So there are a lot of things I didn't know about shutdowns. My boyfriend is an air traffic controller working without pay but he's got enough of a financial cushion that he doesn't seem overly worried by missing tomorrow's paycheck. However, we both recognize that he's one of the lucky ones.
My mother related the very real crisis one of her friends is in. He works for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is currently furloughed. He is the breadwinner of his family and he has a mortgage and two car payments like the typical American family. Now he finds himself in an untenable position.
I think most Americans think government employees can just go out and get side jobs during the shutdown but they actually can't. Government employees need to get approval from their departmental ethics offices. And, you guessed it, they are all shut down too. So they all get these letters basically forbidding them from seeking second jobs to pay their bills because they can't get ethics approval during trump's temper tantrum.
Adding insult to injury, all government employees have to submit to credit checks when they apply for promotions or lateral moves across agencies. So if their credit is affected by this shutdown it can have long-lasting consequences to their ability to move up the ladder.
My mom asked her friend why all of the workers weren't in the streets protesting and he responded with the question, why aren't all of us in the street protesting with them. I guess it's easy to be outraged without action. It's easy to forget that these pawns in trump's America will suffer these consequences long after this showboating is over. These are American's serving us by working for the government and they deserve for all of us to have their backs. I know everyone here on DK supports them and we are actively trying to work to stop this madness. I'm simply trying to share some information about what it's like for furloughed employees and that it's far graver than what most of us realize. Hopefully sharing their plight will wake up more Americans not as directly impacted.