City Worker - Bill, you should tell our side!
Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 6:55 am
I ran into an employee of the City of Lakewood awhile back who knew who I was and who had read some of my posts. What follows is a reconstruction of our short conversation. What follows is the comment of one person and represents the views of that one person. This person is not in a management position.
City Worker – Bill, you should tell our side. People think that this job is easy. It’s not that we don’t care. There is a lot of work to be done.
Bill – I guess I could post something from the employee’s point of view.
City Worker – Our people work hard on the graffiti and maintenance. You just wouldn’t believe how much time we spend trying to remove that stuff. It’s not easy to get off. You should let people know that we are trying.
Bill - That sounds reasonable. How about if I supply some note books. Why don’t you and whoever else is interested write down what you do each day for two weeks. Just keep a log. What time of day do you start, what your first assignment was, how long it takes and what you did next. If we could reconstruct two weeks of effort I think it might make a good story.
City Worker – Uhhhh, I wouldn’t want to do that.
Bill - Why not?
City Worker – I don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing.
Bill – How can people know how hard you are working if they don’t know what you are doing?
City Worker – You people in Lakewood are too demanding. You are always complaining about something.
Bill - People get upset about the graffiti in the parks. The Mayor is taking a lot of grief. And it is an election year.
City Worker – That Ryan Demro is an Ass…. If he gets elected nothing's gonna get done. You know, the Mayor came by a while back yelling at us about the condition of the parks. He said he supports us and we should support him.
Bill - What did you say?
City Worker – We told him to go to hell.
City Worker – Bill, you should tell our side. People think that this job is easy. It’s not that we don’t care. There is a lot of work to be done.
Bill – I guess I could post something from the employee’s point of view.
City Worker – Our people work hard on the graffiti and maintenance. You just wouldn’t believe how much time we spend trying to remove that stuff. It’s not easy to get off. You should let people know that we are trying.
Bill - That sounds reasonable. How about if I supply some note books. Why don’t you and whoever else is interested write down what you do each day for two weeks. Just keep a log. What time of day do you start, what your first assignment was, how long it takes and what you did next. If we could reconstruct two weeks of effort I think it might make a good story.
City Worker – Uhhhh, I wouldn’t want to do that.
Bill - Why not?
City Worker – I don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing.
Bill – How can people know how hard you are working if they don’t know what you are doing?
City Worker – You people in Lakewood are too demanding. You are always complaining about something.
Bill - People get upset about the graffiti in the parks. The Mayor is taking a lot of grief. And it is an election year.
City Worker – That Ryan Demro is an Ass…. If he gets elected nothing's gonna get done. You know, the Mayor came by a while back yelling at us about the condition of the parks. He said he supports us and we should support him.
Bill - What did you say?
City Worker – We told him to go to hell.
