Who Works For Whom?
by James Glaser
November 2, 2009

Over the years I have written about this, and every so often, my having to deal with some part of our government brings it up again. Sometimes when you have to deal with an elected official or somebody that has a Civil Service job, you walk away wondering if they are working for you, or if you are working for them.

Usually it isn't the person you have to deal with one on one, but the system that employees them. The thing that got me on this particular rant was my trip to the U.S. Post Office this last Friday. It was morning, and I waited until 8am to go to the Post Office. The building was open, but the window where you buy stamps was closed. There was no coin operated stamp machine, so I had to wait until 8:30 for the customer window to open. Even then I had to ring a bell to alert the postal worker that they had a customer.

Our quasi government-run Post Office is billions of dollars in the red, and they are talking about stopping Saturday deliveries to save money. For most businesses, when things get bad, they try to increase sales any way they can. Since we all sort of own the Post office, and we are the buyers of its products, it would seem to me that the Post Office would want to open their customer service windows for longer hours to increase sales.

For example, let's say they opened at 7am, so working people could buy stamps send packages before they go to work. How about evening hours? It's supposed to be our Post Office isn't it? Shouldn't it at least make an effort to give better customer service to the people who own it?

Of course I think the same should be true for City, County, State, and Federal government offices. Why does every citizen have to take time off of their paying job if they have to deal with their own government? Sure, if you are paid a salary, you can ask for time off to renew your driver's license or pay for your car tags, but what if you are paid by the hour?

What would be so wrong about government offices being open on Saturday or a few nights a week? Today, government tells us what to do and when to do it. But it is supposed to be "our" government isn't it? Not true because everything is for the convenience of the government, and if we have to lose money by missing work, well, that is just too bad.

We Americans no longer trust our government, because it is no longer our government. Government employees no longer work for us, we now work for them. We pay their taxes, we pay their fees, and we obey their laws.

So, tell me, just who is working for whom?

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