Thanks Emily. I needed a laugh. However it weirdly only felt a little satirical. Can’t wait to meal prep my lunches as my cafe money will be spent on train fare. Sorry city business owners, due to having to pay RUCs for my car now and no more respite money, and no free bus for my kid to get to intermediate, no free prescriptions, etc etc etc I will not be spending ANYTHING in town while there. Sorry lovely Lower Hutt cafes, I will probably never see you again. :( :(
I really hate that public servants have been run down for so long by politicians and some goobers in the press that outside Wellington they are basically the enemy. Imagine if 7000 farmers lost their jobs, there would be a civil war. I really feel for those left to do the work, they are in a no-win situation with this Government. As for these cafe owners, how delusional do you have to be to blame cycle lanes and people working from home before you blame the cost of living and massive layoffs. Capitalism has poisoned these peoples' brains. Did I ever mention that the first time I met ZB political reporter Jason Walls the very first thing he said to me after hello was "the public service is fucking useless". That's what we are up against. (I know I have mentioned this before, I just take every opportunity to repeat it.) At least in squid game they got matching tracksuits. (As usual, sorry for the rant, hope everyone is doing well or on agreeable drugs)
I am so with you. I was a public servant for quite a while and I was stunned at how dunking on public servants was considered a national sport. The people I worked with were much harder workers and more generous and passionate than those I worked with in the private sector 🫠
This is funny - thank you - but I'm still apoplectic with rage over this "All of a sudden we give a shit about Wellington and we're going to show it in an inappropriate way because we're fucken clueless" BS. My husband was made redundant over four months ago. He's only had 3 job interviews since then because there are so many people looking. He's depressed, we're struggling, and if Luxon and Willis think they can tell me that I can't work from home one or two days a week to save money on transport and to keep him company while he searches for jobs that aren't there, they can kiss my ass. Seriously, bring it. I'm a donkey on the edge!
I couldn’t believe how much weight they’ve been giving the prop-up-the-cafes argument - they would occasionally insist that it wasn’t the central issue, and that an effective public service was really what they were after, but they could never keep away from the coffee shops for long. And then CBD parking got mentioned in the same breath, and I had this horrible sense that electorally speaking it was all about Business, again, and the interest of this sacred sector (which was beginning to struggle for structural reasons years before wfh etc) is never an externality or side issue. And, for some perspective – if you’ll happily bugger the planet for the car lobby’s vote (um, Camry First?) what price the welfare of a few thousand probably woke public servants? And yeah, maybe I miss Wellington. A bit.
It's so wild eh. Like a coffee is $8 now. Going out for lunch is a luxury - people won't suddenly start doing that when their jobs are on the line. And let's face it, most people I know who work in the public sector are saving money to move to Australia.
Honestly as a public servant, with morale being how it is, bring it on! Fortunately my work covers my therapy (and is not the agency that discouraged staff from using EAP (yep that actually happened)).
This is a vibe, and like there are a lot of other organisations that grease the wheels of Wellington that will have pulled back on spending as the political climate is austerity and less projects means less catch up coffees and client lunches… not just working from home
Thanks Emily. I needed a laugh. However it weirdly only felt a little satirical. Can’t wait to meal prep my lunches as my cafe money will be spent on train fare. Sorry city business owners, due to having to pay RUCs for my car now and no more respite money, and no free bus for my kid to get to intermediate, no free prescriptions, etc etc etc I will not be spending ANYTHING in town while there. Sorry lovely Lower Hutt cafes, I will probably never see you again. :( :(
It just blows my mind how short sighted it is. I just don't understand how people are buying this shit.
I really hate that public servants have been run down for so long by politicians and some goobers in the press that outside Wellington they are basically the enemy. Imagine if 7000 farmers lost their jobs, there would be a civil war. I really feel for those left to do the work, they are in a no-win situation with this Government. As for these cafe owners, how delusional do you have to be to blame cycle lanes and people working from home before you blame the cost of living and massive layoffs. Capitalism has poisoned these peoples' brains. Did I ever mention that the first time I met ZB political reporter Jason Walls the very first thing he said to me after hello was "the public service is fucking useless". That's what we are up against. (I know I have mentioned this before, I just take every opportunity to repeat it.) At least in squid game they got matching tracksuits. (As usual, sorry for the rant, hope everyone is doing well or on agreeable drugs)
I am so with you. I was a public servant for quite a while and I was stunned at how dunking on public servants was considered a national sport. The people I worked with were much harder workers and more generous and passionate than those I worked with in the private sector 🫠
This is funny - thank you - but I'm still apoplectic with rage over this "All of a sudden we give a shit about Wellington and we're going to show it in an inappropriate way because we're fucken clueless" BS. My husband was made redundant over four months ago. He's only had 3 job interviews since then because there are so many people looking. He's depressed, we're struggling, and if Luxon and Willis think they can tell me that I can't work from home one or two days a week to save money on transport and to keep him company while he searches for jobs that aren't there, they can kiss my ass. Seriously, bring it. I'm a donkey on the edge!
It's so bleak and I feel for everyone so much. It's just such a kick in the teeth and for no reason! Just horrible.
I thought you were satirising, but then I realised this is true. How did you find out? On second thoughts it's the only possible explanation.
I couldn’t believe how much weight they’ve been giving the prop-up-the-cafes argument - they would occasionally insist that it wasn’t the central issue, and that an effective public service was really what they were after, but they could never keep away from the coffee shops for long. And then CBD parking got mentioned in the same breath, and I had this horrible sense that electorally speaking it was all about Business, again, and the interest of this sacred sector (which was beginning to struggle for structural reasons years before wfh etc) is never an externality or side issue. And, for some perspective – if you’ll happily bugger the planet for the car lobby’s vote (um, Camry First?) what price the welfare of a few thousand probably woke public servants? And yeah, maybe I miss Wellington. A bit.
It's so wild eh. Like a coffee is $8 now. Going out for lunch is a luxury - people won't suddenly start doing that when their jobs are on the line. And let's face it, most people I know who work in the public sector are saving money to move to Australia.
Honestly as a public servant, with morale being how it is, bring it on! Fortunately my work covers my therapy (and is not the agency that discouraged staff from using EAP (yep that actually happened)).
This is brilliant 👏
I read this out loud to my partner and laughed so hard at the immunity round bit, I couldn't get the words out.
I just LOL’d on the bus home from my public sector adjacent job. Thank you Emily for skewering life in just the right way.
Thank you Sommer! I was a bit like aghhh is this too much 😅
Wfh is the new bikeways
This is a vibe, and like there are a lot of other organisations that grease the wheels of Wellington that will have pulled back on spending as the political climate is austerity and less projects means less catch up coffees and client lunches… not just working from home
That is a stunner. Truly a tonic, in the way satire serves to name truth and provide a sanity/saving laugh at same time.
Brilliant satire, thanks Emily