>>>I'm a Liberal Republican that not that many years ago was considered a Moderate Republican and a woman and I KNOW the gum'ment is NOT my friend, especially after working for the state gum'ment
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>>I've done contracts for the USDA and the State of Kansas - I still can't fathom how such a collection of mindless zombies can exist. I guess the gub-mint keeps them from dying off young like nature intended.
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>I did some work for the State of Kansas back in 1999. I think that your description of "collection of mindless zombies" is an insult to all zombies. I had to attend a couple of meetings about the software I was writing for them - all day meetings. I don't think I've ever seen a dozen people waste so much time my whole life. Not only were most of the people I had to deal with rather stupid - they were also extremely lazy, which of course is a horrible combination. There was also a mile of red-tape I had to go though just to be allowed to do the work. It was a very enlightening experience - I got to see first hand how the government wastes time, money, resources, etc.
>Only good thing about the whole thing is I got to eat excellent BBQ everyday.
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My experience was very different. I worked for 3 years for FL Dept of Revenue. I won't claim that I worked with the most productive group in the world, or the smartest, but most of my co-workers were not just sitting around getting a paycheck. They pretty much knew what they were supposed to do and did it. That probably pretty much describes me as well.

We did not work overtime (except in rare circumstances) but we were productive while we were there. One of the advantages of government employment is that you can actually have a life outside the job - a strong incentive for many of us there.

My boss was a retired Army Finance Lt. Col. and was probably the best supervisor I've ever had. His philosophy (as expressed during the interview) was "If I could do your job I wouldn't need to hire you. I'll tell you what needs to be done, make sure you have the resources to do it, make sure you are on-track, and get out of your way." Surprisingly enough, that's exactly what happened. Were it not for the fact that

1. It was a state government salary and I had child support to pay (So having a life outside of work wasn't that wonderful on that salary)
2. He got promoted and I started working for a more "standard" government manager

I'd probably still be there.