Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
While I agree showing up doesn't make anyone good, not showing up for a job that we the taxpayers pay his salary for, is pathetic. I think we as his employers would prefer to eliminate every single perk and waste the government does, but we all know that will never happen. And yes he's a piece of crap, he obviously has no interest in doing this job for anyone but himself. He doesn't actually have to do much or any work whatsoever. He shows up and puts his vote down. Reeeeeeeeeeallly tough job. Something tells me even a borderline ######ed person (like Rob Anders is proving) could do this job. So how exactly does one be good at a job where their only task is to vote...if they never actually show up to vote?
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Let's start with what we agree on: It is absolutely ridiculous that this guy is allowed to skip work and there are no repercussions.
What we disagree on: I blame the government/legislators/taxpayers for this. I don't blame the employee who was handed this cushy job and chooses to take full advantage of the idiotic rules put in place to govern his employment.
Is he a dick for not showing up? I don't think so. I think there is a very likely chance that there are people that show up to work in the Senate who are doing more harm than good and they probably should just stay home.
Am I saying that in every job, everywhere that everyone should do the bare minimum to not get fired? Absolutely not, but that's not really what's happening here. If I showed up to my current job and just sat around for 8 hours a day and did nothing, eventually people would find out. And sure, I probably could just do the bare minimum to not get fired. But that is an individual's choice. If my coworkers want to do the bare minimum, let them. I'm not going to and as such I'm probably going to get promoted before them. This situation is totally different though. He's in no danger of getting fired. He can't get promoted. His lack of attendance isn't making it harder on his fellow employees because they are all a bunch of overpaid hacks, IMO, just like he is.
So what do I care if he shows up or not? Him showing up isn't going to fix the problem of the need for Senate reform. In fact, if more Senators would abuse their power (or take advantage of the perks as I'd call it), then maybe the public would actually pressure their local MPs to make Senate reform a priority in the next election. Because if our only hope is "well all of our government officials have lax job parameters but we think that they'll do a good job out of the goodness of their hearts", then we are all royally ####ed. In the words of George Carlin (paraphrasing here) "think of how dumb the average person is and remember that half of the population are DUMBER than that".
If anything, this guy is acting as a catalyst to make senate reform happen. For all we know his not showing up is a protest to bring attention to the fact that he knows he's overpaid and has absolutely no responsibility whatsoever. yeah, let's go with that. He's actually a hero in a roundabout way.