Furloughs mean crappy service

I’ve been wondering about this for quite a while. See, while all the know-nothings write letters to The Sacramento Bee suggesting that we permanently cut the state workforce “since we’re doing so well on the furloughs,” I’ve been actually talking to state workers, the people who do business with the state, and people who rely on the state for information, instructions and advice.

The furloughs don’t mean that the state’s employees suddenly became more efficient. There’s only so much a person can do in an eight- or nine-hour day.

Instead, the furloughs mean that work is piling up. The state is missing deadlines (or simply pushing them back) right and left. Permits are taking longer to process. So are driver’s licenses (my renewal, prior to the furloughs, took two weeks; my wife’s is going on five now).

Oh, and state workers are more stressed, which means customer service is likely to actually get worse. Go figure.