Shutdown Frustration

The Minnesota state government shutdown is ending its second week tomorrow with no resolution in sight. It's getting increasingly frustrating for everyone effected, especially the state employees. We didn't expect the shutdown would last longer than two weeks.

I started worrying about the financial consequences of the layoff.

In the next few months I need to pay back money borrowed from a relative to buy the current house 10 years ago because she is in the process of buying a house herself. My van is over 10 years old. I just spent $300 for repair last week and I need to save more for a replacement in the next year or so.

I have a coworker whose spouse also works for the state.  Now they are both laid off. They are worried about mortgage, child support, etc.

I even worry about the plants I left in the office. They will surely die if not watered after two weeks. I had them for years. They are part of my life. I don't want to lose them.

Adding to the frustration is the process of applying for the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance.

The UI website is not a user friendly site, to say the least. Everyone of my coworkers reported problems and expressed frustration with the application process. We are information professionals and we used to help people find information. Now we need help to complete our UI application.

I started my online application in June before I left for a trip, to get a head start. I even talked to a UI representative and was ok'ed to do so. Last week I was told that it was wrong and I had to change it. But I couldn't make the simple change myself, they had to do it for me.

A coworker checked a wrong box in his application, he couldn't go back to uncheck it. The UI staff had to delete his account and start fresh for him.   

This morning I logged in to my account to request benefit payment. I had trouble completing it. I couldn't even find my employer - State of Minnesota on the employer list. When I called the UI for help, I got hung up 5 times with the message: "You need a touch tone phone to use the system" even though I do have a touch tone phone and I just used it last week to call. Finally I tried my cell phone and I got talk to a live person after two attempts.  

Since I applied for UI in June, I got close to 10 notices from the UI. I was told that they were system generated and I should just ignore and discard most of them. 

This was just a small example of the waste and the loss of resources as the result of the government shutdown.  

Think about the local restaurants and other type of small businesses in St Paul or other locations that lost a lot of customers who are state employees. I read in the paper the other day that the Farmer's Market in downtown St. Paul lost a great deal of business due to the shutdown.

Think about the contractors and vendors who depend on state businesses.

In this shutdown game, everyone loses and no one wins.

Our elected officials need to work together, stop being childish and silly, give up some of their own agendas in order to reach the compromise and gain the result for the common good.    

The news about our government shutdown was reported in the local newspaper in my hometown in China. A few days ago when I called and talked with my brother, he laughed with unbelief about what's happening here in the US. He couldn't imagine that any government in China would shut down like this.