Message From Work: Stop Helping People!

I work for the government.  I am employed by a Federal office, which is funded by the state I live in.  I tell people, honestly, that I am employed by the state.  However, what I do is dictated by the federal government.

I just got out of a meeting at my job.

Currently, the federal government pays our office to do a certain amount of work.  Imagine a line at the DMV or Secretary of State filled with people wanting to get their driver licenses.  We are paid to go through people in that line, in this example.  If we do more work than that we are budgeted for-- let's say we're budgeted for 100 people-- so if we give more than 100 people their drivers licenses, the federal government must pay us more money.  We have been budgeted to do 100 people in that line.  No more.

Currently, my office is on track to doing more than 100 people in the line.  If we did nothing and continued going as we have all year, not only would we get through all 100 people, but we would be able to handle anyone else who walked in the door between now and October 1st (which is the beginning of the new fiscal year), and get them taken care of, too. 

The meeting we had was to let us know that we would not be paid to take care of more than 100 people in that line.  And if we were to take care of more than 100 people in that line, we would be audited and lose funding for the next fiscal year.

So the best solution, according to my office and the Federal government, is to simply not take any actions on any more people than the next 100 in the line.  We can't close our doors, and we can't tell you to stop waiting for your license.  So you do your paperwork to apply for this license, and then you wait from now until October for something to happen... and it doesn't, because no one is working on helping you.  And what's more, if you ask questions about why you're not being taken care of, you will be told that you are currently being "processed".  And what can you do about that?  Nothing.  And what have you really found out by being told that you're being processed?  Nothing. 

Here's what I'm taking away from this: currently, doing the work needed to be done is possible.  The only reason it's not being done is because the budget-- made up of taxpayer dollars and decided upon by individuals elected into office by the actions (or inactions) of the aforementioned taxpayers-- has not been made to accommodate the needs of the people who are paying their taxes to get a driver license.  And after having their taxes taken from them, and after being told that they will be able to use those dollars to get goods and services their government provides for them, like getting a driver license, they are being prevented from not only getting those goods and services, but they are also prevented from getting any kind of real answer as to why they are being prevented from getting those goods and services.

And it's not like the money isn't there.  The money is there to do the work.  It's just the people controlling the BUDGET, not the actual money.

How fucking fucked is that???