What’s the difference between a real job and working for the government? I used the think the answer was that bureaucrats are overpaid, usually for being in positions that shouldn’t even exist.
Then I thought the difference was that bureaucrats got lavish benefits, about four times as much as people in the productive sector of the economy.
But now I realize that a government job means you get to dump on taxpayers, both figuratively and literally. Here are the unseemly details from KOMO News.
A mail carrier who was caught using a yard as his personal toilet will not be fired. The incident happened last month at a home in southeast Portland and a neighbor, Don Derfler, captured the man in the act with his camera. …The incident was an embarrassment to the post office and the worker was immediately placed on unpaid leave. Now, a decision has been made to keep the worker but he will be transferred to a different route. A spokesperson said the administrative action was taken based on a postal service investigation but he did not elaborate. He also did not say which route the mail carrier has been assigned to cover.
I’m almost at a loss for words. I knew that it was virtually impossible to fire a bureaucrat. But surely this was an example of crossing the line?!? But I was wrong.
Two final thoughts: How many of us would keep our jobs if we did something like this? And isn’t it wonderful that the Postal Service monopoly isn’t giving any warning to the potential victims on the bureaucrat’s new route.
ONE PILE ON THE LAWN & THE OTHER ON TAX PAYERS
That’s a pile of crap, not only would a normal person be fired from the job – they would be doing jail time.
It’s interesting there is no mention of the Union, who is behind the defense of this mail carrier. Or should I say mail dumper. So, in the end, this guy dumped one on the lawn and the other on the tax payers.
Something smells bad here . . .
Personally, I fail to see the severity of the crime and I wonder whether concentrating on such details distracts from the core issue of monopolistic economic inefficiency.
While I would not condone habitual behavior of this type, I find it perfectly expectable (even if simply by virtue of the law of probabilities) that somewhere in the tenths of thousands of postal couriers, someone, someday had perhaps intestinal problems, little time to react, and decided to take a chance that he would not be photographed for what amounts to a petty offence. I’m sure it is not the first time it has happened and perhaps even UPS or FedEx couriers may have occasionally engaged in such transgressions. Why is that such an unexpectedly big deal? Do deer, raccoon and other critters wonder around the neighborhood with diapers?
The very appalled and concerned neighbors who are so offended by this petty assault on property would typically think nothing of venomously descending on city hall with pitchforks and all to condemn entire properties whenever some poor farmer wants to do something with his land a mile away from suburbanite balcony views.
There’s not enough detail here. If the carrier was making a habit of this or doing it to “make a statement” by leaving a message on a sidewalk, then heck yeah: instant termination.
But if it was a case of “I’m two blocks from my vehicle, there’s no place to go and I can’t wait”, what was he supposed to do? Crap his pants?