Client comes in and pays his bill every few months. That's nice we have a lot of people who would rather come in here and make their payments instead of dropping a check in the mail to the insurance company. I think it is good chance to do a little PR.

After he left I got to thinking about something he said. He told me that he is heading out to a job site to take a look at it. No problem only he works for the county. He is paid by the tax payers.

Is it just me or is it wrong for a public employee to be spending time running around paying his bills while he is at work? He has a "company car" that he is using to do his job. (and apparently other things as well.) Today it was insurance. Tomorrow does he pick up groceries? Pay his water bill? Go to see his doctor? It makes me wonder.

The county employees work till 4:30 so it is not a hardship that forces them to have to run their errands in the middle of the day. I have been in the front hallway of the Court House at 4:30. A bell rings and it is like watching kids leave school. They come running out like it is a fire drill. 3 stories of people are gone in less than 5 minutes. If I had a stop watch on them I would say it is a lot closer to 3 1/2 minutes. All that means is they have stopped working a while before 4:30. Put their work away. Got their coats, purses and hats and have moved closer to the exits waiting for when the bell ring.

I told my secretary that when she went to get the renewal sticker for her car I didn't mind. (I actually told her to get it on Friday instead of waiting until Saturday morning as it would mean less waiting on her part.) The way I see it it is one thing if I am allowing my employees to run a few errands while they are on the clock. It is a whole different matter when the people are being paid by our taxes do so. I know that this isn't even nickles and dimes stuff. But people should be a little more sensitive. I am already contributing a lot more to his pension than he is to mine.

Then again how knows, maybe he was really on his lunch break.

Originally Posted by: wpr 

Does said public employee ever take work home?

I'm not a public employee (save in the sense that all taxpayers are public employees for about five months of the year, maybe more), but I have on no few occasions done "errands" and other "personal stuff" from work. Indeed just yesterday afternoon I spent over two hours paying bills. And I have been known to visit PH from work, as I am doing right now. But I don't apologize for it -- even after scaling back, I probably average about 60 hours a week for "the job", and I'm lucky to get out of my office for lunch once a month.

I would be upset if the person is an hourly worker, or a salaried one who never takes work home. But I don't know the person's situation.

Originally Posted by: Wade 

Does said public employee ever take work home?

I'm not a public employee (save in the sense that all taxpayers are public employees for about five months of the year, maybe more), but I have on no few occasions done "errands" and other "personal stuff" from work. Indeed just yesterday afternoon I spent over two hours paying bills. And I have been known to visit PH from work, as I am doing right now. But I don't apologize for it -- even after scaling back, I probably average about 60 hours a week for "the job", and I'm lucky to get out of my office for lunch once a month.

I would be upset if the person is an hourly worker, or a salaried one who never takes work home. But I don't know the person's situation.

Originally Posted by: Wade