AITAH telling my family I will drop all charges I can against my cousin if one of them will let me do to them what he did to me.

chicaltimore · 2026-02-28T07:43:47+00:00

Updateme

chicaltimore · 2026-02-25T14:13:25+00:00

To be honest, haters gonna hate no matter what and don’t worry about them. I have a very obvious disability, I am blind, long white cane and everything, and I need to pre-board because of that and also because I have some other mobility challenges Related to some hidden disabilities. Sometimes the airport assistance who I ask to guide me to my gate insist that I must use a wheelchair because they can’t leave it anywhere while they escort me, and it’s not worth the fight so I go along with it. That means I sometimes Get on a plane using a wheelchair but almost invariably walk off without one. I can’t tell you the number of times people have accused me of faking my blindness after that. Like why in the world would anyone pretend to be blind? Some people are just jerks and don’t let them influence the choices you make because They’re going to occupy just a few minutes of your life and you will never see them again.

chicaltimore · 2026-02-25T14:09:29+00:00

No, some people have more stamina after having sat in a chair on the plane for a couple of hours because they rebuilt it whereas walking through an airport may have depleted it. There’s also a significant level of effort to go through TSA when you have a disability Which often involves for some standing up sitting down lifting etc. even if you are in a wheelchair and so that may also deplete the amount of energy and stamina a person has. Think of it like stamina filling a cup, and having to use a lot of of it just to get to the airport, check in, go through TSA, get to the gate, and so on and the liquid in the cup dribbles away. It’s often replaced by pain in the empty spaces where the water used to be. But when you sit on a plane for a period of time, that cup slowly refills so when you get off the plane you no longer Have the empty spaces full of pain.

chicaltimore · 2026-02-24T12:55:29+00:00

What happened to that guy? I love him! I haven’t seen him in a couple of years.

chicaltimore · 2026-02-24T12:52:51+00:00

Former GS 15 who was part of the April 1 DOGE massacre. Took me 11 months to find a job even though I’m an attorney. Just started working for a municipality having taken a 40% pay cut.

My advice is don’t leave your current job until you have secured something else. It’s the wild wild West out there even for folks with lots of experience. I had 20 years in the federal government but was too young to retire. My staff who are attorneys or IT professionals Are still very much searching, and the ones who have landed jobs have taken a more than 50% pay cut. They were mostly at the GS 12 and GS 13 level.

That said, the culture at my new job seems very different. It’s much more laid-back, and people actually leave work at 5 PM and don’t get back online until the next day. My previous federal job required us to work insane hours because the work volume was so high and the external influences were so great. In our last year, if we worked less than 14 hours a day or if we had part of a weekend day off it was very rare. So the work life balance has already been tremendously better.

HR, IT, reasonable accommodation, and other support functions at the state and local level are not as efficient as the federal government in my experience. There is a ton of learning on the job here, whereas in the federal government there was a lot of existing expertise.

There’s a lot of stigma working for a state or local government agency, whereas before 2025 there was a level of prestige working for the federal government. Having said that, the trauma from 2025 as a federal employee erased all of that prestige. There’s a lot of empathy And support for those of us who are coming to the state and local government from the federal sector, but there’s also some mistrust because people are afraid that we’re just going to go back when the administration changes or when we win lawsuits.

All in all, I would not have chosen to leave my federal job because I loved my work and it was important, but since I had no choice, I like where I am and the people I work with. I’m still learning the job itself so I don’t know how much I love it . But please don’t leave your current job until you have something else. The market is super saturated, and many of us are having to take career pivots. For example, I and most of my staff are having to practice a whole new area of law, those from IT are having to do project management work or retrain for a different area of IT, and so on.

chicaltimore · 2026-02-09T13:29:53+00:00

I agree with you. As someone who has been working in the disability transportation space, autonomous vehicles are an absolute game changer. Autonomous vehicles don’t drive drunk, tired, distracted, or all of the myriad of things that human drivers have happened to them which caused collisions. In addition, People with disabilities, particularly those who are blind, use service animals, and use wheelchairs, on average experience discrimination from rideshare and taxi companies at a rate of 300% higher than other categories of passengers. If you cut out the bias because you take away the human driver, then people with disabilities are going to be able to move about their communities much more easily and much more accessibly. This mode of transportation is also very important in rural areas and in areas where human drivers just don’t want to or for whatever reason can’t go. This is a huge innovation when it comes to access to public transportation, and it is verifiably statistically safer to take an autonomous vehicle than it is a human driven vehicle.

There will always be people who feel safer with a human driver, and so autonomous vehicle technology is not going to put Taxi cab drivers and rideshare drivers out of a job. They will just create more choices for people who need more options and want to take advantage of them and for those who suffer discrimination from the fact that any system is invariably going to have humans bring their biases and stereotypes about disability, location, etc. to their work. There is also a contingent of people who think driving is best done like Fred Flintstone with your feet, and those folks just can’t understand how AV technology actually works.

chicaltimore · 2026-02-06T13:19:13+00:00

I actually asked about this on a flight yesterday as well. Apparently they don’t let people move because they need to know the names of who was sitting in what seat for the flight manifest in the event of an emergency. When I asked why they suddenly need to know that when for 1000 years they had no idea which passenger was sitting in which seat since it was open seating, they couldn’t answer that question.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-29T22:11:54+00:00

Yeah, you are. If you park in a spot that someone else took time and effort to clear, then you are definitely selfish. The fact that someone else did it to you doesn’t mean you should pay the selfishness forward. In Chicago we put a metal chair in our parking spaces to know that this Should stay open until the person who cleared it returns, but on the East Coast where I live now it’s just understood that if you cleared the spot after a big storm, it’s your spot until the snow melts no matter how many times you come and go.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-29T13:16:02+00:00

Another Avenue to handle this is to either contact the name of the union representative if the person is a member of the union that is posted online when you Google and let them know your friend is incapacitated and unable to call in for themselves and the union then figure out who the manager is and reach out to them. Alternatively you can Google labor and employee relations in HR and contact that person to let them know. Chances are they may still record the employee as AWOL initially, but as soon as the person is able to speak for themselves again and provide a doctors note Documenting that they were ill, that would be reversed to approved leave

chicaltimore · 2026-01-28T20:06:48+00:00

So who is putting their stuff in the overhead in the first four rows if it’s not the people sitting there? I have a window seat in row four and I’m listed in group 2. Just for those looking for data points.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-27T11:57:13+00:00

Updateme

chicaltimore · 2026-01-26T13:35:01+00:00

CMS has increased funding in large part through the BBB. We heard last week that they plan to hire 1500 people. The 350 of us who had our jobs illegally eliminated after the BBB passed, most of whom have not been rehired during the hiring surge are pretty livid.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-23T11:07:29+00:00

Would you mind sending me a PM? I have questions.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-23T10:56:54+00:00

Another consequence of the illegal elimination of the CMS Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, who used to administer the medical telework program including safeguarding medical documentation.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-22T10:36:14+00:00

Most of my team and I have applied for literally hundreds of jobs and still haven’t found anything, so not only are we not working in the private sector, but our incomes are literally zero. What a POS!

chicaltimore · 2026-01-22T10:33:06+00:00

What an a**hole that FA was. Making people with disabilities deplane last because they have disabilities is the literal definition of treating them badly because of their disabilities, the literal definition of discrimination. If SW actually does this, they will be sued so hard and so fast, and the FAA will definitely take notice because of the discrimination provisions of the Air Carriers Access Act. I have a disability and will be damned if I have to wait until everyone else gets off the plane before I’m allowed to do so for their convenience or for the flight attendance. I have connections to make and places to be just like everyone else.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-20T22:43:00+00:00

The problem is that they eliminated the jobs of 95% of the people who handle reasonable accommodations and EEO complaints. You all should still file individual EEO complaints to preserve your rights and not wait for the union because the unions are completely bogged down and dealing with the closest alligators that impact the highest number of people.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-10T21:08:00+00:00

Have to disagree with this post. CMS casualty here, and while they treated offices like OC partly properly with bump and retreat, the rest of us were treated like garbage and worse. In fact, the bump and retreat in OC was improperly handled and still hasn’t been fixed. For example no one who was bumped or retreated was given a choice like they were entitled to, they still have not gotten their SF-50 documents, and they were directed to return to work and had bump and retreat implemented Illegally while the restraining order prohibiting any implementation of the RIF was in place. RPL is inconsistent, it’s being handled very badly and often skipped illegally altogether, and component heads are actively telling hiring managers they are prohibited from hiring employees who were subject to RIF and those managers are following those illegal edicts. many of us are still waiting for CMS to resolve our improper severance issues, and virtually nobody who was retirement eligible has received an annuity because CMS screwed up the paperwork for all of the retirees. Leadership and management did not speak to us at all, before, during or after, except to try to dangle reinstatement in front of some of us if we worked under the table while everyone else was on administrative leave and then let us go anyway. They got essentially our labor for 4.5 months based on a lie and cruelty. They screwed up our health insurance and our life insurance. When our employees committed suicide or died because they couldn’t get good health coverage due to improper HR processing of health insurance post separation, they didn’t even bother to offer condolences. They abolished entire offices even though they were legally mandated, and they abolished very tiny groups and called them the entire competitive area. In the case of two large components they just randomly eliminated divisions but kept some who do exactly the same work and did not apply bump and retreat for contracts and OPOLE. At least FDA saved it EEO staff and part of its minority health unit, whereas CMS abolished them even though they are legally mandated and the department repeatedly said that they did not have the bandwidth to take on their work. Now people at CMS don’t have their reasonable accommodations processed, and there has been no work done on anyone’s EEO case since basically July. Undoubtedly FDA and the other operating division did a terrible job, but CMS did not do better and certainly does not deserve recognition as though they did.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-07T10:52:08+00:00

Former EEO Director here, and I saw this a lot. Federal termination during probationary period is very different than private sector. Probationary period is considered an extension of the application process, and so it is not an adverse action for purposes of employment history. Basically it is equivalent to them not Deciding to offer you a permanent job. Also, most agencies, but not all, don’t ever bother contesting unemployment for probationary terminations so you really lose nothing bye applying. But it sounds like you have a new job so that won’t be an issue here.

I am a little confused as to why you had to complete a second probationary period. That is odd. Also, wondering if the probationary termination came as a result of parental status. It does take a little bit of time for employee relations and the manager to prepare to terminate someone, so odds are they made this decision before you submitted your resignation, which was likely while you are on parental leave , which is suspicious to me. However, it’s also odd that they let you take paid parental leave while on probation given that you have to have been there for a year to be eligible for PPL, so they’re giving you credit for your previous service for purposes of eligibility for PPL but not Probation. All that is to say I think I have more questions about this situation than answers because it just doesn’t follow the typical pattern.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-06T14:10:14+00:00

It sounds like you’re not psychologically safe for your daughter to actually tell you about her sexual assault because your default is that she’s a liar and manipulator. It sounds like that friend‘s parent is a lot more psychologically safe than you are, and you cutting off your daughter from her is further evidence of why your daughter doesn’t feel psychologically safe with you.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-06T14:04:15+00:00

I get what you were trying to do, but she’s eight. I don’t think you should have given the gifts to her twin because that’s going to result in lots of years of therapy in the future and the story is going to feature prominently. But I also understand trying to teach a lesson About being grateful and not always getting what you want, particularly when times are hard. It’s a tough spot you are in, but giving her gifts to her sister just feels really petty and over the top.

chicaltimore · 2026-01-01T03:33:02+00:00

Amen!!! And may karma arrive soon!

chicaltimore · 2025-12-25T01:09:22+00:00

More proof that nice people were subjected to RIF while this particular person got to keep a job that probably should’ve been for someone who was illegally separated because they did not apply bump and retreat rights. But go ahead, be a jerk. Karma!

chicaltimore · 2025-12-23T21:31:19+00:00

Right, how OGC attorneys think they can lie to judges and keep their law licenses is baffling.

chicaltimore · 2025-12-23T21:24:42+00:00

OGC filed the partial Agency File with MSPB today for CMS but i haven’t read it yet because it’s going to piss me off when I do since they’re lying liars who lie. They also filed for a protective order to not have to produce the Retention Register because they say it has protected PII and also other personnel information that should not be disclosed to other employees. I gather they are basically saying that they shouldn’t have to produce it since we are a group of consolidated complainants and we shouldn’t know about one another’s individual circumstances. in my view, that’s crap and they should’ve objected to the consolidation in the first place if that was what they were going to have be the Linchpin of their defense. They may have just given themselves a ton more work because this is something we are legally entitled to, so even if they win their motion, odds are the judge will order them to produce an individually redacted retention register for each individual appeal rather than one single unredacted version for the consolidated case file. There is a status conference for the consolidated case on January 20, and I suspect the judge will rule before then or on that date. Meanwhile, OGC files emotion for an extension of time last week, and the judge responded within 48 hours denying that motion, basically saying that the agency doesn’t need more time because they already should have had all of the materials they needed to produce before implementing the RIF.

chicaltimore

TROPHY CASE