The Overthinker's Journal

This is what I have to look forward to when I return to the office on Monday.

Great… I was planning to attend a conference to help me be more efficient at my job.

Now, instead, I have to go into my office and get on my email. I need to respond, or else I won’t have a job anymore.

Someone who’s already been in their work email took a screenshot of the email itself:

How insulting to get an email demanding you justify your existence. And what does it tell you that our own email servers can see this didn’t come from inside the government?

So let me tell you how I already report my weekly accomplishments.

I send in reports to my “manager” (actually, this person’s title is “branch chief”). I describe the important events I spent time working on over the past week. I focus on the work’s impact to the mission of our Agency, Directorate, Office, Division, and Branch. My branch chief compiles those from all their employees. The branch chief sends a report to the division chief called the “Weekly Activity Report.” The division chief does the same thing to create a WAR for the office director… and so on, and so on. The director of our agency ultimately receives these reports.

However, these documents are all classified. Working in the interest of national security tends to cause “problems” like that.

I now have to spend time on Monday figuring out how to dumb down my description of my work. I have to write at a level that Elon and his buddies can read. I have to explain “what is it that I’d say I do here.” If I don’t, I will get fired (or, as Elon claims, “resign” without my consent).

But let’s be honest (someone has to). Elon isn’t going to read 2.3 million emails to see what everyone is doing. This is about terrorizing the workforce. This is about making us feel traumatized. As I’ve explained in an earlier post, trauma is their stated goal. Russ Vought, director of the OMB said it out loud.

DOGE and Trump have created a hostile work environment. Every federal worker is left dangling, wondering if or when they’re going to be fired. This is leadership by fear. I want an inspiring leader, not a fearmonger. Is that too much to ask?

Addendum. After I posted my blog article, I see that Trump posted this:

Again, is it too much to ask for an inspiring leader, instead of a fearmonger?