If the local fire brigade offered to torch your house or apartment, but said it would help with the cleanup later on, you’d probably decline the offer, right?

Unfortunately the majority-millionaire politicians who caused/allowed the record-long “partial” government shutdown didn’t ask permission. As a result most of the people on furloughs either got nothing or partial paychecks, and many more government contractors didn’t get paid Friday. The politicians, who are still getting paid, assured civil servants — those forced to stay home and those required to work — they will get back pay someday. Not a phrase landlords, banks and the folks in the supermarket checkout line like to hear.

The shutdown has been grist for political mills and pundits. The media is dining off it. One late night comedian has offered to employ one shutdown worker per night until the ordeal is over. It’s a noble gesture but one that still leaves roughly 799,044 out in the cold.

The shutdown is inconvenient for many of us. For some frequent flyers, the thought of distracted air traffic controllers, uninspected passenger jets and angry Transportation Security Administration personnel comes a little closer to home. There is also concern about income tax returns for people who really need them now. And other things in the realm of health, safety and maybe even security are there, of course.

The fact is most people don’t have a clue what the government, staffed by real people, does. Many believe it does too much, others too little. But during a shutdown, people think a little more about the role of government. And if you have friends, relatives or neighbors who are feds you may, to some extent, feel their pain.

So what’s it like inside? How is the shutdown treating you and yours? Did you miss a car or mortgage payment? Was your landlord understanding? Did you have to delay taking your beloved but ailing pet to the vet because of cash flow?

Politicians mostly feel your pain, and the public appears to be understanding — both up to a point.

But what’s really going on? What’s it been like inside the shutdown? Whether you are part of the partial nonworking community or you’ve been going to work daily without pay, how’s it going? Let us know because as closely as we monitor the situation, as sympathetic as we say we really are, most of us really don’t have a clue.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Amelia Brust

M&Ms creator Forrest Mars Sr. introduced peanut variety in 1954 despite the fact that he was allergic.

Source: Farmers Almanac

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