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the point I'm making isn't that the people who work at the DMV or Police Dispatch deserve abuse, it's that the DMV and Police Dispatch as entities do.

Hard to believe, but I'm inclined to agree with you on that point.

Unfortuntately, a lot of what you just posted it absoutely correct. Gov't bureacy both protects the workers, as well as makes their lives a soul-sucking drudgery. But, the way these departments are funded, it's almost impossible to hire someone, it's almost impossible to fire someone. Don't hire a minority, file paperwork. You end up with tons of employees, some are driftwood who know that they are 'safe'. Others are really great people, but they can't get promoted because of seniority, or Gov't guidelines - so they are stuck and eventually lose their motivation.

Then there is the unending drudgery of the job itself. I pity the Post Office clerk, who faces endless lines of people. Selling stamps, weighing boxes, fetching the boxes that someone has to pick up. I know what a 'good day' for me is, then I wonder what a 'good day' for this poor person is like. No matter how fast they work, or how slow they work - the lines keep coming. People are impatient, and they are stuck on the receiving end. They are powerless to hire additional help, they are stuck in a broken system.

This is where industry was supposed to shine. Good people got promoted, bad people got fired. Bonus's provided incentive where merit raises failed. Then the bean counters decided that bonus's was wasted money; that everyone is replaceable, loyality was for fools, and it's easier to layoff the plant and move the factory out of the country.

Gov't bureacy both protects the workers, as well as makes their lives a soul-sucking drudgery. But, the way these departments are funded, it's almost impossible to hire someone, it's almost impossible to fire someone. Don't hire a minority, file paperwork. You end up with tons of employees, some are driftwood who know that they are 'safe'. Others are really great people, but they can't get promoted because of seniority, or Gov't guidelines - so they are stuck and eventually lose their motivation.

Exactly.

So, if they are incapable of doing their job - a job which my taxes pay for - then why bother?

There are far better alternatives out there including doing without "services" like the IRS and DMV.

Then there is the unending drudgery of the job itself. I pity the Post Office clerk, who faces endless lines of people. Selling stamps, weighing boxes, fetching the boxes that someone has to pick up.

What about the retail clerk or the bagger or the janitor?

Crappy, soul-sucking jobs aren't the sole purview of the government. The government, however, promotes them as a lifestyle.

And in the government you can get away with doing a crappy job at a crappy job.

A grocery bagger who sucks will soon be unemployed. A retail clerk with a bad attitude will be right behind.

A government worker with the same characteristics is employed for life.

This is where industry was supposed to shine. Good people got promoted, bad people got fired. Bonus's provided incentive where merit raises failed. Then the bean counters decided that bonus's was wasted money; that everyone is replaceable, loyality was for fools, and it's easier to layoff the plant and move the factory out of the country.

The private sector still shines at this even with a bit of luster gone.

Sure it could be better, but it is far better than the public sector no matter what.