Friday, September 17, 2010
Hard to Explain
I have a good job, I take water samples and analyze soil to determine its percolation rate. I stop people from running their waste water into the ground water and streams. But I also issue permits or don't issue permits and this causes people to.....how do you say.......H A T E me with a burning white hot passion. I have been cussed and threatened because I had to break the news to someone that they could not install a septic system in a crawdad hole infested flood plain. I know that it is part of the job so I haven't let it bother me, I am just doing my job. The Division I work for is funded through fees attached to these permits. In the past the fee someone would pay for a septic permit funded all of our other programs which protects the ground water. Recently the economy has went in the pooper and no one is building houses or buying permits. To adjust to the lack of funds we have reduced our workforce in third and increased the fees to $500. So now people hate my guts for the state charging them twice as much for a permit during hard times. Everyone thinks working for the government is easy but until they have walked in my shoes they have no idea, no one should have to put up with people threatening them but now one has sympathy for a "government worker". It is hard to explain why I keep working for the state but after seeing what I have seen the last 10 years (straight pipes into creeks) I have a lot of work left to do. I choose to stick it out with TDEC.....hopefully new leadership in Nashville will be positive. Your pal the Envirocapitalist.
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Good Luck to you!
ReplyDeleteI understand you are only doing your job, hang in there.
Whitetail Woods Blog / Blackpowder Shooting
Gabe being an idealist is at a high premium and you are doing important work---- Love your dedication and you inspire me every day to do my best- nothin but love 4 U!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're literally holding back a tide of it.
ReplyDeletekeep on keeping on
SBW
I'm not sure it's you, but what you represent that some people may hate.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, when I still ran a sawmill part-time, the state required me to get a run-off permit and submit to inspection. I told them that the mill was only a part-time operation. It sat on a hilltop in the middle of a large field. Plus, there was essentially no refuse pile since my neighbors hauled off the sawdust for stock bedding and the slabs for firewood. Therefore, there was no acidic run-off.
That didn't matter, of course. So, they did their inspection and then told me exactly the same thing that I told them BEFORE the inspection. The only thing is, I had to pay their contracted inspector $900 to tell me what I already knew and at a time when I was teetering on bankruptcy to begin with.
You're in a position slightly similar position to a young fellow I used to know that went to work for the IRS. My first question to him was, " Do you have any friends left?"
Hey Gorges, I know how bad a lot of government employees are. That is one reason I do the job. I believe in individualism, responsibility, Jesus Christ, and Freedom. I believe human waste disposal has to be regulated so I have chosen to do it instead of letting someone with an anti-human stance have the job. Instead of complaining about environmental regulation(I used to when I was a private soil guy)I decided to effect it in a way I hope is positive. Your pal the Envirocapitalist.
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