If we want to know why citizens visiting government offices have so many complaints about the lack of service, we need look no further than most government employees. As a group, they generally feel that they are not receiving their rights and that their qualifications are not being properly utilized. There is an unfortunate belief among government employees that the only way to achieve promotion is through connections and influence. When this is the situation — whether so or not — we can hardly expect employees to do their work conscientiously, satisfying the citizens who come to them for help and assistance.
I wrote an earlier article in which I criticized the extension of retirement age for government employees. More years of employment is not the only advantage this group gets. It has become accepted that this group of high-ranking, high-salaried government employees extend their period of employment. This group also seems immune to rules regarding arrival and departure time at work. Their co-workers watch in amazement, knowing that they can say nothing. Those in supervisory positions apply the rules to low-ranking employees and ignore violations by high-ranking ones.
How government employees work in such an environment? How will they feel when they see that some employees take privileges from them when those employees do not deserve the privileges? Some might say that I am making a mountain out of a molehill and that the group of people I am writing about is a small one. That may be true but we all remember the story of the barrel which contained one bad apple. The bad apple soon spread its poison and ruined all the apples in the barrel.
