last year an awful lot of people responded to the twin hurricanes in LA and Mississippi by volunteering to help without expectations of compensation, recognition or reward. In my own case I felt like it was about 60% my duty as a civil servant and most of the rest was a sort of citizenship thing. In all honesty, until I started writing this post I haven't thought about my own motivations. It gives me pause.

Be that as it may, I worked with a bunch of men who quite literally had nothing more than their clothes who literally spent a week trying to help the immediate victims of the flood. It wasn't like they could expect a huge insurance settlement or could clip coupons later: Those guys had little more than a job before the storm and even that was taken from them. Yet they showed-up every morning, despite living in conditions so miserable as to defy description, hoping to help their neighbors. That is public service.

So guess what happened tonight. I know a man (an upper-level civil servant mgr) who works for a federal agency in a suburb of Washington who came to NOLA for ONE DAY, got his photo taken, and returned. He signed some papers authorizing what we were already doing. Last night he was awarded a plaque of some sort and $10K for his humanitarian contribution.

Your tax dollars at work.

Bot

where did the 10k come from?

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The fed has an award system that is designed to encourage and reward employees who perform exemplary service. Some agencies award them like a Christmas ham and others, like natural pearls. Mostly depends on whether you're in a 'rich' agency or not.

B

pencil pushing.. shaking hands.. man that's great.. definitely a medal or two..

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

SES?

What's his name, which agency?

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-livin' in the terminally flippant zone

All that matters is that he genuinely feels he deserves 10k.

And the plaque.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman