Dockside Chat - Fishing on tax paying dollars...your honest viewpoint

Okay, I am running my gas station counter this early morning and one of our regular customers comes and fuels his official boat and truck. They head out to one of the rivers, either the Yellowstone or up to Fort Peck Lake, etc. They work for an official agency doing official stuff. Official truck, official boat, in uniforms. It is not in their official job description to fish.

Today, unlike any other day, one of the crew asked me if I sell worms or minnows, I told him I stopped this summer cause I am selling my place soon. He mentioned he too was out next month and retiring. Mentioned he brought along his pole and was hoping to do a little fishing today.

Personally, to each his own. I have had 'exempt' vehicle license plates from various counties out here in Montana, stop in and purchase beer, etc.

With the atmosphere today, smart phones with everyone doing 'youtube' and broadcasting, etc., I shake my head each time something like the above happens,

Gotta love it when you write your checks to pay taxes and all that sales tax you pay.

Owning a business I have learned that the majority of employees will engage in a certain amount of personal time 'on the clock', just depends on who is around or when they feel no one is around. In my book, it just ain't right.

It's called "stealing time" and it's real and costs everybody in the end.

You should see what goes on, on our nations RR's.

Heck...I'm stealing time from myself as I type this up.....but It does make it tough to swallow when the person that's collecting tax money from me as his/her salary is living a better life than I can.

Wrong yes. I'm not gonna be the whistle blower though. My beef is with his boss's boss. The guy who eats and drinks on my confiscated money, who can invest using insider information, receives kickbacks from government contracts, whores himself out to lobbing groups to further their cause, that's the real criminal. Why hold the little mans toes to the fire whilst ignoring the real problem.

Okay, I am running my gas station counter this early morning and one of our regular customers comes and fuels his official boat and truck. They head out to one of the rivers, either the Yellowstone or up to Fort Peck Lake, etc. They work for an official agency doing official stuff. Official truck, official boat, in uniforms. It is not in their official job description to fish.

Today, unlike any other day, one of the crew asked me if I sell worms or minnows, I told him I stopped this summer cause I am selling my place soon. He mentioned he too was out next month and retiring. Mentioned he brought along his pole and was hoping to do a little fishing today.

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how do you know it's not in the job description ? have you read it .Are you sure they are not a marine biology division like we have in florida , that drives official trucks and boats and gets paid to collect fish for testing

I know what they do and no they do not collect fish for official purposes. More of the enforcement end of things, so to speak.

And, as far as 'for Official use' goes, I know plenty of cops/LE drive their assigned vehicle home, 24/7, etc. I see nothing wrong with stopping at the market on the way home to grab items, then park the vehicle at their house until they roll out on official duty. But those that use that same vehicle as they see fit for their personal use, then it's wrong, at least in my book. Same for county or city vehicles when employees drive them home, etc.

IMHO on the subject. In my business, I have no problem with a great employee taking extra time for lunch once in awhile, using some shop supplies for his personal use, grabbing a soda or candy bar from my C-Store. But those are the guys that take care of my business, work hard and come in early and stay late if needed. Don't cry when we need them after hours, etc. But for the guys that come in late, leave early, whine and cry, pilfer everything they can and look to get over, I have a problem with them trying to get the same perks the 'great' employees do. Which of course, is a whole different situation than working for government service.

it depends....if they were in a situation where they work 8 hours on the water and end the shift pulling the boat out of the water and instead they decide to work a full 8 on the water and then spend 2 or 3 more hours in the same place with a line in the water before they head back to the dock and head home I would not have a big personal issue with it, but the problem comes in when others "do the same" except this time they burn extra fuel running all over the lake after the job is done and put extra wear and tear on the equipment or worse get in an accident or wreck it

Doesn't every city, county, and state employee milk their job for something here or there?
I thought that was a municipal job perk ;?

Doesn't every city, county, and state employee milk their job for something here or there?
I thought that was a municipal job perk ;?





Only in Cheecago!:roll

I'd consider lunch time fishing, one of the perks of the job

How bout a Coast Guard ship from Fort Macon off Key West during the Mariel to Miami boatlift in the early 80's, with basically nothing to do but wait, who put the 25' double enders overboard and catch some fish for dinner for the crew? Glad I wasn't involved. :grin:

If all he does is catch some fish on Government time, I'm not going to complain too much...He better have a current license though, or he better write himself a ticket.

If he wants to fish, instead of going through my cooler with a tape measure, I'm good.

I don't necessarily have a problem with it, depends on whether or not he had the work that he was supposed to be doing done but had to be on the water for a certain amount of time.

For example, a year or two back I remember hearing about a fire fighter getting "caught" washing his personal truck on the clock. His supervisor new what he was doing and he had permission to do it because their trucks and firehouse were spotless, everything was in order and their necessary tasks were completed. Do I have a problem with the guy washing his truck rather than sitting in the firehouse on his ass behind a TV? Hell no...just as long as he was not on OT or making $200k a year (see: http://www.thehulltruth.com/dockside-chat/447106-police-pay-200k-yr-overpaid.html), which I know he wasn't as their salaries are public record.