent feeling of my youth had returned.