Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights • Hacker News Board

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#141

Post by anonzzzies » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:57 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #128

anonzzzies wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump & Musk will walk out trillionaires, so they couldn't care less.

Trillionaires over the ashes, worth it I suppose. And one day they'll get into an accident, run into the wrong person, or die of old age and then what? Their legacy will be AI generated gold statues and maybe their name on a building. If they ctually used that wealth to advance the human race (on the ground, not a hypothetical but infeasible future on another planet) that'd be another matter. A percentage of Musk's t…

> And one day they'll get into an accident, run into the wrong person, or die of old age and then what? Their legacy will be AI generated gold statues and maybe their name on a building.

But that's the problem of the 'capitalist west' (i'm not sure what is better or what would work); everyone is out for short term gain. Most people care about themselves and some of their close family/friends, but in the end, they couldn't give a flying f if the entire planet implodes when they die. We should be planning on a 2000 year timeline as humanity but instead we plan on 4-8 years instead. So far (but that might be reading the wrong propaganda), China seems to have a plan beyond 4 years and beyond Xi's life and not be in such a neckbreaking hurry of breaking everything over a few years more or less.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#142

Post by sockp0pp3t » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:57 PM UTC

palata wrote: post #53

philistine wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The is exactly a move the people in power in those troubled countries will use to maintain control over government. It used to be that the US government had pride in its own professionalism. The US is now acting like the countries it loves to destabilize.

> The US is now acting like the countries it loves to destabilize. Ironically, it's destabilising itself on its own.

[flagged]

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#143

Post by timr » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:57 PM UTC

alabastervlog wrote: post #24

kept3k wrote: post #13

[flagged]

An organization allegedly about reducing waste is creating it instead, by arbitrarily forcing a tight timeline and using heavy, specific, and inflexible top-down mandates that don’t let those closer to the work use the information they have (say, that their offices aren’t ready to work in). Spending freezes, blanket firing of tons of provisional workers (fun fact: the recently-promoted are also provisional, this does…

> An organization allegedly about reducing waste is creating it instead

The point you missed in the parent comment was that this is temporary. I don't have a strong opinion on the matter, but if the way we discover that government offices were sitting vacant for years (i.e. big waste) is by having people return to them and be unproductive for a few days (i.e. small waste), then the trade will be worth it. I doubt anyone wants employees to be sitting in offices that aren't functional. We have discovered something bad...which would seem to be part of the reason of doing it.

The counterargument is obvious to anyone willing to think about it for a few seconds, but the article doesn't even bother addressing it. They even admit that the headline office without wifi was only without wifi for a few hours:

> In one Department of Health and Human Services office, there was no Wi-Fi or full electricity in the first hours when people returned last week.

...and yet this is in the headline. This all reeks of cherry-picking.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#144

Post by AzzieElbab » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:57 PM UTC

CapricornNoble wrote: post #70

Interesting that the CNN article makes no mention of how badly under-utilized government office spaces are. https://wolfstreet.com/2025/01/25/doge-seeks-to-shed-vast-am... “A recent report from Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa who chairs the Senate DOGE caucus, found that not one of the headquarters for any major agency or department in Washington is more than half full. GSA-owned buildings in Washington, D.C.…

Is anyone even remotely curious why do government offices with no desks exist?

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#145

Post by mexicocitinluez » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:57 PM UTC

mystifyingpoi wrote: post #133

> (...) returned to ethernet cords in piles around the floor, random wires sticking out of walls, and motion-sensor lights that weren’t working correctly I don't understand that part, maybe I'm missing something - what happened there? Why would the abandoned workplace not look exactly the same as they left it? Where did the ethernet cords appear from? Someone stole TVs from the walls?

So, this thing called Covid hit. It was a pandemic, and because it was infectious, a large push to work remotely was made (both in private and public businesses).

When employers realized that work was being done despite not being in the office, they started to shutter their offices (ya know, to save money).

I can't believe I have to explain to another adult why offices after Covid don't look the same.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#146

Post by jgilias » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:57 PM UTC

masfuerte wrote: post #112

dfxm12 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what Trump campaigned on though. This is what he said he'd do. Did people vote for Trump because they thought he was a liar?

> Did people vote for Trump because they thought he was a liar? Yes! I know apparently smart people who voted for Trump because they thought that his more extreme rhetoric was merely intended to wind up the left. Like the first time he got elected. Except that this time he had a plan.

How could they fall for it. I mean, even during the first time it was obvious that he actually meant it, as he did try to enact all the crazy bullshit. The only saving grace was adults in the room around him. Now all the adults are gone.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#147

Post by mexicocitinluez » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:59 PM UTC

ethagknight wrote: post #49

And yet, the federal government was paying for all these things, city-scale numbers of unused office space. I’ve worked on the GSA side and seen first hand.

> And yet, the federal government was paying for all these things, city-scale numbers of unused office space

Do you know what a lease is? I can dumb it down a bit if you need.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#148

Post by lettergram » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:59 PM UTC

philistine wrote: post #27

selykg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely insane that this is what we've come to. It is mind blowing to me that this is what people want. We are regressing this country so rapidly that we are likely to become one of those shithole countries the president so loudly proclaimed Haiti, El Salvador and others were.

The is exactly a move the people in power in those troubled countries will use to maintain control over government. It used to be that the US government had pride in its own professionalism. The US is now acting like the countries it loves to destabilize.

[flagged]

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#149

Post by sockp0pp3t » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:59 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #23

selykg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely insane that this is what we've come to. It is mind blowing to me that this is what people want. We are regressing this country so rapidly that we are likely to become one of those shithole countries the president so loudly proclaimed Haiti, El Salvador and others were.

> It is mind blowing to me that this is what people want. It is not what people want. The Trump administration’s popularity is already below 50%, and much lower among independents (around 30% depending on the poll). Many people aren’t yet aware of what’s happening. A lot of the electorate is getting their news from filtered sources like Fox News or various far right media outlets. Joe Rogan has gone all in on praisin…

Speaking of Rogan, did you listen to the Mike Benz episode? If Benz is gaslighting you have a point, but if Benz is truthful, then you don't.

Re: Federal workers ordered to return to offices without desks, Wi-Fi and lights

#150

Post by alsoforgotmypwd » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 1:59 PM UTC

selykg wrote: post #10

sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #2

The disruption is (part of) the point. Degrading the ability of government employees to do their jobs leads to greater inefficiency and more failure, which can then be pointed at to validate assertions that government isn't efficient and produces bad outcomes.

Absolutely insane that this is what we've come to. It is mind blowing to me that this is what people want. We are regressing this country so rapidly that we are likely to become one of those shithole countries the president so loudly proclaimed Haiti, El Salvador and others were.

America is a third-world country because people stopped caring, stopped reading, and fell for a cult.