What the Flood SITREP

We helped a couple get a document they needed from FEMA. This is part of our job. We do it all the time. It is a very simple and straightforward procedure and we only help people because they don't do it every day - we do. And so it is easy for us. 

We mail the documents out to the homeowner so they can sign them and send them to FEMA. We never hear from them again.

Until this couple came in to meet us. They brought a gift basket with cheese and sausage. They took a moment to introduce themselves, learn our names, and laugh with us - interrupt our day in the best way possible. 

I have forgotten 99% of the people I have helped with this form. I have remembered one couple.

The Breakroom

"Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds."

Colin Powell

The Ask

Sometimes, often, being a public servant feels thankless. You are the expert, you know the regulations, yet someone is yelling in your face that you are an idiot, that they pay your wages, that you need to do what they say. And you listen, calmly, almost with love. Okay maybe not with love. But you know that most people just want to be heard and this one will probably calm down and then you can go back to helping them.

Where else in the world do people put up with so much abuse and just wait for the opportunity to help this person again? Retail I suppose. And fast food. Okay there are places. 

This week I want to ask you, what motivates you to keep going? Many will say the pension, but I don't believe it. I've seen it too many times - the satisfaction of really helping someone.

Or maybe it's the pension. Tell me in the comments. 

The Supply Closet

The Pension. 

Many people find themselves feeling stuck in government because of the pension. The challenge is gone but new horizons mean giving up years you've built into this retirement system.

So you find ways to challenge yourself at work and you make some really good friends. And then one day, it arrives - retirement. And it's earlier than all your colleagues who have been making a ton of money in the private sector. And you're going to be comfortable for the rest of your life. And all those friends you've worked with for 30 years even throw you a nice little retirement party. 

You'll never forget them. Especially the one that bought you your favorite retirement mug.

What was her name?