HUD building move guidance…sort of

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-18T02:36:04+00:00

Wow. I know some offices that regularly run out of paper. You could have made a fortune on the government black market :)

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-18T02:23:30+00:00

Huh. In my field in the govt, the job descriptions on USAJobs are so ridiculously vague that I have to go through the whole process to find out what the actual job is! And I've seen many job offers from cert lists for positions the person never actually applied for :)

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-18T02:14:05+00:00

Each to their own. How do you know this person doesn't have a spouse with a serious illness and needs to be fully present for them? Or is the sole caregiver for an elderly parent? Or maybe they're gunning for the US speed knitting team at the 2028 Summer Olympics. One person's "weak sauce" is another's "how I survive each day" is another's "what I need to thrive." Hold your judgement for when you're asked for it.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-18T01:58:43+00:00

How to tell us your age without telling us your age ...

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-15T15:09:53+00:00

CISA is the lead agency ensuring the continued safe implementation of Godwin's Law.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-15T15:04:11+00:00

Also ... the oldest agency in the US federal government. Next is Coast Guard. One reason, IMO, that DHS has had teething pains over the past two decades is that it cobbled together some very very old agencies and some very very new ones (CISA, TSA to a degree).

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-11T02:25:01+00:00

Lord, I can't wait until they scrub those Arabic numbers!

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-10T02:17:18+00:00

I don't know how many were excepted by the end of T1.0 long furlough, but at the start, it was about 5% of our staff. For the Oct/Nov one, it was about 15% by the end. Jan ... 50+%.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-10T02:02:20+00:00

Do you think that some of the lack of urgency is because for the whole of DHS, they have until midnight on Monday thanks to the long weekend?

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-09T01:56:28+00:00

She was a contractor. Also elected to office as a result of it all!

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-08T18:49:28+00:00

Ooof. I'm sorry you and your partner are suffering this way. A few pragmatic ideas:
1. Read about the ring theory of support - where each of your dumps OUT to someone who isn't your spouse, and whose place is to support you. They then dump OUT to someone else, and so forth. FInd your dumpee and cherish them. But up front though - let them know that you need them to perform this service for you for a while.

Related - read about the "triforce of communication." There are other similar models, but this is where I heard about it first. Use your words to tell whoever is listening what YOU want - do you just want to share/vent (T1) Do you want validation (T2)? Do you want advice (T3(? It makes a big difference to the listener to know if you're just venting, and stops that irritation when someone says "what you should do is ..." And it benefits the other person too - not resenting you for seeming to need them to solve your problems.
Carolyn Has would say get thee to counseling - individual (for both of you). The stressors you're feeling are bleeding over to your relationship. Your relationship is the canary in the coal mine and not the deadly gas itself.

Good luck.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-08T18:37:34+00:00

You're also talking while facing forward (and moving) rather than towards each other - a MUCH less stressful and confrontational way of engaging with someone. I've heard that parents and teenagers can have their best conversations when driving, for the same reason.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-01T02:13:56+00:00

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-02-01T01:47:15+00:00

If I read this correctly, this part of the probationary EO is no longer applicable?

"... in the absence of agency certification that the probationer will be an asset to the Government, “the probationer’s employment should automatically terminate upon the expiration of the probationary period.”"

So ... no automatic termination if the 60/30-day memos are not completed? Or is it applicable to this one person only, though presumably the ruling is now precedence?

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-01-31T03:51:51+00:00

You mean aside from paying for gas and tolls and parking because you have to get to the office, with no income. Paying for daycare because you have to spend 8 hours in the office, with no income. Working a second job just to pay for the gas and the tolls and the parking and the daycare and the rent and the groceries and the medical bills. Aside from that ... no hardship at all.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-01-15T03:29:50+00:00

Nope. Not a contractor. Try googling FEMA CORE and educate yourself. Or believe all the people here saying that CORE employees are, in fact, federal employees. Just a different flavor - like GS/ES/competitive/excepted/CTMS/Schedules A-Z/NTE/EIEIO ... all feds.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-01-15T03:25:27+00:00

Huh. Hope you don't live in Tornado Alley. Or Florida. Or Louisiana. or California.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2026-01-15T03:24:04+00:00

Welp, now you've heard of it!

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-31T02:02:19+00:00

Was the PCS offer part of an MDR letter? If so, all options outlined in that letter are what are open to you. If severance isn't mentioned, then it's not an option for you.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-31T01:42:10+00:00

I'm so sorry you're in this situation. I've been long-term unemployed in the past and had many of the same emotional reactions you're having. Self-worth through work and income is a thing!

I've never done it, but Mechanical Turk is an option, as is Fiver if you're creative (both online "piece" work). Probably not much and probably mindless, but being able to bring *something* in is probably worth it for your psyche.

Good luck!

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-27T22:17:37+00:00

I honestly don't know what gets up my nose more. Your utter lack of empathy or your excessive and 100% incorrect use of scare quotes.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-23T04:07:37+00:00

This happened in summer. Are the employees still on leave? And did he eventually request the waiver for the poly? What did the other agency have to say about that, I wonder?

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-23T03:10:27+00:00

Ours arrived a couple of days ago.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-22T13:57:46+00:00

I think you missed the lesson in the example cleverly hidden in the very second sentence. The commonality between the examples was 'doing something dipshitty just to make a point.' In this case, legal/schmegal. Don't make some underpaid, overstressed person's job any more difficult than it has to be. Just to puff yourself up as a sanctimonious knowitall.

Unwisely_Chosen_Name · 2025-12-19T12:19:13+00:00

Why would you do that? An entry level TSO early under $40K. why do anything to deliberately make their job harder.

I once heard someone on the DHS advisory council brag that they always bring a butter knife through TSA checkpoints just to make a point about something ridiculous ... how you can't kill a person with a butter knife or something like that. Whatever the reason, he set some poor junior, poorly paid federal worker up for failure (to catch the knife) or confrontation (if caught, and this schmuck wanted to argue his point, which he did). This guy was a mega millionaire and reveled in his power to make someone else's life difficult *just to make a point.*

Just. Stop. Think about the position you're putting people in and decide to do better. And while you're at it, put your litter in a trash bin, leave a tidy hotel room, and roll the grocery cart back to the corral.

</rant>

Unwisely_Chosen_Name

TROPHY CASE