Owlagdad said:

---

LOL, as a 2Lt, I knew enough to be dangerous, but enough to get things done-- even when that call at 4:45 to get over to HQs and make sure the Christmas lights were up correctly, so the General wouldnt be pissed off. Guess with Signal MOS, the Colonel knew I could hang wire.


This story is nothing but whining, and I imagine not very truthful and highly exagerated.

---

The locksmith was a seasonal employee. Seems he wasn't needed for off season, how long and when is the off season? Is it now in the off season? Could be there are other people on staff that can and have done his job in the past.
Maybe hire another seasonal employee?
I don't have enough information to decide if this was a bad or good decision.

Fins Up! said:

---

This!

Yosemite has a post office, a tire shop, and auto repair shop, a clinic…basically a town. Yes, they need a locksmith. More than one.

Yosemite Valley Village is far from town, as is Canyon and Old Faithful Village in Yellowstone.

They do need all these things. Especially considering how many people visit daily. People get flats, have car trouble, and lock their keys inside their car… and have medical emergencies.

GC South Rim has these services also. And as someone who has had a flat at Big Bend, (tire shop person in Terlingua had a broken pressure hose) I sure do appreciate services of this nature in the parks. And they are needed, not only for visitors but for their fleet also.

The parks need housing for the hundreds of staff members that work the lodges, stores, restaurants, visitors centers, and to clean up the trash from filthy visitors. They have trails to maintain, facilities to maintain. And I deeply appreciate the rangers who work with kids on the Junior Ranger program. My daughter still does this at every park we visit, and it helps her learn and appreciate the uniqueness of the park and its environment.

---

Did these towns shut down during the off season when this guy wasn't working?

DCAggie13y said:

---

Logos Stick said:

---

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "For all the probationary employees."

---

The fact that they have only one locksmith in the first place is weapons grade idiocy.

---

I have a crazy idea. Leave the bathrooms unlocked and call a private locksmith as needed instead of having a full time locksmith on staff. Give other staff members keys as needed.

---

Wow i bet they never thought of this and i bet it has absolutely no drawbacks! Quick you should go to every national park and pitch this genius idea!

Good work F16. We did it. We solved the national park labor shortage!

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

Logos Stick said:

---

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "For all the probationary employees."

---

The fact that they have only one locksmith in the first place is weapons grade idiocy.

---

So... You want them spending more money?

---

Did the guy EVER take a vacation?
Get sick?
What if he died?


Surely this is all hyperbole and dramatics. This CANNOT have been the plan or it is just making their idiocy visible in the first place and heads should have rolled.

What guy?

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started a permanent position last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "Fire all the probationary employees."

---

If working as seasonal employee for many years and apparently wasn't an impact to NP operations, why did they need to make him a fulltime employee?

Used to, there was such a thing as.. cross training.

Trump and Elon



Libs and F16 whiners

Owlagdad said:

---

To me, Lake of the Pines Corps of Engineers parks are just as important as Yosemite.

Several years ago a big enema blew across the lake and destroyed almost all of the southside campgrounds. They closed the park for over a year, and just now opened an area after three years. I figured Biden et al (I noticed too under obama) wasnt going to spend any money on RVers because they are republicans by nature.
I didnt whine, Just went somewhere else.

---

Yuck! I'm unfamiliar with that particular weather pattern...

Simple solution to the locksmith situation: pull your firearm and shoot the damn lock off.

milner79 said:

---

Simple solution to the locksmith situation: pull your firearm and shoot the damn lock off.

---

That would get the naturalists to scurrying.

Hoyt Ag said:

---

jwhaby said:

---

Not sure why the parks service needs a locksmith on staff. Do they re-key the restrooms after every use? Why not contract with an outside locksmith who can provide the remaining employees with keys? Do those employees not know how to use keys and thus need a full time expert to show them? Something doesn't make sense.

---

Have you ben to a NP? People are freaking idiots. Between the Karens, badly behaved children and our society as a whole being complete idiots, things are going to happen.

Ftr, I agree with you about calling one. Just pointing out how stupid society is in mass gatherings like a NP. (Former NP Ranger here).

---

No ***** Almost got into a fight at Paradise when I told some little kids to stick to the trail and stop stomping all over the grass and flowers and climbing on rock formations. Derelict mom and dad didn't take that too well.

93MarineHorn said:

---

This is more fake drama. What company/organization has a locksmith as an employee? You call the locksmith when someone screws up or you need to change locks. This is making the case that these federal agencies/orgs are full of bloat and need to be gutted.

---

Whoever wrote the article is a genius for making it seem like there was just one Joe Bob that had keys to everything and unlocked all the doors in the morning. What a great way to bait people with no idea about facilities management into engaging with the article.

Sorry to hear about your vacation. Getting messed up.


Seems unlikely that staffing issues will be fixed I can't imagine anybody going through the hassle and aggravation, if applying for open government positions given how easily they can be terminated

Sq 17 said:

---

Sorry to hear about your vacation. Getting messed up.


Seems unlikely that staffing issues will be fixed I can't imagine anybody going through the hassle and aggravation, if applying for open government positions given how easily they can be terminated

---

Welcome to the real world, government employees!

Sq 17 said:

---

Sorry to hear about your vacation. Getting messed up.


Seems unlikely that staffing issues will be fixed I can't imagine anybody going through the hassle and aggravation, if applying for open government positions given how easily they can be terminated

---

LOL, you obviously have never worked in the private sector. Welcome to planet earth!

My trip isn't messed up. It will be if they close the park I am visiting. The ranger guided tour that sells out in seconds, that I got three spots on, got canceled. And that sucks.

My frustration lies in that just firing a certain percentage of staff doesn't fix the problem. The layers, upon layers of inefficiency will still exist.

There was a better way to do all of this. And that's my frustration.

I stopped reading after it said he was the only one with knowledge and know how to open a lock bathroom with a person inside.

That's all I need to see to understand that everyone of these park officials need to be fired and start over. If you don't have any common sense to know how to unlock a ****ing bathroom. What in the hell are you doing working.

Owlagdad said:

---

Sounds like the locksmith's supervisor needs to be fired because he couldnt step in there to do it. Surely there was a plan of some bolt cutters somewhere. What did they do when this guy was sick or on vacation?
Sounds like hit piece that should not be directed at Trump, but at managers who sat on their ass.

---

The dude was a locksmith in one of the most beautiful places in the country. He was on vacation.

The real issue here is who employs a full time locksmith in the real world?

Like, nobody. Most large orgs will have someone who is cross-trained and can do basic locksmith stuff, and you also have contractors that you call for the more complicated stuff. Your management is responsible for having contractual arrangements -- with secondary and tertiary backup -- for all kinds of functions that you're full-time people can't do.

This is a failure of basic management 101.

I empathize with anyone impacted by this on short notice, but the much bigger issue is federal government needs to be streamlined and made much more efficient. There will be pain from DOGE's efforts no doubt, but they are on the right track.

Somehow the US will survive without a locksmith!

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started a permanent position last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "Fire all the probationary employees."

---

The other issue causing problems is the way that they are firing people - many being terminated by email at night and on weekends with immediately loss of access to email.

Supervisors don't always even know that their employees have been terminated (they may have known they were probationary and were on a target list, but not that as of 5:38 pm on Thursday night they'd be - poof - gone).

Schedules/key access, etc. can be sorted out over time, but the first few days when people just don't show up for work probably are a little more chaotic.

Whenever these types of stories come out, I always picture some reporter emailing his/her/zhe boss in all caps and being like ZOMG! DO I HAVE A STORY THAT'S GONNA BRING DOWN THIS ADMINISTRATION!

And then it's just like some guy who was in charge of keys got let go and everyone in the real world who reads it says, "well, put someone else in charge of the keys" and goes about their day.

Tergdor said:

---

Whoever wrote the article is a genius for making it seem like there was just one Joe Bob that had keys to everything and unlocked all the doors in the morning. What a great way to bait people with no idea about facilities management into engaging with the article.

---

RogerFurlong said:

---

I was a leasing agent and no one knew how to cut keys but the maintenance guys. They thought I was a genius when I figured out the machine. I milked more hours playing on my phone acting like it was a difficult task. Anything to avoid being stuck in the office with the manager.

---

Are you now a govt employee???

This is why we're laying off govt employees.

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started a permanent position last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "Fire all the probationary employees."

---

he can't give the keys to someone else?

Hoyt Ag said:

---

Ftr, I agree with you about calling one. Just pointing out how stupid society is in mass gatherings like a NP. (Former NP Ranger here).

---

Interp or LE?

I have a bunch of buddies that are LE Rangers and a couple of Special Agents. Some of the stories they have...

Are there really so many F'ed doors at one NP to need a full time locksmith? This seems like something that could easily be dealt with via a contract with a local locksmith for on-call service. Maybe make use of the contractor to actually fix the doors and locks that are repeatedly failing as his first task order.

MemphisAg1 said:

---

The real issue here is who employs a full time locksmith in the real world?

Like, nobody. Most large orgs will have someone who is cross-trained and can do basic locksmith stuff, and you also have contractors that you call for the more complicated stuff. Your management is responsible for having contractual arrangements -- with secondary and tertiary backup -- for all kinds of functions that you're full-time people can't do.

This is a failure of basic management 101.

I empathize with anyone impacted by this on short notice, but the much bigger issue is federal government needs to be streamlined and made much more efficient. There will be pain from DOGE's efforts no doubt, but they are on the right track.

---

TAMU-CC does...

But, then they actually do a decent amount of work throughout campus.

After reading this thread all the way through, this situation is the perfect example of why drastic change is needed. Wow.

My gosh, years/decades of incompetent management in literally every layer of Fed gov't. It's what happens when the entire organization is structured and adjusted by non-accountable leadership with low expectations, advancing for the most part the biggest ass-kissers. Certainly there are high-quality folks who likely get passed up due to DEI goals by the higher ups as well(those 20% that do 80% of the actual work).

If I was the top dog at any NP and let the story out that 'one guy' was so invaluable to keep the doors open (pun?) I would be embarrassed like nobody's business. Suck it up up and adjust, have some damn pride in your job. If the managers actually know who the best employees are, let them trade one-for-one and hire them back by letting a slacker go regardless of seniority, etc. It's not hard.

We've got to gut this thing like a fish, and it will take a while cause the knife just got pulled out of the sheath.

Logos Stick said:

---

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "For all the probationary employees."

---

The fact that they have only one locksmith in the first place is weapons grade idiocy.

---

So if someone got locked in a bathroom at Mariposa Grove and someone else got locked in a bathroom at Toulumne Meadows at the same time then one of them would be waiting all day to get out of the bathroom. It's almost a full day drive from one to the other.

Spend $200 bucks on spare bathroom keys so every Ranger can have one

Logos Stick said:

---

ABATTBQ11 said:

---

They fired the only locksmith because he started last March after years as a seasonal employee. He's probational. If you want to blame someone, blame the decision makers who said, "For all the probationary employees."

---

The fact that they have only one locksmith in the first place is weapons grade idiocy.

---

The govt/union jobs where everybody says that's not my job.

I do whatever it takes at work. How hard is it to know where the damn keys are to the front gate.