.......of the customers, by the City of Seattle's "public servants." That's what self-described "Bohemian poet, writer and artist" and "life-long Scoop Jackson Democrat" Doug Anderson of Seattle is talking about, at his fine and under-appreciated blog Sunbreak City.
"If we are the government, it is a strange part of us that is the government," writes Doug - who by the way, has more time to play killer bossa nova and blues instrumentals on his highly resonant acoustic guitar now that he's laid his independent "Democrats for Bush" blog to rest.
Based on recent encounters with the City of Seattle over a neighborhood issue, Doug writes......
Other than police fire or sewage workers who are uniformly helpful - I observe about City of Seattle employees (that): they are afraid to give their names. They never offer their names. They don't respond to emails quickly. They never sign emails. They might respond to emails if you putsomething like ///////2nd request//// or /////////3rd request/////// as a header. When they say they will look into the problem they never offer the name of the person who will look into it. They never list their email addresses on their websites. They are bold about telling you what they will not do. They never give a day or time when the problem at hand will be addressed. They never say that they will take care of the problem.Nobody ever says, "may I help you?".....A gung-ho City employee who loves people and loves helping them must be very careful. He must tone down his natural enthusiasm because he will show everyone else up. He can make needy citizens happy but he will make his co-workers unhappy.
These worker bees are all unionized and enjoying cushy benefits, while far too often giving customers the shaft in the typical passive-aggressive "Seattle Way." Such laxness is crucial stuff, from a retail perspective. I've heard similar concerns again and again over the last decade from locals here, including prominent business people. A savvy challenger to incumbent Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels would prioritize transformation of city-customer relations. I suspect this would entail dramatically altering overly-protective union contract provisions regarding poor performace evaluations and possible dismissal of city employees. The same problem helps cripple Seattle's public schools.
Disdain for the customers has another face, well-hidden from public view. One well-placed city insider has told me goofing off is rampant. Office employees spending literally hours standing around yakking about non-work topics; or disappearing for hours at a time, specifically NOT for meetings or field work, but long lunches, shopping, hours at the health club, that sort of thing. Others asleep for hours in lounge areas, I'm told.
If they can get away with this kind of stuff, why should they care about the little people who pay their salaries?
UPDATE: Alexander, of the excellent Hamilton's Pamphlets blog, sends along this worthy post about a close encounter of the excruciating kind with workers at the city-operated, Seattle Center IMAX theater.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 13, 2005 12:10 PM | Email ThisThey're staffed by people who often can't get jobs in the private sector, and who got their jobs through patronage, and have no fear of ever being laid off.
Why should they care about anything? They are immune from the market forces that would get us fired for similar behavior.
Posted by: PlutosDad on January 13, 2005 12:15 PMUnfortunately, the liberal bias in hiring for local but also state employees attracts the lazy and the incompetent. There are only a few, bright-minded amongst them, and they usually rise to the top quickly enough to be recruited by the private sector (that or liberate their inner conservative and run for office).
Posted by: CR ACTIVIST on January 13, 2005 12:25 PMWhat a case you've made for limited Government.
Posted by: Gary B on January 13, 2005 12:55 PMHere's Ted Kennedy today (1/12/05): "We, as Democrats, may be in the minority in Congress, but we speak for the majority of Americans."
Tell us again, Ted, how that vote thing works? Remind me what "representation" means?
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4354-2005Jan12?language=printer)
Posted by: Bostonian on January 13, 2005 01:05 PM#10)His business is still open in King County.
#9) He sent off his B and O taxes yesterday.
#8) He is still hauling food into Seattle for its
Princes.
#7) He kept his lights on during Dark Tuesday.
#6) He is not blockading Seattle city haul with
his horse carrier.
#5) His kids are still going to government
schools.
#4) He is planning on paying his property taxes
this Spring.
#3) He will be driving his car on FueldownFriday.
#2) He still refers to the socia1ist rags and
socia1ist broadcasters as the mainstream
media.
And the number one reason Issachar doesn't mind being a slave?
He still owns a television.
Posted by: Jericho on January 13, 2005 01:24 PMPage hits to Sound Politics have fallen by a third since the innaguration.
Posted by: Jericho on January 13, 2005 01:28 PMI find it intolerable that these people are entitled to unionize against my tax dollar. That's not a market, it's a soviet.
Posted by: Rex on January 13, 2005 02:51 PMWhat is the point of trying to say something that disagrees with the majority of a blog? If I can't immediately provide incontrovertible evidence of what I say is true, then I am ridiculed and dismissed. The self gratification which instills righteousness of cause and opinion then goes to those who challenge me and all who read and nod in agreement. Truthfully, does much written in any of these discussions, when they represent the prevailing view, get the same scrutiny? I now know that "Dino rossi is on Sean Hannity today!!!!" per a post on this site. Since I am a stauch conservative I will be sure to burn every moment of that interview into my brain and have faith that it is fact. And any accusation will immediately gain legitimacy. Even when I am proved incorrect I will still see the negative aspects of the issue and continue to be resentful. "And the congregations says....AMEN".
How many of you see the DOJ threat to file a suit against King county as tacit proof that King county intentionally planned to send the ballots late? It would be like a cop screaming at me to move my car before I get a ticket when I'm walking to my car and still have 5 minutes in the meter. Many of those people who hear the cop look at me accusingly. The truth is that the busy place where I park and work is so much more complex than parking and working in downtown Walla Walla that it takes me longer to get from my destination to my car. Well when I move my car with 1 minute left I cuold look forward to giving you and the cop the finger. But I'll probably hold back because I am a rationally thinking adult.
These forums, whether conservative or liberal, are the pinnacle of biased journalism. These will never be topped. And yes I mean journalism. Whether the dictionary defines a blog as a journalistic entity doesn't really matter any more it seams. What you read, hear reported, absorb and then repeat as the state of reality gives the same end result. CBS, Fox, CNN....whoever you dislike, couldn't hold a candle to the presumptions, assumptions, half-truths, distortions, inaccuracies, and group-think that are the backbone of our new media underground.
Well done on the occasional scoop of truly important news. The rest of the time I feel like I'm at a separatist meeting or Communist seminar, depending on which URL I'm visiting.
Have fun venting everyone! You are so correct in your viewpoint and I'm sure we all agree!!!! Yahoo I feel so good!!!!
that post had better not have been made from a government computer!
now get back to doing whatever it is that you do.
Posted by: Rex on January 13, 2005 03:06 PMFor a typical county worker healthcare (100% for themselves and their dependents -- or live-in lovers) now costs taxpayers over $800 per month per worker --fully $125,000,000 per year and climbing which is why the Sims never has enough money.
Last month Nickels announced he had "laid off" 119 city workers -- essentially he closed the city's print shop -- and now it was time to begin filling the vacancies -- he figures 500-800 more workers -- $57,000 per year plus benefits.
We're screwed....
Posted by: Lew on January 13, 2005 08:52 PMDon't be afraid of a little vehemence and passion. Speaking for the whole world, Gere-like, I am sorry the blogosphere is not dominated by cool scientific annotations of stellar dust clouds...
HeY! What is wrong with trying to write well and conncect with other people - people who may or may not agree with you? Until the blogosphere attains your Olympian powers of judgement it might be a bit wild, sectarian, extreme, passionate, audacious...Is that OK with you?
Posted by: Doug on January 13, 2005 08:54 PM