Saturday, September 06, 2014

Hilarious letter from Capitol Hill staffer who has had enough!

The letter below is an actual e-mail (With some names changed to protect the guilty) sent by a Capitol Hill staffer right after they resigned.

Courtesy of Jezebel:  

Date: Fri, May 9, 2014 at 1:02 PM Subject: Not So Fond Farewell 

I walked out on my job on Capitol Hill yesterday , and I don't think anyone noticed yet. 

I've been in this business for almost 20 years, and I've put up with a lot of shit. I know that's not a surprise, but the shit I've endured is its own level of crazy. I've fucking had it. 

The Wuss 

My first internship was with a Member of Congress who was terrified of complaints. From a donor, a lobbyist, another member, aliens, his dog, whoever. A nasty call from a constituent, which is completely normal, could have him anxious for days if he knew about it. I watched him get all the way up to introducing a bill, and he got spooked because he thought someone would say the bill was a bad idea. Staff tried to convince him, but he couldn't be budged. 

I'm sure you're wondering how someone like this got elected. This guy's political party has held that seat since the 1940s so all he has to do is vote the party line. A block of moldy cheese could run for that spot, and as long as it has the proper party's affiliation on the ballot...blue cheese 2014! 

Putting the Country First 

A few years ago, the entire country was on the brink of a recession and financial meltdown. Congress was about to vote on TARP, but what was the pressing issue in my office? What did we have to have a staff meeting about ASAfuckingP? Appropriate shoe attire. An individual who was about to vote on one of the most historic pieces of legislation didn't have the courage to face his own staff to discuss his discomfort of heel height. 

The Candidate With the Goldfish Memory 

Several years ago, I moved my entire life across the country to work on a campaign that I thought was doing well. It wasn't until much later that I realized the candidate didn't know the difference between snot in his nose and the shit in his pants. 

This guy couldn't remember anybody's name, despite multiple reminders and working with us for almost a fucking year. While most people think that's normal for a politician, keep in mind that 15 people like me moved their lives across state lines to work 14 hour days for his semi-literate ass. And the pay was less than minimum wage. 

I take that back. He only remembered two names: Shane and Kelly. Shane and Kelly were my coworkers, and the candidate knew that. He just didn't know who they were. All the guys were called Shane and all the girls Kelly. Shane made a great point, "If this guy wins, someone is going to ask him who he wants to bring to DC with him. It'll just be me and Kelly!" 

Other shows of stupidity: calling people who didn't give him money and thanking them for their donation, wearing a Hawaiian shirt for official campaign photos, and announcing to the local school board that his kids looooooooved their private school. 

Thank god this guy never made it to Congress. The incumbent was just as batshit crazy as this guy was stupid. 

The Disappearing Congressional Staffer 

It doesn't matter what time or what day it is. There's a 50/50 chance this woman will be at work. And when she does show up, she enjoys a breezy 10:45 AM to 3:30 work day with at least an hour disappearance during lunch. She strategically picked the office that had the back exit so she'd make a show of coming in and then POOF! The first year at that job, I wasn't sure she existed. 

The rest of the office took bets on how often this woman would answer her phone or email. There was a 30% chance she responded to emails. Out of that response rate, 50% of them were one word responses. The other 50% were responses to questions, but if there were more than two questions in an email, she'd only answer the first two. Phone calls had a 5% answer rate. (We had a math major on staff.) 

How did this happen? Life is easy when your husband is the chair of the state's political party that endorses the boss. 

The Paranoid Campaign Manager 

The campaign manager never wanted any political position in writing. If you put something in writing, it can be misconstrued, misunderstood, used against the candidate, taken out of context, re-purposed, put on a billboard, or picked up by a spy drone. I don't know. But she was convinced that putting anything other than this guy's biography on paper would be a complete disaster. 

She also thought voters were stupid. "Someone asked for a position on greenhouse gas emissions? Who would ever ask about that? That guy's an outlier. No one else is going to care about issues like that. Talk him into donating or volunteering instead." 

The vote wasn't close. At all. Bonus: almost everyone skipped the "victory party" on Election Night. I found out later, the campaign manager kept saying, "We could still win it, guys! The absentee ballots haven't been tallied yet!" 

****** 

After nearly two decades of unpaid and underpaid work, student loans for two degrees, late nights, playing therapist/nanny, dealing with angry phone calls, and always being on call like a sleep-deprived Florence fucking Nightengale, I got tired of hearing "You're not dedicated enough" one last fucking time. 

Fuck you people.

Damn it kind of makes you wish they had not changed any of the names.

I would really like to know the identity of some of these people.

(P.S. By the way Jezebel is a great site to visit if you get the chance.)

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:04 AM

    I heard that these staffers are very much wanted by lobbying firms when their boss retires, quits, or is not re-elected. They know people. They know how to write bills. And they can get jobs for $250,000. So don't cry too long for this guy. I'm sure he landed on his $500 loafers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:21 AM

    If the staff isn't getting paid more than minimum wage who cares if the "Congressional Staffer" went poof and was MIA?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds very much like my job... as a state employee. Fucking political "must hires" that can't do shit because their shit don't stink because their daddy is a senator's barber. Yes... it happens.

    ReplyDelete
  4. hedgewytch8:31 AM

    How does this happen? Because those in power - the big business owners, the CoC people, the politico's in power, the church leaders, etc. all get together and say "who can we put in office to do our will?" And they go out and find someone too stupid, too unethical, too willing to do exactly what they want that person to do and bribe him with the thought of money and power. And the rest of us suffer because we don't have politicians in office who want to be there for the people, we have puppets who want to line their pockets instead.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:16 PM

    This sounds totally like someone we know! Go ahead and run for Congress or Senate, Sarah, there is precedent for what you want to do...

    "The Disappearing Congressional Staffer

    It doesn't matter what time or what day it is. There's a 50/50 chance this woman will be at work. And when she does show up, she enjoys a breezy 10:45 AM to 3:30 work day with at least an hour disappearance during lunch. She strategically picked the office that had the back exit so she'd make a show of coming in and then POOF! The first year at that job, I wasn't sure she existed. "

    Fortunately for Alaskans, Sarah did go POOF! half-way through her term as governor.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous2:57 PM

    That describes every elected official in DC.

    Remember all those stories about Obama's bad temper?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4:15 PM

    No, No I do not remember all of those stories of the President bad temper. I guess I do not read the same RWNJ web sites that you must be reading.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler5:39 PM

      Oh, I'm sure they "read it somewhere" or was told by someone.....

      Delete
  8. Anita Winecooler5:43 PM

    I'd love to know who this was about and who wrote it. A lot of politicians hold themselves in much higher esteem than their "staff" and are clueless what the staff has to put up with, what issues matter most to their constituents. All they care about is their "In God We Trusts" and keeping their foibles out of the news, especially the rwnj's.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.